12 Times Wrestlers Failed To Make It Into The Royal Rumble Match

4. Curtis Axel - 2015

Curtis Axel Erick Rowan Royal Rumble 2015
WWE.com

It may have been awful luck at the time, but Curtis Axel's failure to make it into the Royal Rumble in 2015 almost led to him being legitimately over. Axel was scheduled to be the sixth man to enter that year, facing a similar mountain to Scotty 2 Hotty in 2001. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper, seemingly reunited, stood waiting in the ring.

Axel didn't seem too daunted by the hirsute behemoths awaiting him, but before he could complete his entrance, Erick Rowan, the former third Wyatt waylaid him from behind. Getting attacked from behind is never a good thing, but getting attacked from behind by a huge ginger dude wearing a sheep mask must be particularly terrifying.

Rowan subsequently took Axel's place in the Rumble. Curtis Axel wasn't shy about letting everyone know about this miscarriage of justice, giving birth to the Axelmania gimmick that made the son of Mr. Perfect more popular than he had ever been before.

Will a similar fate befall any of the 30 men and women looking to enter the Royal Rumble on 31 January? Don't bet against it.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.