20 Awesome WWE Royal Rumble Debuts And Returns

11. Adam Cole & Andrade Almas (2018)

edge royal rumble
WWE Network

We’re going to group the two most recent NXT surprises, as they both took place in the same Royal Rumble last year, and because it’s tough to distinguish between them.

Adam Cole and Andrade “Cien” Almas turned up the night after NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, where Almas defended his NXT Championship and Cole lost a punishing bout against Aleister Black. Both men got huge reactions from the Philly faithful and put in good showings, which is what you’d hope for from these two stars.

Almas would get called up to the main roster later that year, while Cole’s Undisputed Era continues to play a prominent role in NXT.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.