20 Awesome WWE Royal Rumble Debuts And Returns

16. Diesel (2011)

edge royal rumble
WWE.com

When you’ve got a 40-man Royal Rumble to fill, you can reach deep and pull off some unique surprises.

In the case of the 2011 Rumble, WWE took full advantage of recent TNA departures to bring back a couple of WWE legends. In the case of Kevin Nash, it was a decidedly big coup, but it unfortunately was muted by the decision to bring him back under his Diesel moniker, a character he hadn’t played in 15 years, and many fans might not have recognized.

But it was undoubtedly Nash, which led to a big pop - although not one as memorable as the one another WWE legend got that year. More on him later.

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.