20 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Undercard Matches

5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (2007)

Matt Hardy Powerbombed through a table Royal Rumble 2000
WWE

One of the last great barbaric struggles before WWE began their 2008 move back to PG content, this herculean effort was the late Umaga's finest moment in WWE and remains one of John Cena's too.

An energetic brawl from start to finish, the WWE Title match fought under Last Man Standing rules was designed to find a conclusive winner between 'The Champ' and 'The Samoan Bulldozer' following Cena's fluke roll-up the previous month controversially ending Umaga's impressive undefeated streak.

At the conclusion of the epic bloodbath, the equally brutal finish came as Cena strangled the Samoan with the top rope, subduing him just long enough to squeeze the winning ten-count.

A turning point in Cena's second WWE Title run (which celebrated one full year at this very event), it forced a large portion of the audience to take a step back from the vitriol they'd directed at company-man John, and accept he was extremely capable of producing fantastic matches befitting his position at the top of the tree.

And though this would mark Umaga's last significant headline push, it would not be his final moment in the sun, as he would represent Vince McMahon just two months later in his record-setting 'Battle of the Billionaires' clash at WrestleMania 23 with Donald Trump.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett