20 WWE Royal Rumble Undercard Nightmares
Royal Grumbles from over 30 years of WWE's most beloved institution.
Generally a huge highlight in any wrestling fan's calendar, the Royal Rumble is (almost) the safest bet for a quality night of entertainment from WWE.
Usually headlined by the innovative titular battle royals with WrestleMania implications, the remainder of the card is often there - rather fittingly - just to make up the numbers. It gives something for the existing champions to do that may not once have been deemed worthy of pay-per-view, and tests out feuds and programmes not always able to fit elsewhere on WWE's supercard calendar.
Despite the abbreviated line-up often providing pleasant surprises, the January classic has wielded its fair share of duds and disasters over the last three decades. WWE are to be credited with their experimentation underneath the late Pat Patterson's near-perfect creation, but a sizeable number of probable after-thoughts have been anything but bland on the night itself.
WWE's propensity for only dealing in extremes is never quite as widely exposed as when their card-filler selections end in sheer horror. Rather than euphoria, the announcement of the Rumble match itself has often subsequently been greeted with unashamed relief from an under-nourished live crowd.
20. The Big Show Vs. Brock Lesnar (2014)
Much is made of Brock Lesnar's WWE contract, which apparently stipulates a specific number of appearance dates over the contracted period. But it's pointless uses of 'The Beast's time in matches such as these that leave fans questioning if he can remotely be worth the money to the organisation.
Big Show and Brock had worked together at the Royal Rumble in 2003, but back then the two actually had a real reason to fight and a story most fans took at least a passing interest in.
Back in 2014, Show simply got in Brock's business once, then the two had two virtually identical pull-aparts on Raw to set up a match with no stakes and little anticipation.
The contest itself generated similar apathy. Brock decked Big Show before the bell, dismantling him with a steel chair in a laboured assault before nailing an academic F5 for the win after only two minutes of an actual match.
Just two months later, Brock ended the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak in an era-defining scene. It came not a moment too soon when watching here how little momentum 'The Beast' had less than two years into his WWE comeback.