8 New Records Set At WWE Royal Rumble 2022
5. Rumble With Most HOFers And Legends
This record is both nostalgic and dubious at the same time.
Surprise entrants from WWE’s past often are a great source of entertainment for
fans, and they are some of the most highly anticipated parts of the Royal Rumble
matches themselves.
However, there is a tipping point at which the superstars of bygone days overshadow or outweigh the impact of the current roster, making the Rumble look sad rather than celebratory. The 2018 women’s Rumble set the record, with 10 Hall-of-Famers and legends taking their bow in the match. As it was the first women’s Rumble, bringing back superstars such as Lita, Trish Stratus, Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Jacqueline and others just made sense.
But this year’s women’s Rumble shattered that record with 14 Hall-of-Famers and legends returning for the match (counting eventual winner Ronda Rousey, who had been out of WWE for nearly three years before Saturday).
If you add in Sonya Deville, who has been an authority figure for the better part of a year, literally half the field was comprised of wrestlers not on the active roster of either Raw or SmackDown. That shows just how shortsighted and misguided WWE’s purging of their roster has been.
In 2021 alone, superstars such as Tegan Nox, Toni Storm, B-Fab, Nia Jax, Mia Yim, Lana, Ruby Riott and the IIconics all departed the main roster. That’s how you get Melina, Kelly Kelly, Summer Rae, Sarah Logan and Alicia Fox showing up and adding nothing to the Rumble.