8 Times Legendary Wrestling Moments Were Reversed

6. Final Two To First Two

Undertaker Ellis Mbeh WrestleMania Shocked Fan
WWE.com

The 2007 Royal Rumble featured the greatest finishing sequence to any Royal Rumble match in the history of the fan favourite PPV.

That Rumble match came down to Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker as the final two competitors left vying for a spot at WrestleMania. For the first time ever, this final confrontation played out like a genuine match. Seriously, the pair were alone in the ring together for eight minutes – which is, like, the equivalent of three Raw matches some weeks – and these two legends had the fans lapping it up.

When all was said and done, it was The Phenom who stood tall as the victor and he'd go on to defeat Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 23. For his part, Michaels would unsuccessfully challenge for John Cena’s WWE Championship at the Showcase of the Immortals.

How was this iconic situation reversed, then? That came at the next year’s Royal Rumble event. As the 30-man over-the-top extravaganza started in 2008, it just so happened that The Undertaker was #1 and Shawn Michaels was #2.

Both men would last half an hour in the Rumble match, being eliminated eleventh and twelfth, respectively – although The Heartbreak Kid would get some semblance of revenge for the previous year, for it was he who eliminated The Deadman here.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.