8 WWE Superstars Who Were Never Eliminated From The Royal Rumble
In the Royal Rumble match, you don't always have to get tossed out of the ring to lose.
A victory in the Royal Rumble match means WWE has big things in store for a superstar (sorry, Alberto Del Rio.) While not every Rumble winner goes on to capture the championship at the following WrestleMania - or even end up in the main event - winners can be proud that they have an accolade few others can claim. After all, there have been over 50 WWE Champions, but only 30 Rumble winners.
But winning the contest isn’t the only way for superstars to shine, as many wrestlers have found other ways to stand out in the marquee match.
Kane holds the most cumulative eliminations as of 2017. Rey Mysterio owns the record for most time spent in a single Rumble match. Kofi Kingston comes up with creative ways to avoid elimination almost every year.
Out of those fortunate enough to enter the Rumble match, though, there are some performers who make much less of an impact than they hoped - despite not being chucked out. Some are fed off as sacrificial lambs to other competitors. Some eliminate themselves unintentionally. And some simply don’t show up for the match at all.
8. Curtis Axel
As the son of the legendary Mr. Perfect, Joseph Curtis Henning was born into the professional wrestling world, and was duly expected to a make a much longer-lasting impact in WWE than he did. Whether it was his run with Nexus or his 155-day reign as Intercontinental champion, all early signs pointed to success for the third-generation superstar, but he never quite found his way up the program. Yet this was a man who bested the likes of Triple H, John Cena, and Chris Jericho. He even trained The Rock for his return.
Unfortunately, being a gifted in-ring competitor can sometimes hold back a superstar. Some performers simply make their adversaries look too good when they lose: just ask Lance Storm and Dolph Ziggler. Falling to jobber status wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to Curtis Axel, though.
In 2015, the ‘Ax Man’ wasn’t even given the opportunity to compete in the Royal Rumble match. During his entrance, Axel was assaulted by Erick Rowan in what was an attempt to make The Wyatts look dominant as they all united in the ring.
In reality, all Rowan did was push Axel down and then toss him into the side barricade. Many superstars have suffered much worse while in the actual Rumble match and 'AxelMania’ could have surely made a comeback.
And since he was never eliminated, it could be argued Roman Reigns was prematurely declared the victor.