9 WWE Royal Rumble Tropes That Have Been Perfected

6. One Story Match - Shawn Michaels (2010)

Shawn Michaels Royal Rumble 2010
WWE.com

Despite Punk’s early heroics, the 2010 Royal Rumble was all about the desperation of Shawn Michaels. The Heartbreak Kid was nine months removed from an agonising WrestleMania defeat to The Undertaker, and ‘Taker was unwilling to give HBK a rematch. This left Michaels with just one option - winning the Royal Rumble match and challenging The Phenom at 'Mania.

Michaels entered the bout at number 18 and immediately went to work. It was clear that HBK was physically on the way out, but the mind and talent was still there to drag him all the way to the final four. The Showstopper eliminated Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Carlito, Drew McIntyre, Ted DiBiase and John Morrison, and for a moment his fans were allowed to believe.

But then it all came crashing down. Michaels was eliminated by Batista in memorable fashion, HBK desperately trying to cling on to the ropes to no avail. The dream was over. Many Royal Rumble matches have revolved around one single story, but none did it in as captivating a manner as this. You can put that down to WWE creative or you can attribute it to Shawn Michaels being one of the greatest of all time. Your choice.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.