Every WWE Royal Rumble's Best Performer

2008 €“ Shawn Michaels

After being the final two in the previous year€™s Rumble, the 2008 match saw The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels enter at #1 and #2, respectively. Both would put on great showings, but it was Michaels who stood out the most during his 32-minute stint. The 2008 Rumble will always be remembered for the hugely shocking return of John Cena at #30, and Cena would be the eventual winner, but it was the Heartbreak Kid whose star shone brightest as he delivered his best Rumble outing since 1996. Whilst Shawn always brought a high quality to everything he did in the ring, his biggest moment here was actually eliminating The Undertaker. Of course, he€™d then be thrown out himself by Mr. Kennedy mere seconds later, but the chemistry between Michaels and €˜Taker was again there for all to see as the pair would get set for back-to-back WrestleMania bouts the following two years. Regardless of those €˜Shawn being Shawn€™ stories that we€™ve all heard, the Heartbreak Kid is one of the very best performers of all time, and his 2008 Rumble outing was a perfect example of HBK doing what HBK does best: stealing the show. There could even be an argument to say that '08 was Michaels' best ever year in the business, with him having a classic bout with Ric Flair at WrestleMania before then entering into a legendary feud with Chris Jericho. That great year, though, started with a fantastic Royal Rumble showing from the Showstopper.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.