One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every WWE Royal Rumble

2003 - The Best Royal Rumble Storyline Wasn’t Even Booked By WWE

In 2003, Jim Cornette presided over Ohio Valley Wrestling: WWE’s then in-house developmental programme.

OVW was both a feeder system and a promotion, reliant on ticket sales, in its own right. For a few years, the project was wildly successful - OVW spawned the careers of Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista - but it was also flawed and doomed. Cornette reported to John Laurinaitis, who he despised. Cornette felt that his regulars should compete for spots with the WWE signees; the rookies needed the competition, and Cornette needed talent who could attract crowds when WWE called their guys up. Cornette had a TV show to produce, he was proud of it, and he felt that everybody should take it as seriously as he did. WWE, meanwhile, did not care about OVW as anything other than a training school. They didn’t care about destroying OVW continuity. This would often create friction, and indeed would result in the demise of Cornette’s WWE career.

Before his meltdown, in which he was fired for slapping Santino Marella, a passionate Cornette would expertly navigate WWE’s thoughtless meddling.

Danny ‘Damaja’ Basham was meant to debut in the 2003 Royal Rumble match. This was a coordinated plan between WWE and OVW; Damaja won the ‘Run For The Rumble’ tournament final on OVW TV as early as November 2002.

Plans changed.

WWE did not care about the dropped storyline, but Cornette did. He booked an angle in which Damaja attacked Rocky Johnson, Dr. Tom Prichard, and Cornette. Jim Ross helped; representing WWE, he told Cornette that Damaja had disqualified himself from the Royal Rumble as a result of his actions. (In a great attention to detail, Ross chewed Cornette out for the “discipline problems” plaguing OVW).

Damaja threw a tantrum, destroying everything in sight - TV monitors, chairs, a milk crate that smashed into a nearby camera operator. His performance was so incredible that even his own valet, Jackie Gayda, thought he was legitimately out of control; Gayda called the office afterwards to apologise for the extent of the damage.

If you look past the great Shawn Michaels Vs. Chris Jericho bait-and-switch, OVW booker Jim Cornette booked the best Royal Rumble angle of 2003.