Ranking All 30 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

26. Lex Luger – 1994

steve austin 2001 royal rumble
WWE.com

WrestleMania title shot: Lost to Yokozuna at WrestleMania X

When you talk about Rumble winners who squandered their world title shot, Lex Luger has to be at the top of the list. Ignoring the backstage rumors, the debacle that was the ’94 Rumble is a huge blemish on the event’s overall history.

As many know, Luger and Bret Hart were the last two in the ’94 Rumble, and they tumbled out of the ring together. Replays were “inconclusive,” so both men got title shots at WrestleMania X. Luger went first, while Hart faced his brother Owen in arguably the best Mania opening match in history. Luger lost by DQ for shoving guest referee Mr. Perfect, which has to be the worst world title match ending in WrestleMania history (save maybe for Cena versus Miz at WrestleMania XXVII).

Luger would be shuffled down the card and leave WWF in mid-1995, kicking off the Monday Night War by appearing on the inaugural episode of WCW Nitro.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.