Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble's Biggest Surprise 1988-2022

20. 2008 - John Cena Returns

john cena royal rumble 2008
WWE.com

Going down in October 2007 with the prognosis of a year on the shelf, John Cena's Tribute To The Troops appearance in December left no clues that he was freakishly ahead of schedule and/or WWE had cleverly fibbed about the return date to begin with.

For all everybody knew, 'The Champ' was absent until further notice. A legendary pavlovian pop in Madison Square Garden proved how effectively the secret had been kept. The scene only got more surreal when he actually hit the ring, with the boos returning as the audience finally pulled themselves together from the shock of the moment.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett