The annual Royal Rumble match, held in January, is one of the highlights of the wrestling year, as thirty men from an assortment of different spots on the card enter the ring and participate in an hour of relentless and unpredictable action until just one man is left standing, receiving a title match at Wrestlemania for his troubles. The brainchild of Pat Patterson, the match was first held in 1988, where just twenty men competed and 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan emerged victorious. Twenty six years later, the match dawns upon us once again. Though the current roster has an abundance of talent, this has not always been the case, and in years gone by the WWE has had to scrape the very bottom of the barrel on occasion (who can forget the appearances of Squat Team Member #1 and Squat Team Member #2 in 1996!) to fill the Rumble match with thirty participants. As a result of this, nearly everybody who has been employed by the WWE for a significant period of time has taken part in one. Emphasis on 'nearly everybody' For whatever reason, a handful of notable performers have never been booked to wrestle in the Rumble match. Fifteen such performers are listed now; though note that only people who have been actually in a position (read: employed by the WWE during the timeframe of at least one Rumble event between 1988 and 2013) to take part are featured (so you won't see those that retired or left the company before then, such as Bruno Sammartino, or those that have never been employed by the WWE, such as Sting).
Honourable Mention 1 Jimmy Uso/Curt Hawkins/Camacho
From the current roster, there are just three men who debuted before last year's event that have yet to participate in a Rumble match aside from the three members of The Shield, who nevertheless performed only on pay-per-view events prior to becoming regular fixtures on Raw and Smackdown in the spring. These are Curt Hawkins, Camacho and Jimmy Uso. Jimmy will take part in this Sunday's match (Jey having taken part in 2012), as will all three members of The Shield and everybody else that has debuted in the last year, such as Fandango (who technically could've entered a Rumble as Johnny Curtis but never did), Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of the Wyatt Family, Big E Langston and Xavier Woods (Bray Wyatt, Curtis Axel, Diego and Fernando may or may not compete, but have entered a Rumble apiece as Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty, Primo and Epico respectively). That leaves just Hawkins and Camacho, who haven't appeared onto television in some time as anything other than jobbers in short squash matches. As there's been no mass releases for a while, they remain employed, but it remains to seen for how long unless they are drastically repackaged, particularly Camacho, whose existence is moot given that his tag team partner Hunico is now performing as Sin Cara.
Honourable Mention 2 - Steve Lombardi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFx_f7UN9ok It's no secret anymore that wrestling is scripted, and that the winner and loser of each bout is pre-determined some performers are booked to win the majority of their matches (generally champions or those in the middle of a push) some maintain a balance of about 50/50 (most midcard performers) and some lose more than they win but still manage the occasional victory. Right at the bottom, however, are the wrestlers that are booked to lose every match that they take part in - these are commonly known as jobbers. For much of the WWE's history, local performers were used to fill these roles; though in recent years lower-card performers have been used instead to make the more profitable performers look good. Even back in the day, however, a few men were employed on a permanent basis to lose week in, week out, and none are more prominent that Steve Lombardi (Barry Horowitz, another Rumble non-entrant, also has a valid claim to this title, though he did receive a small push and even a run of wins in 1995). Predominantly wrestling as The Brooklyn Brawler (a gimmick he picked up in 1989), Lombardi spent several years being squashed by up-and-coming performers. Despite how talent-thin the mid-90s were, however, he was never called upon to put in a shift at the Royal Rumble, as either the Brawler or one of his other guises (such as Kim Chee or Abe 'Knuckleball' Schwartz).
The annual Royal Rumble match, held in January, is one of the highlights of the wrestling year, as thirty men from an assortment of different spots on the card enter the ring and participate in an hour of relentless and unpredictable action until just one man is left standing, receiving a title match at Wrestlemania for his troubles. The brainchild of Pat Patterson, the match was first held in 1988, where just twenty men competed and 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan emerged victorious. Twenty six years later, the match dawns upon us once again. Though the current roster has an abundance of talent, this has not always been the case, and in years gone by the WWE has had to scrape the very bottom of the barrel on occasion (who can forget the appearances of Squat Team Member #1 and Squat Team Member #2 in 1996!) to fill the Rumble match with thirty participants. As a result of this, nearly everybody who has been employed by the WWE for a significant period of time has taken part in one. Emphasis on 'nearly everybody' For whatever reason, a handful of notable performers have never been booked to wrestle in the Rumble match. Fifteen such performers are listed now; though note that only people who have been actually in a position (read: employed by the WWE during the timeframe of at least one Rumble event between 1988 and 2013) to take part are featured (so you won't see those that retired or left the company before then, such as Bruno Sammartino, or those that have never been employed by the WWE, such as Sting).
