WWE Match Types You Will NEVER See Again

Triple H's WWE isn't going to book ANY of these matches ever again.

Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Buried Alive
WWE.com

Wrestling fans expect to see certain match types every single year.

Twin 30-strong Royal Rumbles are a given in January, Elimination Chamber typically buffers that show and WrestleMania, Money In The Bank has become a stalwart, and there will be a few Hell In A Cell bouts sprinkled elsewhere. That's before one reaches standard cage and ladder matches, or other gimmicks like tables.

There are some old favourites (and some erm...not-so-favoured) ideas you'll likely never see from WWE again though. The rules have changed: Triple H is large and in charge, not Vince McMahon. A depressing mix of retirements and tragic deaths means other wrestler-specific match types will naturally fall by the wayside too.

Then, there's the changing attitudes towards the women's division. That has been a welcome change, not least because it veered the product away from treating women's wrestling like something nobody could ever take seriously. Let's just say there's zero chance you'll see some of the embarrassing tropes of yesteryear on that side of the roster in 2024 or beyond!

So, behold the matches WWE will never put on again. Relics of the past - some that will be missed and others that definitely won't.

10. 50-Person Royal Rumble

Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Buried Alive
WWE

2018's "Greatest Royal Rumble" was anything but. It only existed to suck up to Saudi Arabian royalty and pretend they were getting a PLE bigger/better than the standard Rumble. WWE beefed the lineup from 30 to 50, and tried to kid on Braun Strowman's one-off belt meant something to the weekly product.

It did not. Not even close.

This match was a present gift-wrapped for the kingdom. It was an exhausting exercise in idea dilution that happened just three months after the beloved January spectacle, and it'll never happen again. WWE probably won't tamper with the Rumble format again either; they'd previously experimented with 40 wrestlers in 2011.

30 is the magic number and that's very much that. 50 workers was just 20 too many, and this so-called "Greatest" example achieved the impossible. It unified almost the entire pro wrestling audience under one banner. That banner said: 'Stick This 50-Person Match Up Your...'.

Feel free to fill in the blank.

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.