12 Wrestlers Who Had ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS Being In WWE Royal Rumble

10. Hiroki Sumi (Greatest Royal Rumble)

Hiroki Sumi Mark Henry
WWE

At 2018's Greatest Royal Rumble - the first (and until 2026, last) Rumble to take place in Saudi Arabia, Hiroki Sumi entered at #7 and Michael Cole and Corey Graves talked him up as one of the most dangerous threats in the entire match.

Presumably they hadn't got their info from WWE.com - the company's official website infamously couldn't offer any backstory on him due to him being virtually obsolete in wrestling circles. Sumi was a mystery wrapped in an enigma to such an extent that Google itself barely brought up anything on his life, or certainly not the type of intel that could explain how he found himself walking the market leader's aisle to go face to face with Mark Henry. So just how was he in to date the first and only 50-man version of the Royal Rumble?!

Ludicrous question, ludicrous answer. 

It was revealed subsequently that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman wanted Yokozuna at the maiden spectacle. Unaware that he'd tragically passed eighteen years earlier, the Saudi Royal requested the former WWE Champion and the company duly obliged with a sumo wrestler alternative that at very least fulfilled the brief of the gimmick if not the man playing the role. 

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