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

8. Fake Razor Ramon & Diesel (1997)

Dick Murdoch
WWE Network

The imposter Razor Ramon and Diesel characters had no business in a Royal Rumble, no business still appearing on pay-per-view, and no business still in WWE some four months after their ill-fated launch.

Misunderstood by many, the point of the imposters wasn't just total head loss by a Vince McMahon smarting at the successes of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and the New World Order on the other side of the wrestling divide. Said head loss absolutely informed the idea, but the idea might have worked had disgruntled heel Jim Ross simply used them to embarrass the company he was enraged with, and then moved on to bigger or better things with the damage done. "Disgruntled heel Jim Ross" might itself sound like a stretch too far, but watch the promo and believe the hype - a Bad 'ol JR could have serviceably gotten over something even more significant than this one-night ratings ploy.

As it was, the Razor and Diesel knock-offs simply became part of the roster and part of the furniture, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. This pushed the idea miles beyond its limits, particularly when the two fought Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart for the Tag Team Championships, and when both entered the 1997 Royal Rumble as - such is the point of the match - potential WrestleMania main eventers. "Diesel" even made into the final four, even though he was tactically ousted from the In Your House pay-per-view with the same name thanks to his elimination by Bret Hart being considered as legal. 

Contributor
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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