Three WWE superstars who should not have won the Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble continues to be a hit-or-miss most years. I could write a novel off of the lousy booking decisions of WWE’s premium annual event. Ninety-five percent of the Rumble matches have 30 participants, which means 30 different directions it could have gone.
This trio of superstars stand out to me as three of the most underwhelming and poorly planned match winners to date. I will start off by saying due to the Women’s rumble’s short history, there have been no controversial winners in my book.
Without further mention, let’s dive into the superstars who should have not won the Royal Rumble
1. Shinsuke Nakamura — 2018 Royal Rumble Winner
The 2018 Royal Rumble was a mess for multiple reasons. The icing on the cake happened when Nakamura pulled off a major upset and won the marquee event. I distinctly remember that this came to much of the disappointment of fans in the arena and watching at home.
To put it in higher perspective, the rest of the final four were Roman Reigns, John Cena and Finn Balor. All of them had higher status as stars and were far more over with the crowd.
Nakamura finished his big win by eliminating Reigns and went on to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. There was never any belief that Nakamura could actually pull this off at the biggest event of the year. The match itself also did not live up to its five-star hype.
I think a renewal of the Cena-Styles rivalry at the grandest stage of them all is what should have occurred.
2. Yokozuna — 1993 Royal Rumble Winner
The sumo wrestling legend burst onto the scene in 1992 and quickly rose to the ranks of the WWE. This made the 1993 Royal Rumble victory not a shock to many.
The issue to me was the booking of Macho Man in this match. The potential of Macho Man vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania would have been an all-time classic that we will never get to see.
Instead, we are left with a bad taste in our mouths over Randy Savage trying to pin Yokozuna in the match and ultimately losing in part to his stupidity. This is not a knock on Yokozuna, but there is a reason this Rumble in particular is probably the most forgettable.
If I was to tell the reader of one Rumble to just skip altogether, it is this one.
3. Triple H — 2016 Royal Rumble Winner
The whole Authority storyline was massively overplayed here. Keep in mind this was the first ever Royal Rumble where the WWE Title is being defended.
The end result came to see Triple H as the sole survivor and new WWE champion. Someone replaced The Game’s hammer with a shovel, burying the whole roster in one hour.
The rest of the final four were Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Sheamus. A golden missed opportunity to have the lunatic fringe himself, overcome the odds and win the Rumble.
This still stands as one of the biggest what-ifs in this pay-per-view’s history. Imagine if we got Reigns vs. Ambrose at Mania. The match we deserved as viewers.
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