WNS Top 5 Shocking Rumble Wins

Lee submitted this to me as he's unable to post this himself today.

The Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated days of the year for most wrestling fans. Normally, the mixture of suspense, surprise and shock comes together to create an ultimately memorable match for the fans…..good or bad. This year’s Royal Rumble looks set to be one of the most speculated of all time. The names talked about as this year’s winner go from the obvious Batista and Daniel Bryan to the Shield’s own Roman Reigns.

What we will look at in this article is the past. Over the years, the Rumble has provided some shocks inside and outside of the ring including who won arguably WWE’s biggest non-title prize, a guaranteed main event slot at Wrestlemania. The following list is my interpretation of the Top 5 Most Shocking Royal Rumble Winners. It’ll likely differ from yours but these lists are always the writer’s interpretation.

#5 Shawn Michaels (1995)

Going into the 1995 Royal Rumble, no one had even thought of the prospect of winning the match from #1 spot. That changed fast. Changes to the Royal Rumble match with participants coming in every 60 seconds changed the match to a faster paced match which didn’t sit well with all viewers. However, the big story to come out of this was HBK’s win. Shawn was becoming a rising star in the WWF at the time having just split with his tag partner Diesel at Survivor Series 94.

The match itself lasted a very short 38 minutes but yet saw one of the WWF’s rising stars go to new levels and beat 29 other men, the very first man to do so. The story was brilliant and the Rumble came at a time where the WWF were about to go against WCW. HBK went on to lose his title match at Wrestlemania to Diesel, but the two later join forces later that year.

#4 Chris Benoit (2004)

We all know what he did. Regardless, this was a Royal Rumble moment and a shock. Just before the Royal Rumble PPV, a lot of rumoured names went around surrounding who will win the Rumble match. However, two key names were eliminated from that due to both wanting to reportedly leave the WWE, Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar. So who could lead WWE into their biggest PPV ever with the “anniversary” of Wrestlemania 20? Step up, Chris Benoit.

The second man to do it from #1 spot, the Rabid Wolverine managed to qualify after teaming up with a certain John Cena defeating the F.B.I (Full Bloodied Italians). In a similar story to Shawn Michaels, Benoit was seemed underdog who managed to last 1 hour 1 minute 30 seconds, a Rumble record at that time. Benoit’s win was to become a historic moment as the starting point to his epic World Heavyweight Championship win. It also created the shot of Wrestlemania for the ages with Benoit/Guerrero hug…though the shot would barely be seen on WWE TV again after 2007.

#3 Vincent Kennedy McMahon (1999)

“HE DID IT AHAHAHA” – Jerry “The King” Lawler on commentary for that match. Incredible really. The build for the Rumble in 1999 was focused on two people. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. It was to become to ultimate rivalry in wrestling and this was just a piece of the puzzle. Austin was being screwed over by Mr McMahon to new levels. Given that Austin had won the Rumble the previous 2 years, it looked like Austin would manage to beat out Mr McMahon for a 3^rd time and go on to face The Rock at Wrestlemania. WWF had other ideas though…at least for the mean time.

Austin was set to enter at #1 “randomly” chosen by Mr McMahon with himself originally placing himself at #30 which was later overruled. With Austin taken out part way through the Rumble by Mr McMahon’s “Corporation”, it seemed the WWF had taken out both Austin and Vince for the latter part of the Rumble, which they did. They also set it up for Austin to make a fantastic comeback, which they did. The Rumble boiled down to the two men who had started it and Austin was in total control. With The Rock’s distraction, Austin was thrown over the top and The Rock vs Vince McMahon was set for Wrestlemania.

Almost stunned silence hit the arena, it was a shock and a very fun twist. The Rock vs Stone Cold would eventually headline Wrestlemania where Stone Cold won the WWF title for the 2^nd year in a row and creating a Wrestlemania moment that no one would forget…all because of Vince McMahon.

#2 Sheamus (2012)

2 years ago, WWE saw the return of Chris Jericho. He managed to successfully “troll” most of us (for some who didn’t read our website). He was also looking incredibly likely for a win in the Royal Rumble match. He entered at #29 and made it to the final two….and there he was….gone. Thrown Out. Eliminated. By who? Sheamus.

Go and watch the last 5 minutes of the Rumble. Jericho and Sheamus truly put on a masterclass and Jericho being Jericho puts over Sheamus wildly. It was a huge moment and a big chance WWE took giving Sheamus the rub. I suppose it doesn’t hurt with one of Sheamus friends being an instrumental part of the WWE set-up…no names who that would be. Never the less, the win for Sheamus was a total surprise and one that gave him an infamous 18 second match at Wrestlemania. If only I could remember who he faced that year? Hmmm.

#1 John Cena (2008)

I’d be lying if I said this was a close #1. Rumoured names to win the Royal Rumble. Triple H, The Undertaker and Jeff Hardy. The internet had nothing, literally nothing and if they had nothing, the general world of WWE (or should I say the WWE Universe) know absolutely nothing.

John Cena returned at the Royal Rumble 2008 at #30 in Cena like fashion, months early. The return was nothing but a shock for everyone. He then took out everyone in reasonably quick fashion finally eliminating Triple H to win the chance to face the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania. WWE actually added Triple H to the match leading to another triple threat match which caused another surprise as Randy Orton retained the title. The match was placed lower down the card however which would have led some fans to realise Orton would retain especially given the main event.

This is only my personal list of Royal Rumble’s “shock” winners. Be more than welcome to leave us a comment on here, Twitter (@WNSource) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/wrestlingnewssource) to what yours is.

Enjoy tonight’s Royal Rumble!