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8 Great Wrestlers Who Never Won The Royal Rumble
By: Rick Ace Rhodes
Well users of RetroDaze, it's that time of the year again: we are now approaching the Royal Rumble.
The Royal Rumble is one of the four major flagship pay-per-view's that belong to WWE. It's been going on since 1988, based on a simple concept: a 30 man (sometimes more or less) battle royal where you have to eliminate your opponent by getting therm over the top rope and out of the ring. Last man standing wins, and gets a title shot at the upcoming Wrestlemania. Winning the Royal Rumble is one of the most prestigious honors to have in the WWE, and with the thirtieth event of the pay-per-view being held in the coming weeks, I've decided to write out a list in no particular order of great wrestlers who failed to win the Royal Rumble.
Why not start out with a wrestler who could be called Mr. Royal Rumble himself: the demon Kane. Kane has set plenty of Royal Rumble records in his career with the WWE. He has the most appearances in the match with 19 at the time of the writing of this article, most overall eliminations with 44, and set the most eliminations in a single match with 11 in 2001, which held the record until it was broken by Roman Reigns 12 eliminations in 2014.
Despite his success over the years, Kane never has won the Royal Rumble in any of his 19 appearances. His closest chance at a victory came in the 2001 appearance where he made it to the final two only to be eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. It's not really Kane's fault, he has been a decent draw for championship matches in the past, it's just one of those unwritten rules in the Royal Rumble: the giants of wrestling just don't win the Royal Rumble. They are often used to add drama to the Royal Rumble matches and set up the ultimate obstacle for their opponents, but they don't win it all.
Speaking of giants, here's Andre the Giant. It seems like Andre the Giant would have been the perfect wrestler to win a Royal Rumble. His massive size made it difficult to get him over the top ropes, and his strength would have made it easy for him to pick up competing wrestlers and toss them over the top ropes. However, Andre never saw a Royal Rumble victory during the few years he was alive during the Royal Rumble's existence. While a great wrestler no doubt, the giant rule once again came into effect with Andre and he never won the honor.
I never really liked Chris Jericho because he always seemed like nothing more then an angry d*****bag. I've also heard he's a major d*****bag in real life as as well. None the less, I've got to give him credit for having been able to reinvent himself many times over his career and for managing to maintain his importance and popularity after years upon years in the business.
Jericho has seen his fair share of success during his WWE career, multiple world championships and a record nine Intercontinental Championships. However, Jericho has never received a Royal Rumble victory despite many people thinking he should. And it really isn't his fault because he was a robbed of a Royal Rumble victory in 2012.
According to WhatCulture Wrestling in a video about Sheamus, Jericho was actually supposed to be the original winner of the Royal Rumble in 2012. However, WWE thought they made it too obvious that Jericho was going to win, so they instead changed it to Sheamus winning the match that year. It's unfortunate they did that, because even though I don't like Chris Jericho, it would of added something to his legacy and helped fuel his feud with CM Punk that year.
One of the superstar's of the early 1990's, The Ultimate Warrior rivaled Hulk Hogan's popularity during that period, and the two together made wonders for a main event at Wrestlemania VI. After his match with Hogan, it seemed like a no brainer that Warrior would receive a Royal Rumble win to cash in on his popularity.
However, it never happened, likely because of Warrior's behavior problems when it came to dealing with Vince McMahon. Few men have been able to f*** with McMahon to the amount that The Ultimate Warrior did over the course of his life. He was fired on three different occasions over the course of his WWE career for a variety of different reasons, ultimately leading to a horrible relationship between him and the company that was fortunate enough to heal before Warrior's death in 2014.
However, he never got to receive the high honor of a Royal Rumble victory.
The tragic death of Eddie Guerrero shocked the wrestling industry back in 2005, with one of the most talented, popular and respected wrestlers dying an early death at age 38. Despite being a wildly popular wrestler, Eddie never did manage to win the Royal Rumble. He competed in two Royal Rumble matches in 2003 and 2005, finishing 13th and 11th respectfully.
Despite not winning the Royal Rumble, Eddie did eventually win a world championship title in WWE. At No Way Out 2004 he defeated Brock Lesnar to claim the WWE Championship. He then went on to defend the title in one of the main event's of Wrestlemania XX, successfully retaining the title against Kurt Angle. So while Eddie might not have a prestigious Royal Rumble victory, he did at least get a title shot and one of the main event matches at Wrestlemania.
It's kind of a mystery to me why "Rowdy" Roddy Piper never won a Royal Rumble during his tenure with the company. Sure, he wasn't really seen as the first guy you would think of to give a world championship to or be placed in a main event. But he's the best heel of all time! This could of added fuel to a feud easily, with a Royal Rumble win by Piper setting up a great story for a massive match against a face easily.
But no, it never happened.
The only wrestler to have won gold at the Olympics, Kurt Angle saw plenty of success during his time with WWE in the first half of the 2000's. He won multiple world championships with the company, and over the course of three years and four Wrestlemania's he participated in main event world title matches in three of them.
Angle came relatively close to winning the Royal Rumble on two separate occasions in 2002 and 2004, finishing second and third respectfully. However, he was never given a victory despite his popularity and talent. One could only wonder what would have happened if Angle stuck around in the WWE a little bit longer than he did.
And last but certainly not least, the one and only Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
One of the biggest figures of 80's wrestling outside of Hulk Hogan, Savage won plenty of championships during his time in the WWE and had several great matches during the early years of Wrestlemania. His legacy as a performer has been kind of whitewashed by WWE since he left the company, mainly because he and Vince McMahon were really angry with each other and absolutely hated each other over mysterious and somewhat concerning reasons...
...but hey, that's all been forgotten as WWE paid tribute to him following his death in 2011 and he was finally elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015 so perhaps everything is forgiven and all under the bridge.
However, the one thing Savage never accomplished was winning the Royal Rumble. He never performed well over multiple appearances, with his closest victory coming after entering last in the Rumble in 1993. Fortunately for him he has far more to define his legacy, but despite this list being in no order at all, he could easily be the the greatest wrestler who didn't pick up a Royal Rumble victory.
******************************
And that's my list. Hope everyone enjoys the Royal Rumble this year and we get a great event this year.
mickyarber Posted on Feb 06, 2017 at 11:42 PM
Great article, and great list of names. There are more great ones who never won one CM Punk and guys who never even appeared in one like Sting.
Ive got an article coming on the Rumbles history as well.
Rick Ace Rhodes Posted on Feb 06, 2017 at 09:26 PM
@Hoju At Wrestlemania for the past few years they've held a battle royal where the winner gets the Andre the Giant memorial trophy. Big Show won it at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015.
@Mr Magic Yeah, Owen Hart pretty much held everything except a world title. I'm guessing they never thought of him as world title material.
@Vaporman I was shocked by some as well while doing research on this.
Vaporman87 Posted on Feb 06, 2017 at 04:18 PM
I'm really surprised by some of the names on this list. As many Rumbles as have taken place, to think somebody like Kane or Savage never won one is crazy.
Mr Magic Posted on Feb 06, 2017 at 03:30 PM
You know, it was unfair that Owen Hart never won the Royal Rumble. He's won like every title except the World Title.
Hoju Koolander Posted on Feb 06, 2017 at 02:55 PM
This "Giant" rule is odd since in recent years they award the with winner with an Andre The Giant memo/rial trophy for another Royal Rumble style event don't they? And I think Big Show won this rumble style event during the last 5 years didn't he?
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