The Road to WrestleMania is in full swing and we are now just 2 weeks away from one of the biggest Pay-Per-Views of the year, the Royal Rumble. As always with the big PPV’s on The Wrestling Mania we like to showcase these events with our special countdown articles, and this is no different.
We tasked the writing team this week to write about their Favourite Five Surprise Entrants and they certainly didn’t disappoint. The following pages showcase the diversity of writing styles that we have here at TWM.
If I seem a bit irreverent here in my choices then blame a mixture of a patchy memory for things like this and an attempt to bring forward a few less obvious moments than others might choose. Nevertheless, these are moments that I remember with fondness, even if they don’t necessarily meet the strict criteria you might have for a “surprise”…
1993 – Bob Backlund
It had been the better part of decade since Bob Backlund had been the face of the WWF and few would have expected him to have any impact in the Rumble match. Drawing an early number to little (or no) reaction from the fans things didn’t look good but little did we know that he was going to channel the spirit of Ric Flair from a year earlier and last over an hour in the match. And it wasn’t just that he lasted an hour that was the surprise. It was that despite being met by the sound of silence initially, over the course of that hour Backlund was able to rally the fans behind him to the extent that they were pretty upset when eventual winner Yokozuna eliminated him. Ok, so the reaction didn’t last (by WrestleMania IX he was being mercilessly booed and mocked by fans) but there you go.
2001 – Honky Tonk Man
Ok so it wasn’t the “biggest” name return or surprise we’ve had but there was certainly something memorable about this one. Kane was destroying everything in sight during the Rumble match when the familiar strains of “Cool, Cocky, Bad” kicked in. That Honky strutted to the ring and proceeded to treat the fans to a rendition of his hit song, much to the apparent bemusement of the Big Red Machine. Having tired of the song, Kane grabbed Honky’s guitar and hit him over the head with it. It brought a smile to my face anyway.
2002 – Mr Perfect
It says something about my (lack of) memory that I cannot honestly remember if this was a surprise in terms of him being at the Rumble or not. I don’t think it was, as I am sure it was announced in the weeks leading up to the show. However the surprise was more to do with the fact that it was almost as if time had stood still for Curt Hennig. He looked ripped, got a huge ovation and actually was in the final four of the bout. It couldn’t last, of course, and he never really received a push after this show, but for one night we could all dream that Mr Perfect was back and was as Perfect as ever.
2008 – John Cena
I chose this as one of my top five winners of the Rumble, but I don’t think I could do a list of top Rumble surprises and not mention this one. Simply put, no-one was expecting his return. No-one. It was truly “spoiler” free and it was so well done that the fans in Madison Square Gardens, never the most forgiving of audiences, popped huge and it felt like a great, great moment in Rumble history. Which it was.
2010 – Beth Phoenix
In terms of women, only the “Ninth Wonder of the World” Chyna had previously wrestled in the Royal Rumble match and whilst Beth Phoenix couldn’t ever claim to have been the “star” that Chyna was she was (at least) twice the worker and truly deserved her moment in the Rumble spotlight. She had an altercation with CM Punk and then both kissed AND eliminated The Great Khali.
– By Matthew Roberts
What were some of your favourite Royal Rumble surprises? Comment Below!
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