Your biggest surprise at the Royal Rumble?

[Hollywood Naitch]

I am always suprised but happy to see the returns of wrestlers at the Rumble. Even last year when Big Sexy Kevin Nash and Booker T returned, or Mr Perfect coming back (2002??) or when RVD made a 1-night return to the WWE a few years back. The Rumble regularly has former stars coming back for 1 night only and I think that is one of things that makes it such a special evet, you never know who will show up.

I hope that we get 1 or 2 surprise entries at this years event, as it always gets a big pop from the crowd and gets everyone excited. Maybe a Mick Foley or Bret Hart appearance???

 

[The Idiot]

I grew up in the age of scrambled TV. If you don't know, or don't remember all PPV's were scrambled if you didn't order it....you could not see the picture but you COULD listen to it perfectly. It was almost like listening to the World Wrestling Federation on radio. Well this is what me and my friend did because our parents wouldn't let us order the shows.

The biggest surprise was in 1996 (I believe) and hearing Curt Hennig during commentary saying, "I can't believe it...two years in a row, McMahon!! That's impossible!" And then hearing Shawn Michaels music play. I was stoked...because he was going to main event Wrestlemania. This was before the internet and I honestly did not expect it. There's something about listening to the scrambled PPVs that made it more exciting, like the element of mystery is there not being able to see it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The biggest surprise at the Royal Rumble for me is John Cena's return in 2008 and nothing else even comes close. It was among the most I have ever been legitimately shocked by something WWE has done. I thought he would not be back until Wrestlemania due to the severity of his injury, but sure enough there he was as the surprise entrant at #30 and he won the Rumble. It was an awesome moment and I don't see WWE topping that one anytime soon.

 

[King Patrick Star]

My biggest Royal Rumble surprises are:

Pretty much everyone who has ever won the Royal Rumble for the first time, especially Alberto Del Rio’s 2010 victory in the biggest Royal Rumble ever. That would exclude Hulk Hogan’s 1991 victory, Shawn Michael’s 1996 victory, and Stone Cold’s 1998 and 2001 victories.

Vince McMahon winning the Royal Rumble match in 1999. I mean seriously, Vince McMahon won the Royal Rumble. I thought for sure the world was going to end 11 months after this happened.

Chris Jericho defeating The Rock at the 2002 Royal Rumble. I was shocked when Y2J defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin at Vengeance 2001. I was more shocked when Y2J defeated The Rock at Royal Rumble 2002. I was more shocked when Y2J defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at No Way Out 2002.

Ric Flair winning the vacated WWE Championship in the Royal Rumble match in 1992. I was 112% sure Hulk Hogan was going to 3-peat the Royal Rumble match, and so did every one of you humanoids!!

 

[Davi323]

For me, the biggest surprise ever was that BOTH HBK and the British Bulldog opened and closed the match. Most people remember that Shawn was the 1st entrant, and went the entire distance, but a lot of people forget that the #2 entrant was the Bulldog, and at the end, it was still just him and Shawn. The fact that it was a "power" wrestler who went the distance with Shawn, and not another smaller wrestler known for stamina/endurance, was very shocking to me. Owen Hart being able to keep pace with Shawn Michaels? Okay, I could have seen that coming. But the Bulldog? Not a chance.

It's not that the Bulldog didn't have the stamina to do it, he was in fantastic cardio shape at the time...but he was never booked to be one of those guys. He was always booked as an explosive power guy, and those type of guys are usually booked to use their brute force for a few minutes, eliminate a couple of guys, and then get eliminated themselves.

 

[robinkom]

We'd have to go way back to Royal Rumble 1992 when Ric Flair lasted for the whole match to win the WWF Title. At the time when I was a young mark, I thought it was amazing to stay in that long; In hindsight, it was a terrible idea for a routine man like him. He repeated his flop spot out of the corner at least 4 times and pretty much did nothing but deliver knife-edge chops and get beat up. Yet, the overall match remains one of my favorites to this day.

The only other noteworthy Rumble moment for me was in 1994 at the PPV but not in the Rumble match; It was the Casket match with Taker and Yokozuna where it took 8 other guys to help Yoko get him in there. It was the catalyst for the Undertaker Vs. Undertaker angle that culminated at SummerSlam the same year. I know a lot of people hated that storyline but I still remain a bit sentimental about it. Brian Lee did a good job as the fake Taker I thought.

 

[byrnside]

Triple Naitch already touched on it, but mine has to go for Perfect's return in '02. Mr. Perfect was/has been a long time favorite of mine and I was also in attendance in Atlanta that year. I think most of the crowd was pretty shocked. He had an awesome showing and I was truly optimistic about his return hoping for an upper-midcard or lower main event level run.

Close runner up has to go to Cena in '08. I don't care what that RKO kid says, everyone was shocked when that happened, and I am by no means much of a Cena fan. I actually thought it was pretty cool how they surprised us all.

 

[thebarber]

Big John Studd winning the 1989 Rumble was shocking, Hogan, Savage, Andre were all in the match and Studd , though returning, was a shock. Even more shocking was that he was not pushed afterwards and left the company after Mania 5.

HHH vs Foley at Royal Rumble 2000 was one of the best matches Ive seen , let aline at a Rumble ppv