10 Biggest surprise returns in Royal Rumble history
The inaugural WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view is now less than a week away and this year's show is already one of the finest and stacked cards' WWE has managed to come up with. Superstars such as Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Sasha Banks have all earned a title shot and will challenge for the Universal, WWE, and Raw Women's Championship respectively at the Rumble.
Elsewhere, other stars such as Buddy Murphy, Shinsuke Nakamura, Becky Lynch, and The Bar are also confirmed to feature on the card, however, one of the prime reasons' why the Royal Rumble pay-per-view is the most exciting WWE show of all time is of course due to the two 30 men and women over the top rope battle royale matches.
For years now, the Royal Rumble pay-per-view has been solely based around its namesake match and ever since the first pay-per-view took place in 1988, the WWE Universe has been treated to some of the greatest and shocking returns of all time.
In this article, I'll take an in-depth look at 10 of the biggest and surprising returns that underwent at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view during the infamous Rumble match.
#10 Mick Foley
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley has done it all and seen it all in a WWE ring where he has competed in some of the hardest hitting, gruelling, and brutal matches of all time. However, in 2003, Foley, who despite being way past his prime years, refused to fight the up and coming star in Randy Orton.
Being the Intercontinental Champion at that point in time, Orton made sure that Foley walked out of a scheduled match against the former Evolution protege. In response to Foley walking out, Orton asked the former WWF Champion why he had walked out and called him a coward in the process, before spitting in his face and making sure that Foley walked out of WWE as well.
However, at the 2004 Royal Rumble, Foley finally made his highly awaited return to the WWE, as the evergreen crowd favorite came out an awesome pop from the crowd before eventually eliminating both himself and Randy Orton in the Rumble match with his trademark Cactus Jack Clothesline.
Foley's return eventually led to a reunion between The Rock 'n' Sock Connection, who faced off against Evolution at WrestleMania XX, and shortly afterwards, Foley and Orton finally squared off in a classic match at Backlash.