5 instances when Royal Rumble winners failed to win the WrestleMania Main Event

Edge lost his biggest chance to become a champion

For the WWE fans Royal Rumble might just be an exciting pay-per-view which has a 30-man battle royal at its main highlight. But for the WWE superstars, it’s the ultimate chance to main event the granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania.

It’s because of such high stakes that the Rumble gained the popularity that it has now and the event often produces the best underdog stories as superstars are propelled from a face in crowd to title contenders at WrestleMania.

But the fact is, the road only starts at Royal Rumble. There is a lot of distance that needs to be travelled by the winner to get his hands on the gold. While most of the Rumble winners went to WrestleMania and came back with the gold around their waist, some were less fortunate and fell short of the big one. So here is a look at top five wrestlers who didn’t win the title at WrestleMania even after defeating 29 other men in the Royal Rumble.

Honorable mentions: Alberto Del Rio (2011) and Lex Luger (1994)

5- Shawn Michaels (1995)

Shawn Michaels and Pamela Anderson

In what proved to be one of the best underdog stories of the 90s, Shawn Michaels became the first wrestler to enter the Rumble at number one spot and win it. The Heart Break Kid eliminated Davey Boy Smith who entered at second in dramatic fashion to clinch the feat.

Then Michaels would earn the chance to be escorted by Pamela Anderson for his WrestleMania XI main event against WWF Champion Diesel. But the underdog story didn’t have a happy ending as Michaels fell for Diesel after interference by his own bodyguard Sid. And to add salt to the wound, Anderson decided to accompany Diesel for the match despite Michaels earning it as said earlier.

But as an aftermath, Diesel would then team up with Michaels later and the two would go on to win the tag team titles as well.