5 people who shouldn't have won the Royal Rumble match
The Royal Rumble is the showcase event that commences the road to Wrestlemania on an annual basis. This year is the thirtieth edition of the symbolic pay-per-view and remains one of the more favoured events by many fans.
Nonetheless, down the years the hierarchy in the WWE have made numerous mistakes in one of the company’s most iconic events.
Whether it is the unnecessary pushes of overrated stars, overuse of famous faces or failure to use talent to the best of their ability, mistakes have been made down the years. But there’s one thing that could be deemed a terrible mistake, and that's allowing someone to win the tournament when they shouldn't.
A Superstar winning the Rumble match when they shouldn't have is seen as a bad push by the company, but who are the winners who shouldn't have been victorious down the years?
Here are five winners of the Royal Rumble that proved to be nothing but a mistake by the company's creative team.
#5 Stone Cold Steve Austin – 1997
"What?" I hear you say! No really, Austin winning the Rumble in 1997 was nothing other than a mistake. As the company continued to push Austin in late 1996, the Texas Rattle-Snake should not have won the Royal Rumble for the simple reason being that Wrestlemania XIII was a disaster due to a lack of engaging storylines.
As the event was scheduled to host the rematch between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, an unexpected main event of Sycho Sid and The Undertaker could have drawn more money if the company created a sensible storyline.
Austin's push was legendary, and he was probably a deserved winner, but as they only pushed him to semi-main event status, surely the winner of the Rumble deserved more - especially when someone with Austin's talent ended up playing second fiddle to Sycho Sid.
#4 Hulk Hogan – 1990
It literally made no sense to have the Hulkster to win the Royal Rumble in 1990. The WWE Champion went into the contest as the Champion, and firmly as a crowd favourite.
Instead of pushing someone like the Ultimate Warrior - who could headline Wrestlemania VI - the WWE opted for Hogan once again. In the third instalment of McMahon's pay-per-view, Hogan must have felt left out of proceedings as he had not won the previous two editions of the match.
Also read: 5 men who shouldn't win the Royal Rumble match
It had to have been ego that allowed Hogan win the Rumble because storyline wise it made little to no sense. Thankfully, the fans got what they wanted in the end as both Warrior and Hogan headlined Wrestlemania in Toronto.
Why Hogan was crowned the winner in 1990, we'll never know.