5 wrestlers you didn't know participated in the Royal Rumble match
The Royal Rumble marks the official start on the Road To WrestleMania every year. It also becomes a very exciting time for the WWE Universe as it is a time full of debuts, surprises, and turns.
The first-ever WWE Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson, is the creator of the Royal Rumble match. The story of the creation dates back in 1988 when Vince McMahon needed a headlining match for a three-hour special on the USA Network.
Patterson tweaked the traditional battle royal concept, and while Vince wasn't warm to the idea at first, it became one of the most iconic matches in WWE history. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan won the first Rumble match in 1988 and Randy Orton won the last one in 2017.
In between, hundreds of wrestlers have come down the aisle every time the clock hit zero, and this article will take a look at five wrestlers you may not have known to compete in this historic match.
They include a couple of legends from the territorial days, a very powerful woman, a luchador icon, and a beer drinking, cigarette smoking extremist. Read on to see the first and only appearance in the Rumble for "The Mad Dog."
#5 Kharma (2012)
Kia Stevens is best known as Awesome Kong from her days in Impact Wrestling. During her time there, she was a two-time Impact Knockouts Champion before heading to the WWE in 2010 under the name of Kharma.
Not long into her WWE career, Kharma was pregnant, so she never really got a chance to get a solid footing in the women's division. She would make a surprise return at the 2012 Royal Rumble entering 21st, scaring Michael Cole into eliminating himself, and eliminating Hunico.
It was only a minute into her Royal Rumble appearance before Dolph Ziggler eliminated her. The July after her Rumble her appearance, the WWE released Kharma.
She would later have a one-year run in TNA, but she was fired from the company in 2016 after having a real-life backstage altercation with Matt Hardy's wife Reby Hardy.