5 WWE Superstars who rejected a spot in the Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated events in the WWE calendar. Once a year, 30 men and 30 women compete in professional wrestling's most famous battle royal-style match, with the winners punching their ticket to the main event of WrestleMania.
While both the Men's and Women's Rumble matches have huge significance in regards to WrestleMania, the event is also much-loved for its surprises. Whether it's the shocking return of a superstar from injury or a cameo appearance from a talent of days gone by, fans know to expect the unexpected when January rolls around.
To provide these moments, WWE routinely reaches out to wrestlers from outside the company and offers them places in the Rumble.
In 2022 alone, WWE brought in Lita, Summer Rae, the Bella Twins, Sarah Logan, Melina and several other superstars from the past to take part in the Women's Royal Rumble match.
It would seem that even stars from other companies are on the table, as in an unprecedented move, current IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion Mickie James was featured in this year's bout.
However, not every former Superstar that recieves an invite accepts it, and this year's event in particular saw a number of high-profile rejections.
With that in mind, here is a look at five occasions a superstar turned down an opportunity to compete in the Royal Rumble match.
#5 Chris Jericho rejected WWE's pitch for him to be part of the 2015 Royal Rumble
Before we move on to those who reportedly knocked back WWE's attempts to fit them into this year's event, let's take a look at one example from the past.
Chris Jericho is one of the most experienced competitors in Royal Rumble history with 11 appearances in the titular bout under his belt. Throughout his nearly-two decade run with WWE, Y2J was one of the most reliable hands on the roster and one of Vince McMahon's go-to guys when a spot needed to be filled.
However, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current AEW star did turn down an opportunity to compete in the marquee match back in 2015.
At the time, Jericho was not a regular on television and apparently felt that returning to the big stage for a one-off appearance with no follow-up plans would not be beneficial to him.
Meltzer wrote:
"Chris Jericho was contacted on 1/19 and asked to be in the Rumble, but he’s been wanting to stay out of the ring except on house shows, so that when he returns to TV as a wrestler it’ll be after being off for a while and people are wanting him back instead of coming back too early and it meaning nothing." - Wrestling Observer Newsletter, February 2, 2015.
Jericho would be back in the Royal Rumble in 2016 as he built towards a WrestleMania 32 match with AJ Styles.