WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Ranking the Lame-Duck Title Challengers at Rumble PPVs

Even though Royal Rumble is a major pay-per-view every year, it seems that there isn't a lot of focus put into many of the matches. A lot of the storylines culminate within the Royal Rumble match itself. The match which named the event also seems to often be the selling point of the night. There aren't as many matches as a normal pay-per-view, and the non-Rumble matches seem forced.

Historically speaking, as the years have passed, there have been random opponents put into title matches. Call them lame-duck contenders, or simply refer to them as seat fillers before the Road to WrestleMania truly gets going. Challengers to championships at Royal Rumble are usually one of two things: those who will win that night and be champion come WrestleMania, or stop-gaps before the real feud culminates.

The 10 men in this list are the latter of that list. They may not have been a choice for a top contender at that time, but they certainly didn't deserve a title match, especially at such a storied event like the Royal Rumble.

Mr. Kennedy: 2007 (World Heavyweight Championship)

There were many fans who loved Mr. Kennedy. The day that he was fired was the day that many fans felt WWE would live to regret it. From a historic aspect, Kennedy never lived up to the billing or the hype, especially the hype that he delivered from his own mouth.

One of his greatest opportunities was a World Heavyweight Championship match against Batista at the 2007 Royal Rumble. Kennedy won a Beat The Clock Sprint while also costing The Undertaker a chance at the title match. Kennedy had little momentum going in, but actually grew his fanbase within the match. Towards the end of the match, there were actual Kennedy chants.

In the end, singling out the knee of The Animal still wasn't enough to keep the champion down. Batista retained, The Undertaker won the Rumble and Kennedy was on his way to winning Money in the Bank...until he got injured.

Dolph Ziggler: 2011 (World Heavyweight Championship)

Dolph Ziggler may be considered a legitimate world championship contender now, but at last year's Royal Rumble, Ziggler was a shocking challenger for Edge's World Heavyweight Championship. Ziggler literally started one night on Smackdown as Intercontinental Champion, only to lose his title, have an immediate rematch, lose again and be thrown into a No. 1 contender's match in the same night.

Ziggler seemed to stumble into the Rumble match, only using the heat of his relationship with Vickie Guerrero, a former ally of Edge, to seem relevant. That match itself, however, was probably the best of Ziggler's career, at least until that point. A whole year later, after a very short title reign with that belt, Ziggler now tries to become WWE Champion this Sunday. I think that this match went a long way to making Ziggler more relevant in 2012.

Scott Steiner: 2003 (World Heavyweight Championship)

Triple H had a stranglehold on the World Heavyweight Championship. Who would be able to pry it away from him? A 41-year-old Scott Steiner of course.

Steiner was still living off the rise of his return to WWE. He was in the title bout at Royal Rumble 2003, but won via disqualification when The Game used a sledgehammer on him. This would bide time for a rematch at No Way Out, which Steiner would lose as well.

Mark Henry: 2006 (World Heavyweight Championship)

The 2006 Royal Rumble is still scrutinized to this day, mainly for not putting the Royal Rumble match as the last match of the night. This was the night that Rey Mysterio shocked the world and won the Rumble despite starting the match with Triple H. Following that fantastic moment was...two world title matches. One of them was John Cena defeating Edge for the WWE Championship in their long-standing rivalry. The other was this bright idea.

Not only was Kurt Angle and Mark Henry a world title match at a pay-per-view, but it was the main event of the card. Almost a half hour after, Rey Mysterio was going to WrestleMania in an emotional moment in WWE history, and fans yawned as Angle retained via a roll-up. Does anyone even care that this was all to set up The Undertaker's return?

Irwin R. Scheyster: 1994 (Intercontinental Championship)

Razor Ramon was one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of the 1990s. His title reign was in jeopardy at the 1994 Royal Rumble when facing the man known as I.R.S. Scheyster may have seemed like a threat to repossess Razor's gold chains, but didn't have much of a chance to take the Intercontinental Championship belt.

Gangrel: 1999 (European Championship)

Of course, Gangrel as a championship contender sounds silly now. Back in 1999, he challenged X-Pac for the European Championship, which seems like an irrelevant title in hindsight. This match is known in wrestling history for a mistake by Teddy Long, who was still a referee at the time. He mistakenly counted to three for one of Gangrel's nearfalls prior to X-Pac kicking out. The crowd was restless about the act as the cult following for the vampire gimmick, especially once X-Pac had retained the title.

Umaga: 2007 (WWE Championship)

I kind of wish that Umaga wasn't such a lame duck of a challenger for a world championship, but he was. Months had been put into Umaga to make him unbeatable. This then led to Umaga's WWE Championship match against John Cena at 2007's Royal Rumble. This was no ordinary title match, but rather, a Last Man Standing match.

After a turnbuckle taken off the ring and many other weapons used, Umaga fell and did not answer the 10-count. Umaga really wasn't ready for a world title, especially in WrestleMania season. However, the stigma of being a Royal Rumble challenger was too much for Umaga to overcome.

Test: 2007 (ECW Championship)

Even the ECW Championship wanted to seem relevant in WWE by having it defended at Royal Rumble. In the first-ever ECW title defense in Royal Rumble history, the ECW brand rolled out their strong champion, Bobby Lashley, to face one of their most damaging threats, which was...Test?

Sure, Test has always done reasonably well in his career at Royal Rumble, but such a meaningless title like the ECW Championship was a waste of his time. There wasn't a lot that ECW could have offered at that time, but it would have been better to see an original Extremist in that spot instead.

It was more important to make the Rumble match itself extreme, but this was yet another pointless title match in a Royal Rumble that was historically all over the place.

Hardcore Holly: 2000 (Intercontinental Championship)

Chris Jericho and Chyna were involved in a heated rivalry over the Intercontinental Championship. The excuses were all over with at the 2000 Royal Rumble, where one would walk out as the undisputed Intercontinental Champion. However, it wasn't just the two of them in the bout. The match was a triple-threat match that also included Hardcore Holly.

I know what you are thinking. Why was Hardcore Holly involved? Short of going back to old Smackdown episodes from over a decade ago, I couldn't tell you for the life of me. All that I know is that Holly wasn't that feared x-factor that WWE hoped the long-time worker would be. Instead, he was just that guy to take the spots that Chyna would not take.

Thankfully, Holly was not the man pinned in the match. If he was, the Jericho/Chyna rivalry could have kept going for a long time.

Hardcore Holly: 2004 (WWE Championship)

What's worse than a Hardcore Holly title match in the middle of a feud? A random Hardcore Holly WWE Championship match, of course.

I am aware that this was the story of Holly returning from his neck injury, which was suffered at the hands of Lesnar. Even still, who wanted Holly, just days shy of his 41st birthday, to win the WWE Championship leading into WrestleMania XX? The answer is, nobody. This match was eight minutes of rest holds and full nelsons, eventually leading to Lesnar hitting an F-5 for the win.

Weeks later, Lesnar would lose the championship to Eddie Guerrero. Months later, Lesnar would be out of WWE. Years later, an article would be written about why in the world this would seem like a good Royal Rumble title match.

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