WWE Royal Rumble 2016: Greatest Superstars Never to Win Battle Royal
WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2015 is officially in the books, which means it's time for fans to turn their attention to the Royal Rumble.
The January classic is right around the corner, and it's never too soon to start speculating who might cement their spots in the main event of WrestleMania.
The Royal Rumble match has been an annual staple in WWE dating back to its inception in 1988. It wasn't until five years later that the company added the stipulation that the winner would advance to WrestleMania for a world title shot.
In the nearly three decades since then, fans have witnessed countless monumental moments and historic happenings in the 30-man Battle Royal. From Hulk Hogan winning in back-to-back years to Shawn Michaels surviving from the No. 1 spot, the Rumble is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and unpredictable nights of the year.
Most of WWE's biggest Superstars over the last 30 years have won the Rumble at one point or another (with few having accomplished the feat twice), but not all of them. Despite accolades achieved throughout the rest of the calendar year, there have been those who never laid claim to victory in the milestone matchup.
With the road to the Royal Rumble now underway, we'll look back at the most notable names in WWE history who deserved to win the Rumble but weren't given the opportunity.
Andre the Giant
1 of 10
One would think that based on his size alone, Andre the Giant would have won the Royal Rumble match at least once, especially given his astonishing track record in Battle Royals.
Andre made his Royal Rumble debut in the 1989 installment, eliminating a slew of Superstars before taking himself out by accident. He was involved in the following year's Rumble match, though his time spent in the bout was not nearly as impressive.
Interestingly enough, he was left out of the inaugural Rumble in 1988, but merely because he took part in a contract signing that same night with Hulk Hogan. The two were set to square off for the WWE Championship on The Main Event in early February.
Given he captured the championship anyway (before forfeiting it moments later), it would have been fitting had he won the Rumble match. Title shots weren't at stake at that point, but the victory could have given him an extra momentum boost going into his championship clash with Hogan.
Jim Duggan's win that evening sent the crowd home happy, but compared to future winners, Andre would have set a bigger precedent—both literally and figuratively—for the annual Battle Royal.
Ted DiBiase
2 of 10
Despite having all the money in the world, Ted DiBiase could never buy himself a Royal Rumble victory.
He's actually won Battle Royals before by paying off the winner, but the Rumble always alluded him throughout his illustrious career.
Interestingly enough, he competed in most of the 30-man Rumbles from 1989 to 1993 before his abrupt retirement from the squared circle. With the exception of 1989, when he drew the prized No. 30 slot, he entered early at each installment.
The annual Battle Royal is every bit as known for its iron men as it is for its victors. DiBiase was among the first Superstars to last longer than most participants, surviving a whopping 44 minutes in 1990 before being eliminated by The Ultimate Warrior.
Similarly to Andre the Giant, he had a claim to capture the win at the inaugural Rumble in 1988. Although he didn't take part, it would have made sense for him to come out on top, considering he was involved in the WrestleMania main event that year, anyway.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Superstars to never win a world title, The Million Dollar Man also deserved to win at least one Rumble in the late '80s or early '90s.
The Ultimate Warrior
3 of 10
The Ultimate Warrior's time on top in WWE may have been brief, but there's no denying the lasting legacy he left on wrestling in the 1980s and '90s. He inspired warriors worldwide with his colorful face paint and electric energy and suffered few defeats in singles competition.
That said, his natural quickness would have seen him fare well in the Royal Rumble match. But because his runs with the company were so sporadic, he competed in the annual Battle Royal only once in 1990, months ahead of his mega-showdown with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI.
Going into the event as the intercontinental champion, he was riding a wave of momentum. Upon entering the match, Warrior eliminated five Superstars before coming face-to-face with Hogan in the middle of the ring for the first time.
Before one icon could get the upper hand over the other, another participant entered the fray and temporarily put an end to their mini-match. Ultimately, Warrior was taken out of the match by The Barbarian and Rick Rude, with some assistance from Hogan.
The shortcoming didn't hinder Warrior's hot streak on the road to WrestleMania, but in retrospect, there's no reason why he couldn't have won this Rumble, considering Hogan emerged victorious in the subsequent installment as well.
Randy Savage
4 of 10
Along with The Ultimate Warrior, it's crazy to think that one of the biggest stars of the 1980s, Randy Savage, never at any point won the illustrious Royal Rumble match during his legendary career.
Considering he won the WWE Championship for the first time at WrestleMania IV, it would have made sense to have him win in 1988. If not that year, there were other opportunities for Savage to have emerged victorious in the annual Battle Royal.
Had he not captured the prestigious prize at WrestleMania VIII, he could have won it much sooner at the Royal Rumble, the only installment in which the WWE title was at stake. Then again, Ric Flair had an unforgettable performance that year that led to their epic clash on the grand stage, so perhaps it worked out for the better.
Even then, WWE had one last chance to give Savage his well-deserved Rumble win in 1993, when he lasted until the very end. He gave Yokozuna his all, but sadly he was no match for the dominant up-and-coming star.
Macho Man was gone from WWE the next year, never to return and receive his due in the form of a Rumble win.
Mick Foley
5 of 10
Mick Foley was as integral a part of the Attitude Era as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock or anyone else. He isn't best known for his short-lived reigns as WWE champion but rather for his resilience and immense popularity with fans.
Foley's early battles with The Undertaker cemented him as a star on the rise, but it wasn't until his series of matches with The Rock in late 1998 and early 1999 that he officially became a main event player in WWE, winning the world title for the first time on the January 4 edition of Raw.
As a result of his rivalry with The Rock, Foley was absent from the Royal Rumble match that year, instead competing in a brutal "I Quit" match with The Great One. It was a filler feud for Rocky before his pending WrestleMania match with Stone Cold, but Foley should have been spotlighted with a Rumble win.
In 2000, the last year he was technically an active competitor, he contended for the WWE title against Triple H, again falling short of victory. He and The Game contested an excellent Street Fight, but it would have been better to have Foley win the Rumble and advance to the 'Mania main event.
He ended up in the title match at The Show of Shows anyway thanks to Linda McMahon, but he was a random and useless addition to the bout. Earning a title shot by surviving in the Rumble would have at least made sense of his involvement.
Kane
6 of 10
When all is said and done and Kane officially calls it a career, he may go down in the record books as the greatest competitor in Royal Rumble history, let alone the greatest Superstar to never win one.
With the exception of 1998 and 2012, Kane has taken part in every Royal Rumble that has occurred since his WWE debut in October 1997. Of all those years, he was the brightest star coming out of the 2001 installment.
Even three years into his run, he was still a force to be reckoned with, entering the 2001 Rumble a strong candidate to come out on top. Drawing No. 6, he was initially at a disadvantage but turned his luck around by eliminating everyone who stepped in his path of destruction.
From The Rock to Perry Saturn, no one was safe from the demonic Kane, who lasted an incredible 53 minutes. He also set the record for most amount of eliminations in one Rumble at 11, a record that would stand for well over a decade before being broken in 2014 by Roman Reigns.
WWE already had its plans set in stone for WrestleMania X-Seven, which would feature Rock vs. Steve Austin for the WWE Championship, but throwing Kane a bone that year would have been well-deserved. He never again came that close to victory.
Kurt Angle
7 of 10
Few Superstars can say they've accomplished it all in WWE. In his seven-year stint with the company, Kurt Angle held the world title six times, headlined WrestleMania XIX and won the 2000 King of the Ring tournament.
Unfortunate for the Olympic gold medalist, winning a Royal Rumble match wasn't among those accolades.
Unlike other entries on this list, there was never one year that seemed to belong to Angle, but the closest he came to winning the Rumble was in 2002. Along with Triple H, he was considered a fan favorite to headline WrestleMania X8, even going so far as to eliminate the likes of Kane and Steve Austin.
Triple H ultimately emerged victorious, but Angle looked strong in defeat. He actually won Triple H's title shot at No Way Out the following month before losing it back to him shortly thereafter.
2006 would have been another logical year to allow him to win the Rumble had he not been world heavyweight champion at the time. The chances of him finally winning one if and when he returns to WWE, whenever that may be, are slim to none.
Eddie Guerrero
8 of 10
The 2004 Royal Rumble match has almost been erased from the record books because of who won it: Chris Benoit. Fans will forever remember it as one of the better Rumble matches of this millennium, but sadly, WWE will never recognize it as such.
That said, all of this could have been avoided had Eddie Guerrero won it instead.
Granted, Benoit had his moment of winning the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania XX, but his staying power on top was brief. Once his run as world champ concluded, he was never again pushed at that same level.
Guerrero, however, flirted with the main event scene a few times after losing the WWE title in mid-2004. He too shined at WrestleMania XX by successfully retaining his WWE title against Kurt Angle, but it would have been 10 times more monumental had he won it there as opposed to at No Way Out.
Guerrero's beating Brock Lesnar for the belt that night was magical, but it would have been a better fit for the WMXX main event, considering the circumstances surrounding the original main event all these years later.
Chris Jericho
9 of 10
Chris Jericho is another notable name who has participated in his fair share of Royal Rumble matches over the years but has yet to win one.
Other than 2002, when he was already the undisputed world champion, it would have made the most sense to have him emerge victorious a decade later in 2012.
From the moment vignettes began airing on Raw in late 2011 hyping the return of an unidentified individual, fans speculated it would be Jericho and that he would win the Royal Rumble. He had a ready-made program with then-WWE champion CM Punk going into WrestleMania XVIII.
He came back on the premier edition of Raw in 2012 and immediately became the likely candidate to win the Rumble in the minds of many, as there weren't any other clear-cut victors. Entering late in the match, he had an advantage over his adversaries but surprisingly came up short against Sheamus.
It wasn't the wrong move to make, since Sheamus was a relatively fresh face at the time, but Jericho headed into 'Mania with next to no momentum. The match with Punk happened regardless, and it was every bit as awesome as fans expected it would be, but a Rumble win would have at least given Jericho some credibility as the challenger.
An argument can also be made that he could have won the Rumble in 2013, when he returned at the No. 1 slot. Had he won and Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to become world heavyweight champion, they could have had their highly anticipated rubber match at WrestleMania for the title.
CM Punk
10 of 10
It's well-documented by now that among the main reasons CM Punk left in WWE in January 2014—along with feeling creatively stifled and burned out—was that he knew he was never going to get to main event WrestleMania XXX.
Once it became clear he wasn't going to headline The Show of Shows that year, he was long gone. But another accolade he also deserved to achieve was winning the Royal Rumble match.
WWE could have killed two birds with one stone by having him win the Rumble in 2014 before advancing to 'Mania to regain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. By that point, it would have been 434 days since he held the belt, the same amount of time he reigned as champ in 2011 through 2013.
It was almost too perfect for WWE not to do. Then again, there would have been no shame in giving him a Rumble win in 2011 when he was firing on all cylinders as Raw's lead heel.
Instead, the company subjected him to a TV program with John Cena that lasted for a cup of coffee before transitioning him into a rivalry with Randy Orton, which he also lost.
As he said himself in his WWE-produced documentary, there was no one hotter than him at that time in the company, which is why a Rumble victory and a main event title match with Cena would have been infinitely better than what he actually got.
Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.
.jpg?w=600 "WWE Raw Results & Grades 🔠")
