WWE Royal Rumble 2018: Worst Battle Royal Winners in Event's History

WWE held its first Royal Rumble event in 1988, and for the past three decades, the prestigious Battle Royal has been among WWE's most anticipated annual matchups.

With the 2018 Royal Rumble match fast approaching on Jan. 28, fans have begun to speculate who might emerge victorious in the upcoming installment and punch their tickets to the main event of WrestleMania 34 on April 8.

While there are a number of candidates for the company to choose from, WWE hasn't been too wise with who it has chosen to come out on top in the Battle Royal in recent years.

Predictability isn't always a bad thing, mind you, but there is something to be said for having someone win the Rumble who doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. After all, the Royal Rumble kicks off the Road to WrestleMania, so one would think that WWE would want to build excitement for the event with a Rumble winner fans are satisfied with.

Wrestling fans weren't as vocal about their disappointment in a Rumble winner years ago as they are today, but that didn't make the decision any less mind-boggling. Not every installment of the Rumble can be a home run, but the least WWE can do is ensure the right Superstar walks away with the victory.

In fact, there have been a handful of puzzling Royal Rumble winners since the bout's inception. Whether there were better options WWE Creative could have gone with or the aftermath was lackluster, they are widely remembered as the worst winners in Royal Rumble history.

Big John Studd (1989)

Credit: WWE.com

The first-ever Royal Rumble match in 1988 was the only installment to feature 20 men and was won by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

WWE had no plans to push Duggan from that point forward, and the Rumble victory ended up being his sole accomplishment in the company, but it was a feel-good moment to kick off the long lineage of the celebrated Battle Royal.

That said, WWE could have done better with the winner of the Rumble the following year. There were a slew of stars on the rise who could have feasibly emerged victorious, including The Ultimate Warrior, but WWE instead opted to give the nod to Big John Studd.

Studd was without a doubt an important part of the 1980s for WWE, especially during his feud with Andre the Giant, but he had one foot out the door by 1989.

Title shots were not at stake in the Rumble match at the time, but the company could have done more with Studd at WrestleMania 5 than simply have him serve as a special guest referee.

To make matters worse, the Rumble itself that year was fairly forgettable. There wasn't anything technically wrong with it, but it failed to create memorable moments the same way later installments would.

Studd deserved at least one accolade before calling it a career in the company, but he hardly benefited from winning the Rumble at that point.

Lex Luger (1994)

Credit: WWE.com

In 1993, it was announced that the winner of the Royal Rumble going forward would earn themselves a world championship match in the main event of WrestleMania.

Yokozuna earned that honor in 1993 and went on to become WWE champion, but it was the next year that WWE played around with the concept by booking a "draw."

As the story goes, WWE had not yet made up its mind about who it wanted to vie for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania X: Bret Hart or Lex Luger.

Hart deserved the opportunity to regain the gold he never should have lost the year prior, but then again, Luger had managed to get himself incredibly over with the audience in the summer of 1993.

Luger was far from the wrestler that Hart was, but he was at the apex of his popularity at the time and should have had a run with the strap, even if it was brief. By Royal Rumble 1994, his time in the spotlight had passed, and there was no reason for him to still be in the title picture alongside Hart.

The Rumble match ending with a disputed finish was a unique situation heading into WrestleMania, but it was obvious Luger wasn't going to be the one to unseat Yokozuna as champion, so why bother? Hart was a much better option to close out the event as champion, while Luger was left to fade off into irrelevancy.

Following his failure to capture the championship at WrestleMania X, Luger spent the next year as a midcard act, at best, in WWE before leaving for WCW.

Mr. McMahon (1999)

Credit: WWE.com

This inclusion should speak for itself, as there is absolutely zero justifying the decision to have Mr. McMahon win the Royal Rumble match in 1999.

To his credit, McMahon was indeed the most hated heel in the entire organization at that time (if not ever), so it elicited an incredible amount of heat from the fans.

However, considering he wasn't an active member of the roster, it was a pretty dumb decision, especially given how he wasn't involved in the title match at WrestleMania XV.

Instead, McMahon lost the opportunity to contend for the WWE Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at February's St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view. Thus, Austin ended up in the title picture anyway, but that could have been accomplished simply by having him win his third consecutive Rumble match.

The Attitude Era was a chaotic period for WWE, and while that was normally entertaining, this whole Rumble was one giant mess. Austin and McMahon were the focal points, and no one else was given a chance to shine—not to mention interference and constant shenanigans took away from what could have been an exciting outing.

All things considered, there hasn't been a bigger waste of a Rumble win than the 1999 installment.

Batista (2014)

Credit: WWE.com

Fifteen years removed from the Mr. McMahon Royal Rumble debacle of 1999, WWE fans were treated to yet another Rumble disaster in Pittsburgh in 2014.

It had all the makings of a wonderful Rumble given who would be involved, but one small exclusion essentially ruined the whole bout.

Hopes were high for Daniel Bryan's chances of emerging victorious in the Rumble after enduring months of attacks at the hands of The Authority. There was one small issue with that, however: Bryan was never officially announced for the bout, and fans instead assumed he would be taking part so he could win it all.

Once all 30 entrants emerged in the Rumble and none of them were Bryan, the Pittsburgh crowd turned on everyone already in the ring. The rest of the Rumble was nothing special, but those final few minutes weren't pretty in the slightest, especially for the "returning hero" Batista.

The Animal was in the perfect position to be revered by the audience upon coming back to the company, or so it seemed initially. Little did officials know that fans would side with Bryan and oppose anyone else who tried to take his rightful place at the top of the card, wrecking the Rumble in the process.

It was a misfire to say the least, as well as a poor way to start the Road to WrestleMania. But if nothing else, it would lead to WWE learning from its mistakes and getting it right with the 2015 Royal Rumble, right?

Roman Reigns (2015)

Credit: WWE.com

Following the catastrophe that was the 2014 Royal Rumble match, fans assumed there couldn't possibly be a way for the subsequent installment to be any worse. Plus, this one would feature the illustrious likes of Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt, among others.

Unlike in past years, the 2015 Rumble was genuinely unpredictable, and a slew of Superstars realistically could have won it. The match also had a hot start with Bubba Ray Dudley, The Boogeyman and Diamond Dallas Page returning, but it all went downhill once fan favorite Bryan was eliminated prematurely.

From that point forward, it was evident that Reigns was winning the Rumble. Much like Batista the year prior, that would have been a decent idea under different circumstances, but because Bryan had gone from the match, the fans had zero interest in seeing Reigns "overcome the odds" and go on to main-event WrestleMania.

What made Reigns' victory even less impressive was how Big Show and Kane did a majority of the work for him, eliminating a vast majority of the competitors. Reigns was in the wrong Rumble at the wrong time, so it came as no surprise that he was showered with boos once the contest concluded.

Combine that with how he was ultimately unsuccessful in winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31, and it's safe to say that Rumble win damaged Reigns more than it helped him.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.