WWE threw a curveball at fans last week when it was implied that the Rock would replace Cody Rhodes in the WWE Championship match against Roman Reigns. The online reactions to this have been largely negative, with many questioning the point of WWE booking Cody to win the Rumble for the second year in a row only to push him out of the Wrestlemania event.
Cody might still challenge for Seth Rollins’ World Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania – but if he somehow finds himself out of that match, he will join a select few Royal Rumble winners who didn’t get to utilize their hard-earned Rumble title shot at Wrestlemania.
This list looks at four other Rumble winners who didn’t challenge for a World title at Wrestlemania on the back of their Rumble victory. It is to be noted that a couple of entries in this list did find themselves in a World title match at that year’s Wrestlemania, but it was not a direct result of their Rumble victory.
Two notable exceptions to this list are Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton. Mysterio won the Rumble in 2006 only to lose his title shot to Randy Orton at No Way Out but got reinserted into the Wrestlemania title match owing to his original Rumble victory.
Orton himself won the Rumble in 2017 but chose to initially relinquish his title shot against fellow Wyatt Family member Bray Wyatt, only to renege on his promise and challenge Wyatt at Wrestlemania after all.
1. Steve Austin – Royal Rumble 1997
At the 1997 Royal Rumble PPV, Stone Cold Steve Austin entered the eponymous match at #5. He eliminated ten men to punch his ticket to Wrestlemania 13, seemingly earning a shot at the new World Champion, Shawn Michaels. However, a series of events transpired over the next month, which altered the original plans.
First, Austin’s victory at the Rumble was deemed questionable as he had been thrown over the top rope and onto the floor by Bret Hart while the officials were occupied elsewhere before reentering the ring to win the match.
Soon enough, reigning Champion Shawn Michaels vacated his belt due to a knee injury. A four-way elimination match was set at the next ‘In Your House’ event between Austin, Hart, the Undertaker and Vader to determine the new WWF Champion.
Hart won the match but lost his title to Sycho Sid on RAW the very next day. This eventually led to Sid and the Undertaker’s main eventing Wrestlemania 13 for the WWE title, whereas Austin faced Bret Hart in a submissions match with no titles at stake.
2. Vince McMahon – Royal Rumble 1999
The Austin-McMahon rivalry had reached its zenith in 1999, and the two entered the Royal Rumble as the first two participants that year. Austin would beat up McMahon for a while before the latter escaped by leaving the ring under the bottom rope and technically remaining in the match. Austin would outlast the entire field before attacking McMahon again to close out the match.
However, a distraction from the Rock allowed McMahon to eliminate Austin and win the Rumble.
The very next night, McMahon would forfeit his title shot, which would result in RAW authority figure Shawn Michaels awarding Austin the title opportunity.
An irate McMahon would agree to battle Austin once again, this time in a Steel Cage match at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre PPV with the stipulation that Austin would lose the title shot if he failed to beat McMahon. Despite interference from a debuting BigShow, Austin proceeded to escape the cage and win the match.
Austin would go on to beat the Rock at Wrestlemania 15, capturing the WWE Championship once again.
3. John Cena – Royal Rumble 2008
John Cena received a massive pop when he showed up unannounced at the 2008 Royal Rumble and went on to win the match, last eliminating Triple H. He would also go on to challenge for the WWE Championship at that year’s Wrestlemania. But Cena earns a place in this list because it wasn’t his Royal Rumble win that led to his Wrestlemania title shot.
In fact, Cena would cash in his title shot at the No Way Out PPV instead, becoming the first wrestler to win the Rumble and use the title opportunity at a PPV other than ‘Mania.
He would win the match by disqualification, which meant that reigning WWE Champion Randy Orton retained the title. Cena would get another chance regardless of the failure as the Wrestlemania WWE Championship match eventually became a Triple threat match involving Orton, Cena, and Triple H. Orton would retain the belt once again at the event.
4. Brock Lesnar – Royal Rumble 2022
One person whom nobody expected to win the 2022 Royal Rumble was Brock Lesnar, primarily because the Beast was the WWE Champion heading into the event. However, Lesnar lost his title to Bobby Lashley in the opening match of the PPV and then emerged as the #30 entrant in the Rumble match.
He would spend just two and a half minutes in the match before winning the event, scoring his second Rumble victory – the first win coming a staggering 19 years prior.
But he would not challenge for the World title at Wrestlemania that year. Instead, WWE would contrive up a series of unnecessary swerves, which saw Lesnar demanding a title shot the next night on RAW.
Lesnar would then be allowed to use his Rumble title shot to compete in a 6-men Elimination Chamber match for the WWE title at next month’s namesake PPV, where he would inexplicably win the belt back from Lashley.
Lesnar would face Universal Champion Roman Reigns in a Winner Takes All match at Wrestlemania, where Reigns would beat Lesnar to become the Undisputed WWE Champion.
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