The '90s was certainly a strange time in wrestling for WWE, with the company often making a lot of random, one-off decisions simply for the sake of it. That impacted the Royal Rumble where WWE would often bring in some very strange names seemingly just for the sake of filling spots.
With 30 spots to fill inside the Rumble in the match, it isn't always easy to get a full bout of big names. However, during the '90s WWE really did fill this match with some odd names that came out of nowhere and made very little sense as they always had absolutely no chance of winning the Rumble.
10 Gillberg (1999)
The 1999 Royal Rumble is quite comfortably one of the worst in history, and a big reason for that is the random collection of wrestlers involved in this match. WWE brought out some strange entrants, and Gillberg was certainly part of that.
Gillberg was a total waste of a spot as he never had a chance of winning the match at all. He was only involved in the match for six seconds, making his appearance one of the shortest in Rumble history, to the surprise of nobody. He was seemingly only there for a short comedy burst.
9 Tiger Ali Singh (1999)
Speaking of the 1999 Royal Rumble, another very random appearance came in the form of Tiger Ali Singh. He was another wrestler who never had a chance at winning the match and nobody wanted to see him enter it either.
He may have been able to frustrate fans and pick up heel heat, but he wasn't someone who needed to be in the Rumble itself. It was clear he was just making up the numbers, which weakened the match overall.
8 Carlos Colon (1993)
There's no denying that Carlos Colon is a legend of the wrestling world, but that isn't because of his work in WWE. He was best known for his work outside the company, so when he randomly showed up in the 1993 Rumble, people didn't really know what was going on.
By this stage in his carer, Colon was far past his prime, despite Gorilla Monsoon trying to tell people otherwise with his strange commentary calls. It was a random inclusion into the Rumble and was an example of a surprise entrant that just didn't work.
7 Dick Murdoch (1995)
Dick Murdoch is a former WWE Tag Team Champion, however, he had been gone for 10 years when he randomly returned in the 1995 Royal Rumble in what was a truly strange appearance in the match.
Murdoch was a blast from the past for nostalgic fans who remembered his past and he certainly brought a physical approach to his appearance within the match. Yet he was never someone who people expected to win.
6 Dory Funk, Jr. (1996)
Another great wrestling name is Dory Funk, Jr. but his appearance in the 1996 Royal Rumble was certainly a strange one. He worked with WWE in the 1980s, and when his stint with the company was over, he wasn't expected back.
However, Funk randomly just appeared in the 1996 Rumble without any build and was a surprise appearance. It came out of nowhere and Funk didn't really have much of an impact within the match, which made it even stranger.
5 The Blue Meanie (1999)
The Blue Meanie was never seen as anything other than a comedic talent who was around to provide laughs to people. Because of that, putting him into the Royal Rumble was purely done to fill the match up.
With 30 spots, not everyone can be a top star and that was certainly the case when it came to The Blue Meanie. He never had any chance of winning the match and didn't put in a memorable performance here.
4 AAA Luchadores (1997)
The 1997 Royal Rumble saw some truly random and strange appearances with several AAA Luchadores randomly showing up. Pierroth and Cibernetico both appeared, along with Latin Lover all making their presence known.
There's no doubt that they were all talented wrestlers, but when it came to the Rumble, they never had a chance to win. Nobody knew who they were as this one just felt like a very odd decision.
3 Mil Mascaras (1997)
Another random appearance within the 1997 Royal Rumble came from the legendary Mil Mascaras. He is someone who had an incredible career in wrestling and did end up becoming a WWE Hall Of Famer.
However, his appearance in the Rumble came out of nowhere. He hadn't wrestled for WWE since the 1980s, and then he randomly just appeared within this match, which was certainly strange. To add to it, he hilariously didn't want to put someone over and eliminated himself with a dive.
2 The Squat Team (1996)
This is a two-for-one entry as WWE decided the 1996 Royal Rumble would be the right time to debut not just one, but two new wrestlers. Known as 'The Squat Team,' these two wrestlers were twins and were literally known as 'Squat Team No.1/2.'
Despite the fact they were big men, both of them were very quickly eliminated from the match, which made their debut a very flat one. They ended up working for ECW as The Headhunters, with this pair being incredibly forgettable, and their appearances here being very strange.
1 Genichiro Tenryu (1993/1994)
Genichiro Tenryu is certainly a well-respected wrestling legend, but his appearance in the 1993 and 1994 Royal Rumbles were very strange. He was well-known in Japan, but not so much in America, so when he took part in the 1993 Rumble, nobody really knew what was going on.
He then strangely returned the year despite the fact he was still not a regular member of the WWE roster. It was a really strange deal that WWE had seemingly struck with him, and his appearances just made no sense at all.