Very often, a single performance at the Royal Rumble can be a lasting memory for a wrestler's career. Former WWE superstar Maven spent four years with the WWE hardly doing anything of note, but fans still remember him primarily for eliminating The Undertaker from the 2oo2 Royal Rumble match.
While that elimination has become legendary for being arguably the most unexpected one of all time, there have been numerous other significant Rumble moments that have been largely forgotten. Roman Reigns eliminating his Shield partners at the 2014 Rumble and Nikki Bella eliminating her sister Brie at the first-ever Women's Rumble gained a lot of pop at the time but has hardly been mentioned since. Considering that the Rumble match has been around since 1988, there have been plenty of eliminations that have become forgotten with time.
10 Chris Jericho Eliminates Shawn Michaels - 2003
Considering that Shawn Michaels usually assumes the ironman role in most of his matches, it was surprising to see him being the first person eliminated from the 2003 Rumble. Michaels was the No:1 entrant and he lasted just under 3 minutes before being thrown out of the ring by the No:2 entrant Chris Jericho.
Michaels had been distracted by Christian coming out to Jericho's music and the future Le Champion proceeded to deliver a low blow and a chair shot to HBK before eliminating him from the match. The surprising elimination was used to build a WrestleMania bout between the two, which became an underrated classic.
9 Heath Slater Eliminates Sheamus- 2018
After getting the 'I've got kids' gimmick over, Heath Slater continued his lovable loser persona during the 2018 Royal Rumble match. Slater was the fifth entrant but was attacked by Baron Corbin before he could enter the ring.
Slater continued to get attacked by the subsequent entrants outside the ring before Sheamus finally allowed Slater to get inside the ring. In a huge upset, Slater immediately eliminated Sheamus from the match. The Celtic Warrior spent a grand total of two seconds inside the ring before being embarrassed by the four-time Tag team Champion. Slater lasted just over 30 seconds in the match before getting eliminated by Bray Wyatt.
8 Bubba Ray Dudley Eliminates The Miz - 2015
The 2015 Royal Rumble is remembered for the negative reactions that winner Roman Reigns received, but it also saw the one-night return of Bubba Ray Dudley to the WWE. Bubba entered at #3 and was a genuine surprise.
The look on The Miz's face when Bubba made his way to the ring was priceless and the former TNA Champion made his presence felt in the match despite lasting only four minutes. Bubba made two eliminations and, while throwing R-Truth out of the ring was expected, he also made short work of the Miz, who was expected to go long in the match. The crowd response to Bubba's cameo made the WWE add The Dudley Boyz tag-team back to the roster within a year.
7 Giant Gonzalez Eliminates The Undertaker - 1993
Prior to their awful WrestleMania 9 encounter, The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez came face-to-face for the first time during the 1993 Royal Rumble match. Billed at being 8-foot-tall, Gonzalez was a former NBA player who signed with the WWF after a stint in WCW battling Hulk Hogan.
He made his WWF debut at the Rumble and was guided to the ring by Undertaker's nemesis, Wippleman. While not an official Rumble entrant, Gonzalez proceeded to dominate the Deadman, sending him over the top rope with a chop. Gonzalez would chokeslam Taker and proceeded to attack him at ringside, setting up their Mania match.
6 The Undertaker Eliminates Goldberg - 2017
The main talking point after the 2017 Royal Rumble was Goldberg eliminating Brock Lesnar after a quick spear, adding more embarrassment to the Beast after an 86-second squash at the Survivor Series PPV. This performance would see WWE put the Universal title on Goldberg with Lesnar beating him for the belt at that year's WrestleMania.
RELATED: 5 Ways Goldberg Was Better In WCW (&5 Ways He Was Better In WWE)
However, it wasn't Goldberg who won the Rumble that year - In fact, he would be eliminated from the match after a classic face to face with the Undertaker. Neither men were at their peak physical condition and WWE did a good job by making the confrontation short and sweet as opposed to their terrible Super Showdown match in 2019.
5 The Wyatt Family Eliminates Brock Lesnar - 2016
The 2016 event saw Brock Lesnar last just over nine minutes in the Rumble match, but he did eliminate three members of The Wyatt Family. Lesnar had disposed of Braun Strowman, Eric Rowan, and Luke Harper and was set to lock horns with Bray Watt as The Wyatt Family leader made his way to the ring.
However, the rest of The Wyatt Family triple-teamed Lesnar and threw him over the top rope. The angle did not lead to a proper feud between Lesnar and the Wyatts as the former went on to face Dean Ambrose in a disappointing match at that year's WrestleMania.
4 Kane Eliminates CM Punk - 2014
The final match in CM Punk's career was the 2014 Royal Rumble match where he lasted close to 50 minutes before getting eliminated as the 27th superstar. Punk would walk out of the company after the match and has never wrestled a match since.
While Punk seemed to be heading to a feud with Triple H at that year's WrestleMania, it is worth noting that it was actually Corporate Kane who eliminated him from the Rumble. Kane had entered the match as the fifth entrant and had been originally eliminated by Punk after just one minute, but he would return to toss Punk out in retaliation.
3 Mr.Kennedy Eliminates Shawn Michaels - 2008
Shawn Michaels' iconic feud with The Undertaker that led to their classic WrestleMania main event match in 2010 had four years of slow-build. The Deadman would win the 2007 Royal Rumble by last eliminating Michaels before HBK gained revenge by eliminating Taker from the 2008 Rumble.
However, Michaels took his eye off the ball after eliminating Taker and was dumped over the top rope five seconds later. The man to eliminate Michaels was none other than Mr. Kennedy who had started a feud with him over the past few months. The angle never truly evolved as Kennedy was released from the WWE in 2009 and Michaels moved on to other opponents.
2 Shane McMahon Eliminates Shawn Michaels - 2006
At WrestleMania 22, Shawn Michaels carried Vince McMahon to a great match. The seeds were sown months in advance as McMahon unsuccessfully tried to keep Michaels out of the 2006 Royal Rumble match. At the event, Michaels got distracted by Vince's entrance music only for Shane McMahon to interfere and throw HBK over the top rope.
Fans don't easily recollect how significant Shane's role was in the rivalry as the former "Boy Wonder" would beat Michaels in a Streetfight, bloody him with a Coast 2 Coast, and forced him to join Vince's "Kiss My Ass" Club. Both Shane and Vince got their comeuppance at 'Mania with JR hilariously referring to Shane as the "Demon Seed" who got taken to the woodshed when Michaels beat the younger McMahon up with a kendo stick.
1 Kurt Angle Eliminates Goldberg - 2004
It is a shame that Goldberg never got to wrestle Kurt Angle one-on-one in the WWE despite the two being close to their peak in 2004. They were on separate brands and the only time Angle and Goldberg shared the same ring was during the 2004 Royal Rumble.
Fans mostly remember the then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar delivering an F-5 to Goldberg during the Rumble to set up their awful WrestleMania 20 match, but Lesnar wasn't a legitimate entrant in the match. In fact, it would be SmackDown superstar Kurt Angle who would eliminate a recovering Goldberg while the latter wasted time jaw-jacking with Lesnar. The Angle vs Goldberg program never materialized as the latter left WWE a few months later.