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0:00 - Intro
0:59 - Honourable Mentions
1:11 - 12
1:52 - 11
2:30 - 10
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0:00 - Intro
0:59 - Honourable Mentions
1:11 - 12
1:52 - 11
2:30 - 10
3:18 - 9
4:05 - 8
5:03 - 7
5:36 - 6
6:13 - 5
7:00 - 4
8:06 - 3
9:06 - 2
10:17 - 1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
Youtube Channel Comments Policy
We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 For 20 long years, not a single competitor was able to win the Royal Rumble from the
00:04 coveted number 30 spot, which probably means a lot of those number 30 entrants sucked.
00:09 And well, you can read the title of this video.
00:12 Unless you can't.
00:13 In which case, shame on your school system.
00:14 But while the first two decades were not terribly kind to the Rumble's would-be final boss,
00:19 the following two decades have been a mixed bag as well.
00:22 You got your 2008 John Cena to set the benchmark, but otherwise, WWE has gotten a lot wrong
00:27 with what should be the most anticipated moment of the Rumble in modern times.
00:31 There are going to be a wide range of entrants for loads of reasons, but let's get into it
00:35 and see who did the number 30 dirty.
00:37 I'm Tempest Hailing from PartsFunKnown, and these are the 12 worst number 30 entrants
00:41 in Royal Rumble history.
00:42 But before we get on with this list, please make sure that you like this video, subscribe
00:45 and enable notifications to always on so you never miss a fun list just like it.
00:49 And make sure you check out the latest edition of Survival Series, where our contestants
00:53 try and name every single Royal Rumble entrant.
00:56 And I mean every Royal Rumble entrant.
00:59 Honorable Mentions Wade Barrett 2011 and Tyler Breeze Greatest Royal Rumble
01:03 Gotta be mentioned because my lord, neither did much of anything, but with an extra 10
01:07 or 20 people still waiting to enter these specific Rumbles, maybe it's just Best that
01:10 kept the show rolling.
01:11 Number 12.
01:12 Randy Savage 1993
01:14 I remember a kid in middle school once told me about a guy who lost the Royal Rumble match
01:18 because he tried to pin someone before getting yeeted straight over the top and I thought
01:22 there was no way anyone could be so stupid.
01:25 Then I found out that it not only happened, but the perpetrator was none other than Macho
01:28 Man Randy Savage and I was and remain so f*cking sad about it.
01:33 Could you have made one of your bigger stars to look like a bigger dumbass?
01:36 As an entrant, Savage was an excellent choice for number 30 and really should have won this
01:40 match if we're being honest about it.
01:42 But being one half of the dumbest ending to a Royal Rumble match in history is just too
01:46 much to be redeemed.
01:47 This just goes to show you are not about to hear a list of job guys who happen to pick
01:51 a lucky number.
01:52 Number 11.
01:53 The Warlord 1992
01:55 Everyone remembers The Warlord as the Royal Rumble punchline.
01:58 Insert Tempest's impression of Luke's impression of the By The Numbers video here.
02:01 But what people likely forget is The Warlord's role in closing out the legendary 1992 Royal
02:07 Rumble.
02:08 This one isn't as egregious as others on this list because when 60% of the Rumble is
02:12 made up of future WWE Hall of Famers, you don't have much right to complain that number
02:16 30 is only The Warlord.
02:19 He lasted just 103 seconds so definitely not a performance that would earn him a spot on
02:22 a positive list.
02:24 The numbers don't lie after all.
02:25 But this match is just too good for this inoffensive number 30 to crack the top 10.
02:30 Number 10.
02:31 Tugboat 1991
02:33 The first few years of the Royal Rumble were mostly WWE trying to work out exactly what
02:37 they had.
02:38 As a result, some of the matches have storylines playing out, some of the matches have laid
02:43 out spots, some of the matches had exciting final entrants.
02:46 But for the most part, it would take some time for WWE to figure out that the man dressed
02:50 up as the 1920s Tugboat might not be the best choice to leave a lasting impression on their
02:55 most exciting match of the year.
02:57 He's in the match for all of 152 seconds and gets dumped by Hogan.
03:00 But I gotta say, watching this again has lit a hate fire within me towards Tugboat and
03:04 I really wasn't expecting this.
03:06 Got nothing against Fred Ottman.
03:08 Typhoon is cool.
03:09 Shockmaster wasn't even his fault.
03:10 But why was there a wrestler called f*cking Tugboat going "Huuuuuuuuh" and why was
03:16 he the final entrant to the Royal Rumble?
03:18 Number 9.
03:19 Booker T, 2002.
03:21 Now let us fast forward in time to when WWE absolutely knew what they were doing and still
03:26 managed to give us a horrible final Rumble entry.
03:28 No more leniency WWE, because I would love someone to explain to me how 5 time WCW champion
03:35 Booker T would be made to look like anything but the biggest goober in the business by
03:40 entering at number 30, doing a spinaroonie, and getting stunnered over the top rope in
03:45 30 f*cking seconds.
03:47 This has nothing to do with Booker T.
03:48 This was just WWE getting their jollies from burying the WCW guy.
03:53 Which is gross, but also stupid, because I don't know if anybody ever told Vince McMahon
03:57 this, but the WCW guys that signed with WWE, signed with WWE.
04:03 Use them!
04:04 Brainless old codger.
04:05 Number 8.
04:06 Dolph Ziggler, 2018 men's.
04:08 The first "surprise" entrant on this list, and proof that just because the final entrant
04:12 of the Royal Rumble is a surprise, doesn't mean it's good.
04:15 The story of the end of Dolph Ziggler's 2017 is so f*cking bizarre, resulting in this
04:19 equally bizarre final entry of maybe the best Royal Rumble ever.
04:23 So after some assorted losing, Ziggly Stardust went to the Charlie Haas School of Flattery
04:27 and began imitating members of the WWE roster, then randomly won the US title at Clash of
04:32 Champions, immediately said "nah, I don't want this" and disappeared from TV.
04:36 Then, a month later, he returned as the final entrant in the 2018 Royal Rumble and was eliminated
04:41 in two minutes.
04:42 It's just a microcosm of what Ziggler spent a decade doing in WWE, going in circles with
04:47 baffling creative choices that ultimately left him right back where he was.
04:50 I mean, if he really wanted to be cheeky, he could have come out to Daniel Bryan's
04:54 music before his record scratched, but given that this Rumble was in Philadelphia, same
04:58 venue as the dreaded 2015 Rumble, maybe kicking the Daniel Bryan hornet's nest wouldn't
05:03 have been the right call.
05:04 Number 7.
05:05 Carmella, 2019 women's.
05:07 As we dive deeper into the depths of Dirty 30s, we are going to really start getting
05:11 to the heart of how to fuck this up.
05:13 Let me tell you right now, telling us who number 30 is ahead of time is a damn fine
05:17 way to make it happen.
05:18 The final entrant of a Royal Rumble match is what the previous 29 had been building
05:22 to and people just want to feel excitement when it happens.
05:25 Knowing is 100% of the battle when it comes to the excitement in the Royal Rumble, and
05:29 while Carmella's run in the match was perfectly fine, one elimination in seven minutes, this
05:33 secret is undoubtedly one that is much better kept.
05:37 Number 6.
05:38 Nia Jax, 2020.
05:39 In 2023, Nia Jax made history by becoming the first person to ever return to wrestling
05:43 after saying they were done forever, and she did this in the Royal Rumble match.
05:47 Oh, I'm sorry, did I start too early?
05:50 I have no idea how that happened.
05:52 We've literally done this hundreds of times.
05:54 As a run in a Rumble, this wasn't very good, getting eliminated by the opposition in two
05:58 minutes, but you do get bonus demerit points when your Royal Rumble return entrance gets
06:03 fucked beyond repair because someone in the truck actually jumped the gun and hit Nia's
06:08 music before the countdown.
06:11 How does that happen?
06:13 Number 5.
06:14 Nia Jax, 2019.
06:15 Men's.
06:16 Right, so you know that problem we had with Carmella earlier?
06:20 We were set to have the same problem in the men's match with R-Truth scheduled to get
06:24 the final spot, and then we all thought to ourselves, "WWE has to have something planned,
06:29 right?"
06:30 And well, "something" sure would be the operative word there.
06:33 Never in my life have I felt more like I have been having a fever dream while watching a
06:37 Royal Rumble than when Nia Jax took out R-Truth and entered herself in the 2019 Men's Royal
06:43 Rumble.
06:44 Even as I watch back Nia getting pinballed around the ring by everyone hitting their
06:47 finishers I cannot fathom what the idea was here.
06:51 Absolute befuddlement.
06:53 Was it just to do the single most illogical thing possible?
06:55 Because I mean, a decision like this truly needs to be recognized by fucking NASA or
07:00 something.
07:01 Number 4.
07:02 Natalya, 2021.
07:03 Women's.
07:04 I know I have blocked out a lot of pandemic wrestling, so I won't blame y'all if you
07:08 have too, but I will be the asshole that reminds everyone of the time WWE announced something
07:12 so stupid that it generated enough backlash from fans to get it changed.
07:17 Which is like hitting a bullet with a smaller bullet whilst wearing a blindfold riding a
07:21 horse.
07:22 The week of the Rumble, WWE announced that on backstage of all fucking things, they would
07:26 reveal who the number 30 entrant in the Men's Rumble was going to be, and understandably,
07:30 this caused as violent a protest as wrestling fans can wage online, and WWE changed course.
07:35 Because yeah, hey kids, let me just tell you all what you're getting for Christmas too.
07:38 Like no, what the fuck, why?
07:40 So instead, Edge and Randy Orton were revealed to be entering number 1 and 2, while Natalya
07:44 and Tamina would wrestle a match for the number 30 spot in the Women's Rumble, to which fans
07:49 everywhere threw up their hands and said "fucking fine, I guess, whatever" and we moved on.
07:54 And yep, it was just Natalya.
07:56 Because in 2 minutes, it comes out exactly as they told us it would happen.
08:00 34 Royal Rumble events had taken place to this point, and WWE still fucked this up.
08:06 3.
08:07 Duke "The Dumpster" Drosy - 1996
08:10 Third time's the charm with announcing the number 30 entrant ahead of time.
08:12 Or maybe I should say, first time's the charm, because the first time WWE announced
08:16 the number 30 entrant ahead of time was probably the most offensive.
08:20 Maybe I should give more leniency to the older match, but no timeline would promote a number
08:25 30 entrant and resident trash man jobber Duke "The Dumpster" Drosy have garnered
08:31 any excitement.
08:32 Not even in the universe where we are all trash men and Drosy is our king.
08:36 It still would have been better kept a secret.
08:39 So really, on your 9th try at doing a Royal Rumble, you should know better than to have
08:43 a literal job guy win the most exciting spot in your most exciting match.
08:47 At least Carmella and Natalya were former champions with some credibility.
08:52 This was Duke "The Dumpster" Drosy who beat Triple H to earn the number 30 spot
08:58 and then got eliminated after a minute.
08:59 How WWE didn't learn from this lesson is beyond me.
09:02 After all, it's not as if the company has a tendency to fuck their fans or anything,
09:06 right?
09:07 2.
09:08 Roman Reigns - 2017
09:09 Oh yeah, I remember the hype of the 2017 Royal Rumble match.
09:12 So many potential winners with mega stars like Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker.
09:17 Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens looking like potential challengers for then champ Kevin Owens are
09:21 maybe we'd finally see the main roster debut of Samoa Joe who could go on and face John
09:26 Cena or AJ Styles if he won.
09:28 And then the match under-delivered because all of those mega stars were left to enter
09:31 at the very end and the rest of the field was mostly folks like Apollo Crews and Mojo
09:35 Rawley and Kalisto and James Ellsworth.
09:37 But we still had number 30.
09:39 Even after a so-so Rumble, everything would be saved with an epic number 30.
09:44 But you know what?
09:45 Sometimes the Samoan Joe you want isn't the Samoan Joe you get.
09:49 Because rather than Samoasave Joseph himself, we did indeed get Roman Reigns, who had competed
09:54 for the Universal Championship on that show at the height of the Roman Reigns hate.
09:58 You just know Vince McMahon had the biggest f*cking smile on his face in Guerrilla while
10:03 everyone in San Antonio realized they had once again paid to be f*cked with by an insane
10:07 old man.
10:08 No shade to Roman himself of course, he was just doing his job here.
10:11 But this is number 2 because it was WWE giving a middle finger to their fans, which they
10:16 had totally never done before.
10:18 And number 1, Rey Mysterio 2014.
10:21 Man if you need an even better example of someone on this list through no fault of their
10:24 own here it is.
10:25 Rey Mysterio is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but it didn't matter who you
10:29 were, what your name was, or why you were there, because to WWE fans in January of 2014,
10:34 not a single other human on the planet would have been an acceptable number 30 entrant
10:38 and winner in the 2014 Royal Rumble match than Daniel Bryan.
10:42 How else would you know the Royal Rumble is just around the corner if we didn't talk
10:45 about the 2014 Rumble?
10:47 It's documented to hell and back, Bryan was kept out of the match, the fans in the
10:50 building didn't know it, and they rained down hellfire and vengeance on poor Rey Mysterio
10:54 who was booed vociferously until his elimination because this, more than any other number 30
10:59 entrant in Royal Rumble history, was an example of WWE being bound and determined to not give
11:05 their fans what they wanted.
11:07 And for that, it is the worst of all time.
11:10 And that's our list!
11:11 Please make sure that you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always
11:14 be on so you never miss a list just like it, and check out this clip from the latest episode
11:18 of Survival Series.