10 Worst Final Entrants In The WWE Royal Rumble
Liam Parker 
The final entrant in the Royal Rumble comes with added intrigue every year. The last superstar to walk through the curtain in a match where everything can seem uncertain is vital to the match's success.
Related: Every Final Entrant In The Royal Rumble In The 2010s, Ranked
Some final entrants have been incredible and are still remembered for such to this day. Some have made a lot of sense while not being the most thrilling choice. The 10 worst final entrants in a Royal Rumble can be infuriating to look back on, as WWE has truly made some beyond puzzling choices throughout the history of one of their greatest creations.
10 Duke Droese (1996)
Quite possibly the lamest final entrant ever in a Rumble match, in 1996, WWE chose to have Duke ‘The Dumpster’ Droese enter as the final participant in the Royal Rumble.
A horrible occupational gimmick tainted Droese’s wrestling career forever and was treated like a complete afterthought, while usually, the final entrant of the Rumble is a big deal. Duke lasted slightly over a minute and did not make it to the final four.
9 The Warlord (1992)
Viewers may expect an all-time classic Rumble match to have an exceptional final entrant, as is the case with matches like the 2008 edition with John Cena. This was far from the case in the great 1992 Royal Rumble, seeing The Warlord enter last.
Related: The 9 Best Royal Rumble Matches According To Dave Meltzer
In a Rumble that included the likes of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, The Undertaker, as well as many more Hall of Famers, The Warlord entered last and survived for just under two minutes.
Once again, an entrant that didn’t even make the final four even though they entered last, The Warlord entering last is one of the few missteps from an otherwise classic match.
8 Booker T (2002)
This seems to be a recurring theme, 30th entrants don’t last long. While sometimes that’s okay because they were the last entrant overall, in this instance, Booker T essentially did nothing of substance.
He was a heel at the time and eliminating RVD did get him heat from the Atlanta crowd. However, after the elimination, Booker T hit a Spinaroonie then found himself eliminated after 33 seconds.
As a star needing momentum after losing so much of it during the Invasion storyline, this did nothing to help Booker. Along with that, this Rumble featured returns such as Goldust and Mr. Perfect, who would’ve been far better choices for the last spot.
7 Kane (2011)
By this point in time, everyone knew it was pretty much a yearly tradition to have the Big Red Monster make his way into the Royal Rumble. 2011 was no different.
A Rumble with 40 entrants rather than 30, intrigue was high for this match, especially for who the prestigious final entrant would be. With the returns of Booker T and Diesel earlier in the match, WWE had been delivering on crowd-pleasing moments in an otherwise blah match.
Related: 8 Times The Royal Rumble Match Was The Worst Match On The Show
In came Kane as the final entrant and all were disappointed, as Kane lasted not even two minutes. Eventual winner Alberto Del Rio would’ve been a much better choice or even one of the returning stars mentioned above.
6 Braun Strowman (2021)
Why WWE chose to have Braun Strowman enter 30th will never make sense when, just moments before, Seth Rollins returned after months away from the company at #29.
Braun Strowman had been on WWE programming for months on end and fans knew he would be in the Rumble match. Why have him in such a prestigious spot, and have your returning star be at #29?
This exact question will be asked later on in this very list.
5 Carmella (2019)
In a match where Becky Lynch took Lana’s spot and went on to win the thing in one of the great moments in Royal Rumble history, WWE chose to have that happen at #28, not #30. Instead, Carmella was randomly put in the final spot, in a move that just doesn’t make much sense.
Related: 10 Women With The Most Cumulative Time In The Royal Rumble
Fans expect someone big at #30. The year prior, they got Trish Stratus, and the year after they got Shayna Baszler, so fans know WWE is capable.
Why not have Becky’s big entrance take place at #30, fulfilling the fans' hopes of a big star as the last entrant?
4 Batista (2010)
Foreshadowed earlier in the Braun Strowman entry on the list, Batista entering the Royal Rumble last in 2010 still doesn’t make sense.
While trying not to sound like a broken record, WWE had Edge return from a torn Achilles after just seven months away when his projected return was estimated at 12 months. This happened at entry #29.
It feels like WWE knows that the fans expect something big at #30 so they decide to give the fans a big moment somewhere else in the match, maybe #29, maybe somewhere else. That’s not what fans want, as much as they may love the return, and in this case, they did.
3 Dolph Ziggler (2018)
A great #30 in the Royal Rumble can absolutely transform a superstar’s career. Whether it’s a return like John Cena in 2008, a history-making moment like Chyna in 1999, or just one that makes sense like The Undertaker in 2007, these entrants matter.
WWE knows this, so they had Dolph Ziggler make his return at #30 in the Rumble of 2018. However, Ziggler had only been away from the company for a month so the fans didn’t have a chance to miss him.
Related: 10 Things About Dolph Ziggler's Career That Make No Sense
When he entered the match, he didn’t feel as special as those in the ring, and his return was massively overshadowed by Rey Mysterio’s return at #27. Not the big moment for Ziggler like everyone had hoped.
2 Roman Reigns (2017)
In 2017, hopes were high for the Royal Rumble match. The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg had all been announced for the match, and stars like Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and Chris Jericho were on a roll.
Earlier in the same PPV, Roman Reigns lost his Universal Championship match to Kevin Owens in a No DQ match.
That’s why when the final buzzer sounded and The Big Dog made his way down to the ring, boos came roaring back. Reigns showed no effects from his match earlier, and even made it to the final two of the match, making this a mind-boggling choice for a 30th entrant.
With his popularity at a low point and rumors of Samoa Joe debuting, this goes down as a huge misfire for the Rumble match.
1 Rey Mysterio (2014)
Sometimes, the most obvious answer is the right one. Without a doubt, Rey Mysterio as the 30th entrant of the 2014 Royal Rumble is the worst entrant in one of these matches ever.
Readers know the story by now. Daniel Bryan was red hot and the fans desperately wanted to see him in the main event of WrestleMania 30, not the returning Batista.
Related: Every Male Royal Rumble Winner From The 2010s, Ranked From Worst To Best
When fans didn’t get to see their hero win the Rumble, and instead saw the obvious choice of Batista win, they were outraged. The beloved Rey Mysterio got booed out of the building for it, and even though Bryan eventually was added to the main event of Mania, this still should have been Daniel’s entry.
Rey Mysterio lands on this list simply because he isn't Daniel Bryan.
