10 Wrestlers You Forgot Were In The Final Two Of The Royal Rumble Match
Owen Barnes 
The appeal of the Royal Rumble match is seeing things culminate with the eliminations building to a hot ending. WWE typically wants to have a handful of credible and realistic options left at the end of the match to make fans suspend their disbelief. Things get exciting when only two stars are left with the next elimination being winner take all.
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The best instances of a great final two featured the likes of The Undertaker & Shawn Michaels, John Cena & Batista, or Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair. Unfortunately, not every wrestler to make it that far will have strong results of an impactful finish. Without further ado, let's take a trip down memory lane by remembering the forgotten wrestlers who made it to the final two of a Rumble match.
10 Rusev
Everyone remembers Roman Reigns getting one of the most hostile reactions in WWE history when winning the 2015 Royal Rumble match. Nothing else stood out since the entire match was built around Reigns looking dominant.
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Fans had a slight hope when Rusev appeared at the end of the match, revealing he was hiding outside of the ring without getting eliminated. Roman eliminating Rusev saw the hope end within seconds as many viewers forget that false finish even happened.
9 Mr. Perfect
WWE used to pick Hulk Hogan for any major win in the early ‘90s even if he didn’t need it. The Royal Rumble match of 1990 featured Hogan scoring the victory despite being the WWE Champion at the time.
Mr. Perfect was the other man of the final two and most fans realized that he would not win when Hogan made it towards the end. The match is remembered for Hogan easily scoring another win rather than the incredibly talented Perfect coming close.
8 Diesel
WWE was going all-in on Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart for the main event of WrestleMania XII with the technical wrestling style. Diesel had lost the WWE Championship to Bret just a few months earlier and was Michaels’ biggest threat in the 1996 Royal Rumble match.
Michaels having to eliminate the big man added to the moment, but Diesel didn’t have much of an impact on the entire match. Fans remember Diesel more for his singles match with Hart and Michaels at the time rather than his Rumble performance.
7 Earthquake
Another forgotten wrestler in Royal Rumble history to have a close call against Hulk Hogan was Earthquake. Hogan loved working with the big man as they became good friends and he always sold despite being a monster heel.
The match from 1991 featured Hogan winning the Rumble by eliminating Earthquake last to once again overcome the bigger man. Earthquake didn’t pose a serious threat given his track record against Hogan and Hulk rarely ever losing matches at all.
6 Santino Marella
One of the most creative false finishes in Royal Rumble history came in 2011 during the historic 40-man battle royal. Alberto Del Rio appeared to win the match when Santino Marella emerged from outside of the ring after never getting officially eliminated.
Fans erupted for a few seconds of joy before Del Rio eliminated Marella to officially win the match. The moment is forgotten more due to Alberto struggling after his Rumble win to make it less memorable rather than Santino doing a bad job.
5 Randy Savage
WWE went with Yokozuna as the dominant winner of the 1993 Royal Rumble match. The booking led to him scoring elimination after elimination when entering the match. Randy Savage seemed like a good choice on paper as the other half of the final two.
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However, the transition to broadcasting had already taken away from Savage’s credibility as a main event superstar still capable of winning the match. Yokozuna received the victory when last eliminating Savage in his closest Rumble finish.
4 Kane
Kane’s performance in the 2001 Royal Rumble match is one of the most overlooked due to him not winning it all. WWE never booked Kane as a serious contender to win the Rumble with 2001 coming as his best shot after eliminating 11 wrestlers.
The end of the match featured Steve Austin and Kane battling it out for a title shot at the historic WrestleMania X-Seven event. Kane did the job at the end in his only Rumble final two appearance that still gets slept on to this day.
3 Sid Justice
Many diehard wrestling fans still believe that the 1992 Royal Rumble match was the peak Rumble and it never could be topped. The appeal of this match featured the vacated WWE Championship on the line along with a deeper roster than ever before.
Ric Flair coming over from WCW saw him winning the Rumble match here to become the top champ. The ending of Hulk Hogan costing Sid Justice the match is remembered, but few fans remember that Sid was the last man eliminated to give Flair the win.
2 Davey Boy Smith
WWE once viewed Davey Boy Smith as a potential main eventer in the first half of the ‘90s decade. Smith had one of his strongest performances in the 1995 Royal Rumble as part of the final two entrants against Shawn Michaels.
Both wrestlers had great efforts starting the match as the first two entrants and making it all the way to the end. Smith’s performance gets lost in history since everyone remembers the ending of Michaels surviving a near elimination to get back in the ring and win the match.
1 Ryback
The WWE push of Ryback lasted a couple of years with him attempting to make his way into the main event picture. Ryback losing a few WWE Championship matches to CM Punk was the peak of his run, but there was another close shot at main event stardom.
The 2013 Royal Rumble match saw John Cena and Ryback as the final two wrestlers. Cena eliminated Ryback to score the victory, but it was not memorable since everyone knew the finish. WWE was obviously going with Cena vs The Rock at WrestleMania 29 and it hurt multiple wrestlers, including Ryback here.
