15 Biggest Superstars To Have Never Won The Royal Rumble

It will be the 32nd ever Royal Rumble event in 2019 and the men's match is already shaping up to be star-studded.

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The Royal Rumble match has been both a launching pad for up comers and has had its fair share of already huge names win it over the past three decades, with many of them being among the greatest of all-time.

Many of these greats who have won the Royal Rumble match include Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, John Cena, Randy Orton and many more.

Many of these greats have even won the match on multiple occasions. We have also seen some not as successful stars come out on top, like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Big John Studd, Alberto Del Rio, and others, who have had successful careers in their own right but just didn't match up to the success of the many other Rumble winners.

With so many big names having won the match on multiple occasions, and other not as successful names having won it too, the amount of huge current and former WWE Superstars who have competed in the Royal Rumble match but never won it, is incredible.

And that is why I have decided to take a look at the top 15 biggest names in history to never win the Royal Rumble match.

Note: To be included in this list, the big name has to have appeared in at least one Royal Rumble match while they were a big name. These will also not necessarily be ranked in how big of a superstar they were.

#15 Kevin Nash

When you think about it, it is pretty surprising that Kevin Nash never won the Royal Rumble. During his mid-90's run in WWE as Diesel, he became one of the most successful superstars in company history at the time, and in such a short amount of time, won the WWE Tag Team, Intercontinental and WWE Championship just a couple months apart.

And of course, he also found incredible success in WCW as a founding member of the NWO and a four-time WCW Champion and nine-time Tag Team Champion.

Diesel made his Royal Rumble debut in 1994 and gave a very impressive showing of eliminating seven Superstars.

He was the reigning and defending WWE Champion the following year, and was the last superstar eliminated from the match by winner Shawn Michaels in 1996.

So really, if WWE wasn't so behind ol' HBK at the same time as Diesel's rise, we likely would have seen Big Daddy Cool be the last man standing in a Royal Rumble match.

#14 AJ Styles

Now while AJ Styles is arguably the biggest and best active wrestler in WWE today.

There is a very good reason as to why The Phenomenal One has never won a Royal Rumble match, and that's because he has only ever been in one, which also happens to be his very first WWE match.

And ever since, including the upcoming 2019 Royal Rumble, Styles has been the defending WWE Champion in the Royal Rumble match.

However, this shouldn't mean that a Royal Rumble entry can't happen. I mean sure, last year would have been impossible as he walked in and out of the Rumble as Champion, but after losing the title to John Cena in 2017, he still could have entered the Rumble match as a surprise entrant, just like Roman Reigns had that night, despite having had a Championship match earlier that evening.

The likelihood is that we won't see that happen this year either, but it is something to hope for in the 2020 Royal Rumble match.

#13 Big Show

Poor Big Show always comes just so close but then so far.

The former multi-time WWE Heavyweight Champion, who has held pretty much every WWE Championship possible, main evented WrestleMania and is always given this forced reputation of being indestructible in battle royal matches.

In fact, it is twice now that Show has been the last eliminated, falling to The Rock in the 2000 Royal Rumble, and Chris Benoit in 2004.

And well, to be honest, there has never really been a good time for Show to win the Royal Rumble.

He may be still active today, and this is nothing against him as a Superstar, but every year since he has joined WWE just after the 1999 Royal Rumble, there has always just seemed to be better candidates to go all the way.

#12 Kane

Most Royal Rumble appearances. Most eliminations. Most losses

The Big Red Machine Kane is without a doubt one of the greatest of all time. The former WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion has been one of the best big men in wrestling history and has certainly earned his place as a future WWE Hall of Famer.

Much like when I was talking about the Big Show earlier, I think Kane follows into that same category of he being in WWE during a time where there were just better candidates to win the Royal Rumble match, in terms of storylines at least.

If there was at least one Rumble match that Kane could have been the right winner, it would have been in 1999, instead of Vince McMahon, for obvious reasons.

Now, of course, the WrestleMania 15 main event was made for Stone Cold Steve Austin, but he could have at least gotten there by winning his way to the match with a victory over Kane, instead of McMahon.

At the very least, Kane has been given the honor of being arguably the best Royal Rumble participant ever, with a total of 44 Rumble eliminations over in all he has appeared in, including 11 in the 2001 Royal Rumble. Although Roman Reigns would break that record, Kane still gave a better performance.

#11 Goldberg

Goldberg may have made his name in WCW, but he has still had a respectable run with WWE, which includes being the World Heavyweight Champion, and the third ever WWE Universal Champion, and is now in the WWE Hall of Fame.

What people may actually find surprising is that at one point, Goldberg was planned to win a Royal Rumble match.

No, it wasn't during his three-minute appearance in the 2017 Royal Rumble, but back during his first WWE run and first Rumble appearance, in 2004.

The plan at the time, allegedly, was for Goldberg to win the 2004 Royal Rumble and then jump ship from RAW to SmackDown, where he would challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX.

However, Goldberg pretty much told WWE officials in early 2004 that he would not be renewing his WWE contract when it expired that April, and instead WWE went with plan B of Chris Benoit winning instead.

#10 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper

This one was a bit of a shame. I like to think that the only reason that the late great 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper never won a Royal Rumble match is because it just came a little late in his career.

By the time we had the very first Royal Rumble match, won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Hot Rod had actually 'retired' from wrestling and left WWE in search of a film career.

And while 1988 classic They Live, with Piper in the lead role, was very well received, his acting career just never reached the heights that it should have so he returned to wrestling and WWE in 1989.

Although Piper did enter the 1990 and 1992 Royal Rumbles matches, those had long been pegged to be won by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, respectively.

Had the Royal Rumble match been invented just a few years early, it would have played a great part in getting Piper some big Championship matches in his already legendary feud with Hulk Hogan.

#9 The Ultimate Warrior

This one would have actually made more sense to happen then what actually did. The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan was the plan for the main event of WrestleMania VI and everyone already knew that Hogan would be walking into it as WWE Champion.

So what better way for Hogan's planned successor face to get to the main event then by winning the Royal Rumble and earning the WWE Championship match with Hogan?

Well WWE had different plans and it would be Hulk Hogan who would come out on top in the end.

The match did at least elevate Warrior from might be facing Hogan at WrestleMania to definitely facing him after he and Hogan had a confrontation during the Rumble match that nearly blew the roof off the arena.

Although in hindsight, Warrior not winning the Royal Rumble probably did work out for the best due to not being the company face WWE hoped he would be and his ugly exits from WWE a couple years later.

#8 Mick Foley

I like to think that at one point a least, Mick Foley was in the right place at the right time for a Royal Rumble win, but it just didn't happen. And that would be in 1997.

I think it is safe to say that we all love the 1997 Royal Rumble winner Stone Cold Steve Austin.

But, his Rumble win here was a total waste, as he didn't even go onto main event WrestleMania, so the spot should have been given to someone else, and looking over the entire roster at the time, I think no one deserved it more than Mick Foley.

Mankind was one of the best wrestlers in WWE in 1996, and his hard work and great matches should have elevated him to the WWE Championship scene full time.

Especially when the eventual plan was for The Undertaker to headline and win the Championship, and what better way to get there than a Royal Rumble victory.

The feud between The Undertaker and Mankind was great and they could have taken it to the next level at WrestleMania 13 in the main event, for the WWE Championship.

#7 Dusty Rhodes

The late great Dusty Rhodes was one of the two hearts, the other being Ric Flair, of the NWA. So as business rivals with WWE in the 80s, it was no major surprise that much of Dusty's run with WWE was a complete joke.

He did have some good moments and matches, but overall his run was extremely underwhelming and silly at times.

In my opinion, the only thing that could have saved him and elevated him to the main event in WWE would have been to win the 1990 Royal Rumble. That spot, however, was saved for Hulk Hogan.

After a decent feud with Ted DiBiase, Dusty left WWE and returned for better things in WCW. Dusty's run was that bad that a Royal Rumble win would have been his only saving grace in wrestling for WWE.

Dusty could have had great WWE Championship matches with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in the main event of WrestleMania, but it wasn't meant to be.

#6 Andre The Giant

The late great Andre The Giant doesn't crack the top 5 on this list, just because of his various health issues, that made the final years of his career and life very difficult.

Andre did compete in two Royal Rumble matches before his career ended, lasting under 15 minutes in each of them.

In my opinion, as great as the late Big John Studd was, I think Andre would have been a much better candidate to win the 1989 Royal Rumble match.

Winning the match didn't even do anything to elevate Studd and he missed a lot of TV time following it before he left WWE in the summer.

And with Andre being the biggest in the match, a huge star and still active for another couple of years, he should have been the last man standing.

Considering Andre wasn't given the proper WWE Championship reign he deserved, he should have at least been the winner of a match where the biggest man in it is should be the most dominant.

#5 CM Punk

Although CM Punk was the hottest wrestler in WWE (and the world) for a while, and even though he was a two-time WWE Champion and two-time World Champion, WWE still missed some big opportunities with him pretty early on.

While WWE had often chosen the right Rumble winner during the 2000s, I think a big misstep for them was the only 40 man Royal Rumble match in 2011, with Alberto Del Rio winning.

Now Del Rio was a fine talent, but his winning of the match didn't really make him the star WWE wanted to. He did achieve this level later on that same year, but not here.

CM Punk at this time was the new leader of The Nexus, WWE's hottest angle of 2010. Punk as leader would end up doing more damage to the dwindling group.

But at this time, it was still salvageable and a great way to put it over would have been for CM Punk to have come out on top, especially since the group were feuding with company face John Cena at the time. Thankfully, Punk salvaged his own career later that year.

#4 Daniel Bryan

You can still hear the booos from 2014 and 2015

Ugh, where to begin with this one.

Daniel Bryan was the most popular superstar in WWE and probably all of wrestling in 2013.

He had a really hot angle with The Authority and for a while, it seemed like it would lead to Bryan winning the 2014 Royal Rumble match and finally getting the better of them at WrestleMania. Now while that is what eventually happened, it is not how we go there.

Instead, Batista returned to the WWE for the first time in almost four years, and just two weeks before the event, rumors began running rapid that Batista would win the match and face WWE Champion Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

With this knowledge in place come the night, the fans were ready for blood should it happen. And it did. Batista won the match while Bryan wasn't even an entrant. It was one of the worst and most embarrassing receptions in WWE history.

Thankfully WWE finally listened to their fans and Bryan won his right to the main event and then the Championship to in the main event.

We also had an identical scene the following year, when Bryan was still the fan favorite to win the Rumble but was dumped out after just 10 minutes.

#3 Randy Savage

The 'Macho Man' Randy Savage is one of the greatest performers in wrestling history, some feel the greatest, yet somehow he never won the Royal Rumble match.

Randy Savage entered five Royal Rumble matches and would have been the ideal candidate to have won any of them.

In my opinion, the best time for the former WWE Champion and WCW Champion to have won a Rumble should have been 1993.

Although Rumble winner Yokozuna is one of the greatest big men performers of all-time, his WrestleMania main event at WrestleMania IX was completely squandered.

And because of this, I fell they could have had far better booking options with the main event being Savage vs. Bret Hart for the WWE Championship, or something with Hogan being involved too, as that is what happened with Yoko.

Regardless, the fact that the 'Macho Man' never won a Royal Rumble is still crazy to this day.

#2 Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho has done it all, well almost. The latest signing of the new All Elite Wrestling promotion has held every available title he is capable of competing for in WWE.

He is a multi-time World Champion and the record holder for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, with nine reigns.

Amazingly, one big thing that Chris Jericho never accomplished was winning the Royal Rumble match.

Although, it actually was the plan for him to do so at one point. Jericho was actually the planned winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble match.

Having returned to WWE just weeks earlier, promoting the end of the world in a bunch of crazy segments, the first thing WWE had in mind for Jericho was a WWE Championship match with Champion CM Punk at WrestleMania 28.

The best way for Jericho to get his match with Punk was to win the Rumble match of course, and the plan was set.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't last. Plans for Jericho to win the match were leaked online, and thus WWE decided to change them and have Sheamus win instead. The win for the Celtic Warrior came as a big surprise, especially since it had come down to him and Jericho.

In an annoying kind of irony, the 2012 Royal Rumble match was the beginning of a six-year run of the Royal Rumble winner being leaked online just days, weeks and even months before the show.

However, the one time where fans were actually happy in finding out who the winner was, WWE changed their minds.

#1 Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle has accomplished almost everything there is to do in WWE that he is capable of competing for, except for one big thing, winning the Royal Rumble match.

And unlike someone else in a similar situation, the previously mentioned Chris Jericho, Kurt has never actually come close to winning the match.

He was the last superstar to be eliminated in the 2002 Royal Rumble, but that was always destined to be Triple H.

Angle only ever competed in two more Royal Rumble matches, in 2004 and 2005, but he was never considered for either of them.

And like others mentioned here, to be fair, it may have just been the wrong time for Kurt Angle to win a Royal Rumble match as the superstars who did win them between 2005 - 2006 each made sense in their own way at the time.

That said, it is still a major shame that Angle never got to scratch this one blemish off of his amazing career highlights in WWE.