WWE Royal Rumble: 5 Superstars who have been a Royal Rumble runner-up more than once

#4 Triple H

Another multi-time winner on this list is The King of Kings, Triple H. He won the Royal Rumble in two very far-apart years, 2002 and 2016. However, there have also been two instances where The Cerebral Assassin could not cross the finish line. Surprisingly, he finished second in two consecutive Royal Rumble bouts.

The first of the two instances came in 2008 when entered the match at number 29. He was the odds-on favorite, that is, until John Cena made a massively unexpected return at number 30 and changed the whole landscape of WWE. Since no one expected Cena to show up until much later in the year, his music hitting when the countdown to number 30 ended was an amazing moment. Many people would be hard-pressed to even remember that Triple H was the man in the ring when Cena made his return.

Although Cena failed to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania that year (in a match Triple H was also involved in) the fans always remember the 2008 Royal Rumble match for his glorious comeback.

The next year, The Game reached the final two of the 30-man match once again. He entered the match early, at number 7, and established his dominance by eliminating John Morrison, Vladimir Kozlov, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Cody Rhodes, and The Brian Kendrick from the match.

In the final moments of the match, Triple H found himself in the ring with his former Evolution teammate Randy Orton, who earned himself a WWE Championship shot by tossing Triple H from the ring. Triple H got the last laugh, however, as he would win the WWE Championship a few weeks later and successfully defend against Orton at WrestleMania XXV.