10 Biggest surprise returns in Royal Rumble history

#9 Goldust

Goldust

Cody Rhodes' older brother Goldust is already a legend of the business and has been loyal to the WWE for decades now. However, there was this one point in Goldust's career when he departed from the WWE in 2012 after initially suffering a shoulder injury.

Following his return from the injury, Goldust competed on the Independent Circuit for a brief period of time before eventually being rehired by the WWE in 2013, as the former Intercontinental Champion made his return in the most spectacular way possible.

At the 2013 Royal Rumble match, Goldust returned as a surprise entrant in number eight in the Rumble match. In his first match back, Goldust received a huge pop from the WWE Universe and was eventually eliminated by his brother Cody Rhodes.

This led to the teasing of a feud between the two brothers, however, WWE never really cashed in on that angle and instead pushed Goldust and Cody as the two mainstays in the tag team division by having them defeat The Shield in order to capture the WWE Tag Team Titles, with their late great father Dusty Rhodes in their corner.