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The full list of entrants going into the WWE Royal Rumble match only had seventeen names on it, meaning that the WWE Universe was going to be treated to at least thirteen surprise entrants.
Now, the Men's Royal Rumble Match has come and gone and it was pretty much the best Royal Rumble Match for at least five years. The final four were Finn Balor, who lasted 57 minutes in the match, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena and Roman Reigns, with Nakamura eliminating Reigns to pick up the victory.
Also Read: Men's Royal Rumble Match: WWE Royal Rumble 2018 winners, video highlights and analysis
However, these four names were announced participants in the match. So we're not interested. Instead, let's take a look at the full list of surprise entrants in 2018's Men's Royal Rumble Match, in the order they entered!
#12 Rhyno
If you want to get an ECW chant started in Philly, the home of ECW, then putting one of ECW's original stars Rhyno into the Royal Rumble match is a surefire way to get it done. Which is exactly what happened when Rhyno entered at #3.
However Rhyno's time in the match was ended fairly quickly when he attempted to hit a Gore on Baron Corbin, but Corbin counters Rhyno's finisher (when will he ever hit a Gore again...) and eliminates the ECW mainstay.
#11 Heath Slater
It figured that if Rhyno is in the match that Heath Slater, his tag-team partner, wouldn't be far behind and sure enough, he was out in the #5 spot for the Rumble.
Unfortunately, when Slater was on his way to the ring he got attacked by a furious Baron Corbin, and then every subsequent Superstar attacked Slater on their way to the entrance ramp for a pretty fun ongoing spot.
#10 Andrade "Cien" Almas
We knew there'd be one or two NXT Superstars appearing in the Royal Rumble, but no one could have expected to see the current NXT Title holder Andrade "Cien" Almas enter the match at #7, especially after the match of the year candidate he had the day before at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
Needless to say, Almas enthused the Rumble match with his 'Tranquillo' philosophy and actually put in a great showing, surviving somewhere near thirty minutes on his main roster debut.
#9 Sheamus
Sheamus is a previous Royal Rumble winner, a multiple Tag-Team Champion and the Royal Rumble's surprise entrant in at number #11. Sheamus is also the first person to help Slater in the ring rather than attack him.
Unfortunately, this backfires, leading to Sheamus being the fastest elimination at this year's Rumble, when Heath Slater brutally clotheslined him over the top rope and surprised the WWE Universe.
#8 Cesaro
Sheamus' Tag-Team partner didn't take long to also enter the match in the #15 spot and unfortunately for his BAR teammate, managed to automatically outlast him in the Royal Rumble match by not getting eliminated straight away.
Unfortunately, Cesaro didn't go on to win the match, but The BAR would have a chance after the Men's Royal Rumble to improve their night in a RAW Tag-Team Title match against Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan.
#7 Jinder Mahal
A lot of people were wondering what Jinder Mahal would do at the Royal Rumble after failing to secure the United States Championship in the US Title tournament, and dropping the WWE Title to AJ Styles before that.
Obviously, he wasn't just going to fade away into obscurity like many people thought, entering the Royal Rumble match at #17, accompanied by the not-injured half of the Singh Brothers. Mahal is here to stay folks.
#6 Seth Rollins
If Sheamus and Cesaro can enter the Rumble match despite being in a Tag-Team Title match later on in the night, then why can't 'The Architect' Seth Rollins? As Rollins surprised everyone by entering only his second Royal Rumble match ever.
Thankfully for the WWE Universe, Seth Rollins' current tag-team partner Jason Jordan didn't go on to appear in the match, ending the run of complete surprise tag-teams entering 2018's Rumble.
#5 The Hurricane
Everyone's pick for the new 205 LIVE General Manager, Shane 'Hurricane' Helms, was the next surprise entrant to the Royal Rumble match at #21. If I'm honest he basically stole Cena's thunder.
Super Cena obviously took offence to The Hurricane's presence as there can only be one super-hero in the WWE, and promptly dumped the returning Helms to the outside much to the chagrin of the WWE Universe.
#4 Adam Cole
It's Adam Cole Bayybaaayyyy. Seriously though, Adam Cole, who was literally destroyed by Aleister Black the night before returns to wrestling action for some ungodly reason in the #23. position.
I have to be honest, I expected some NXT Superstars to appear in the Royal Rumble but the two I didn't expect at all, were a heavily bandaged Adam Cole and NXT Champion, Andrade "Cien" Almas.
#3 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio was supposed to be joining Impact Wrestling earlier this month, according to Dave Meltzer, but ended up appearing in the 2018 Royal Rumble Match in the heavily coveted and successful #27 position.
It seems no one saw this coming. But now that it's happened, Mysterio is now everyone's favourite to be the General Manager for the Cruiserweight Division. Sorry, not sorry Hurricane.
#2 Goldust
This may have been the biggest anti-climax of the Royal Rumble, will it be EC3, Bobby Lashley, Daniel Bryan? No... It's Goldust, from RAW and 205 LIVE entering at #28.
I understand why they did it though. They were allowing Goldust to increase his total number of Royal Rumble match appearances, which is a great statistic to have and something that Dustin Rhodes arguably deserves.
#1 Dolph Ziggler
He walked out on the WWE, he abandoned the United States Title because none of us deserve him. But even Dolph Ziggler can't resist appearing in the 2018 Royal Rumble match as the #30 entrant.
Sadly, Ziggler didn't do the right thing and pretended to enter as either CM Punk or Daniel Bryan to troll the WWE Universe, so I'm kind of glad he didn't go on to win the match. That was your moment Ziggler, you wasted it.
