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The annual Royal Rumble has become one of the biggest highlights of the year for many of the WWE Universe, since the match traditionally includes several surprise entries.
Over the years, WWE has called back many wrestlers to return to be part of the 30-man match, which has allowed many stars to appear in the Royal Rumble match several times throughout the course of their career.
Despite there now being two Royal Rumble matches, there are several former WWE stars who have only ever been in one Royal Rumble match in their entire wrestling career. Whilst there are several names like The Boogeyman, Big John Studd, and Junkyard Dog, there are many other surprising names who have only ever entered the fray on one occasion.
#5. WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes (Royal Rumble 1990)
Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes had a standout wrestling career before becoming one of the faces behind NXT following his retirement. The former Champion also went on to watch his sons Dustin and Cody follow in his footsteps before his untimely passing back in 2015.
Despite having a lengthy WWE career and becoming a legend within the company, Dusty Rhodes is one of the surprise names who was only part of one Royal Rumble match, which came back in 1990.
Rhodes entered the match at number 10 and remained part of the bout for almost 20 minutes, before being eliminated by The Canadian Earthquake. Hulk Hogan was the man who ended up winning the match after last eliminating Mr. Perfect.
Interestingly, this isn't the only Royal Rumble event that Dusty was part of, since he later appeared at the Royal Rumble in 1991 as part of a tag team match. Rhodes teamed with his son Dustin against Ted DiBiase and Virgil which later turned out to be one of his final matches as a full-time wrestler.
Rhodes and his son came up short in the match and both stars departed from WWE not long after the show, which marked the end of The American Dream's full-time in-ring career.
Rhodes didn't return to WWE for more than a decade and went on to sign a legends contract and became part of the creative team back in 2005.
#4. Rick Rude (Royal Rumble 1990)
The 1990 Royal Rumble match included several WWE stars who have since gone on to become legends in WWE. As already noted, this was the year that Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes made his only impact, but it was also Rick Rude's only Royal Rumble match as well.
The year before in 1989, Rude was part of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view and competed in a posedown against Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Much like several female competitions throughout the years, the winner was decided by the fans and Ultimate Warrior went on win all four categories which fired up Rude, who attacked him with his own workout bar.
Rude's feud with The Ultimate Warrior continued into the 1990 Royal Rumble when he entered at number 28 and was able to help eliminate his long time rival before being eliminated from the match himself by Hogan and Mr. Perfect.
Rude left WWE the following year and wasn't part of any future Royal Rumble matches with the company ahead of his passing in 1999.
#3. Neville/PAC (Royal Rumble 2016)
The 2016 Royal Rumble match was a unique one since it included the added stipulation that the winner would become World Champion, since Roman Reigns was forced to defend his title in the match.
The 2016 Royal Rumble also saw the debut in the 30-man match of former NXT Champion Neville. Neville entered the match at number 16 before being eliminated by Luke Harper. This was the only impact Neville was able to make as part of the match, although he did appear at the 2017 Royal Rumble event.
Neville defeated Rich Swann in a Cruiserweight Championship match where he lifted the title for the first time the following year. This ended up being the last Royal Rumble event that Neville was part of since he walked out of the company a few months later in the fall of 2017.
Neville's WWE contract came to an end in the summer of 2018 and the British star was then free to join WWE's biggest rivals AEW, where he is currently known as PAC.
#2. Jimmy Uso (Royal Rumble 2014)
It's unclear as to whether or not Jimmy Uso will be a surprise entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble match, but it's interesting to note that he has only been part of one Rumble in his career.
His brother Jey, on the other hand, has been part of two Royal Rumble matches already and has announced that he will be part of the upcoming Rumble match as well.
Back in 2012, the Royal Rumble match was made up of surprise entrants which meant that there was only one place for the brothers, and Jey Uso was the star who took the entry. Two years later, both men entered The Rumble match with Jimmy in at number 9, where he lasted seven minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose.
Jey later entered at number 23 but was eliminated by Luke Harper inside five minutes. The Usos have been part of several Royal Rumble pay-per-views throughout their careers, but the two men have mostly been part of the undercard either defending or challenging for the Tag Team Championships.
#1. Enzo Amore (Royal Rumble 2017)
Enzo Amore made his Royal Rumble debut back in 2017, which was the final year that there was just one Royal Rumble match on the show. Amore entered at number 27 and was eliminated after just 18 seconds by Brock Lesnar.
At the time, Enzo and Cass were climbing through the ranks in WWE and were seen as the future of the tag team division, but this fell apart in the year to come, since both men were let go in 2018.
Big Cass himself kicked off the 2017 Royal Rumble match alongside Chris Jericho but wasn't able to go the distance, and was eliminated by Braun Strowman inside 10 minutes.
Enzo and Cass later went on to feud with each other before Cass suffered a legitimate knee injury and ended their on-screen rivalry.
Amore and Big Cass have since gone on to work together outside of WWE following their controversial releases from the company, but neither men are expected to make their return to WWE as part of any future Royal Rumble matches.
