The Royal Rumble match is generally agreed-upon as the greatest gimmick match of all time. With some notable exceptions (like, oh, the 2014 Rumble … and, uh, the 2015 Rumble), the Royal Rumble tends to make people very happy, and a big part of that happiness comes from the unadvertised surprise entrants into the match.
Thanks to a wonderfully kind individual from r/SquaredCircle, you can now watch every single surprise entrant from every Rumble since 2008. The video creator didn’t explain exactly why they picked 2008 as a starting point, but it makes sense, both because 2008 to 2017 is 10 years (which is a round number, which we enjoy as humans), and because 2008 featured the all-time biggest surprise return. Although the surprise entrant has been an institution since at least the Attitude Era (in particular, I freaked the hell out when Haku made his return during the 2001 Rumble), it really, officially became A Thing when John Cena’s music hit and he popped his smug face up for the Madison Square Garden crowd.
So please enjoy this video and begin reminiscing about your all-time favorite surprise entrants. We can only imagine how many members of WWE’s biggest-ever announce team will be entering this year’s Rumble. And whether Jim Duggan has already booked his plane ticket and hotel accommodations.
