Here Are The Six Surprise Returns/Debuts In The Men’s Royal Rumble

There were some big ones. If there is one thing that I have learned in recent years from watching wrestling, it is to never say never. You can almost always have a glimmer of hope that something could happen and that is certainly the case when it comes to someone returning after a long time away from the ring. It happened last year with Edge at the Royal Rumble and now it has happened again.

The Royal Rumble has come and gone and there were some major surprises taking place in both of the show’s namesake matches. Those surprise entrants are some of the best things that can take place in the Royal Rumble and this year’s edition was no exception, as there were some names you might have expected, but even more who came out of nowhere and made more than a few heads spin.

This year’s men’s Royal Rumble featured at least six surprise entrants, including some legends and some returning stars. The entrants who are not active members of the main rosters or were appearing for the first time for WWE in more than two months were:

• Carlito (First match since 2010)
• Damian Priest
• Kane
• Hurricane (First match since 2018 Royal Rumble)
• Christian (Second match since 2014)
• Seth Rollins (First match since Survivor Series)

This was Christian’s first time getting physical since 2014, as he wrestled a one minute match against Randy Orton where his only action was being kicked in the head. It is not clear if any of these wrestlers will be staying on the main roster full time.

Some of these returns were great. Check out what some of them had to say after the match:

Hurricane Helms enjoyed the flight but not the landing: Royal Rumble Exclusive, Jan. 31, 2021

Carlito reflects on Royal Rumble return: Royal Rumble Exclusive, Jan. 31, 2021

Kane talks about the potential of Damian Priest: Royal Rumble Exclusive, Jan. 31, 2021

Christian teases future plans: Royal Rumble Exclusive, Jan. 31, 2021

Opinion: I’m not sure where these people are going to go next but it was great to see them getting a chance to show up one more time. That is one of the main reasons that the Royal Rumble works and there were some good ones this year. Christian actually being in the match and doing well was one of the bigger surprises I’ve seen in a long time. It would be nice if some of them stayed, but at least they had one match.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

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