5 Legendary WrestleMania Stars Who Never Won The Royal Rumble

#1 Kurt Angle

Angle battles Mr. Perfect and Steve Austin at the 2002 Rumble

To date, Kurt Angle has competed at eight WrestleManias in his career. He’s been involved in World Championship bouts on three occasions in addition to stealing the show at several Manias.

Simply put, the Olympic Hero is a top, top talent who competed in some of so many fans’ favourite WrestleMania bouts during his initial WWE run – and even in his 2018 return match that saw him team with Ronda Rousey to battle Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in yet another show-stealer.

Despite his initial run in the then-WWF lasting from 1998 until 2006, Angle actually only competed in three Royal Rumble matches during that tenure. Sure, he appeared on the Rumble PPV for most of those years but, instead of competing in the Royal Rumble match, he found himself in bouts against Taz, Triple H, Chris Benoit, a triple threat involving JBL and Big Show, and then a battle against Mark Henry in his 2006 Rumble showing.

Angle came so close to winning in 2002 as he was the last person to be eliminated as Triple H romped to victory. Switching over to 2004, we’d see Angle quickly eliminated by Shawn Michaels before re-entering the ring to decimate the Heartbreak Kid and set up their WrestleMania XX match. Then came 2005, when Angle was eliminated by Big Show after having been pinned in the triple threat match earlier that night for JBL’s WWE Championship.