Royal Rumble flashback: 5 things that happened at the 2003 Royal Rumble

#4 Shawn Michaels' early elimination

Shawn Michaels is arguably the greatest WWE in-ring performer of all time

Shawn Michaels is regarded as the finest wrestling performer of the 1990s and 2000s. He is first WWF Grand Slam Champion and a two-time Royal Rumble winner. Michaels is one of the best performers in the history of the Royal Rumble.

His milestones at the event include winning two consecutive Royal Rumble matches, the 1995 and 1996 Rumbles. Also, he has the third longest cumulative time spent in the Royal Rumble at 3 hours 42 minutes and 30 seconds and has the second most number of eliminations at 39.

At the 2003 Royal Rumble, Michaels was drawn number one which was reminiscent of the 1995 Royal Rumble which he also drew one and outlasted the other 29 participants to win the match.

However, in 2003, things turned out differently for the "Heart Break Kid". Chris Jericho who drew number 2, attacked Michaels from behind and hit him with a chair, causing Michaels to bleed. He continued to attack Shawn before easily eliminating him to end Michael's time at 2 minutes 31 seconds.