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Every January, the Royal Rumble match takes place and the winner of that match gets a chance to headline Wrestlemania and receives a World Title shot. In the past, winning the Royal Rumble match almost guaranteed a main event spot at WrestleMania for the winner against the World Champion of his choice but in the last few years due to the re-emergence of superstars of the attitude and ruthless aggression era (Part-timers), the main event spot has been reserved for superstars such as Brock Lesnar, The Rock etc. Due to this change, the Royal Rumble match winner fails to main-event WrestleMania if he is not facing a part-timer.
Of course, the main event of WrestleMania needs to be huge and thus, it needs star power and from a business perspective, that makes complete sense but as all of us know that back at WrestleMania 19, the Royal Rumble winner Brock Lesnar main evented the event with Kurt Angle. Lesnar got to main event even though huge matches like Vince McMahon vs. Hulk Hogan and The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin were on the card.
Back then, WWE used to take risks and promote the rising stars of that era against the superstars who had already established their legacy and were on their way out of full-time competition. Nowadays, WWE has more faith in part-timers than full-timers and here are 5 such superstars who won the Royal Rumble match and should have been given a chance to main event that year's WrestleMania.
#5 Alberto Del Rio
It might sound a little selfish but the only reason Alberto should have main evented WrestleMania was so that Edge could main event WrestleMania. Alberto Del Rio won the 40-man Royal Rumble match in 2011 and received a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, held by Edge at that time, at WrestleMania. Del Rio unsuccessfully challenged Edge for the title and Edge ended up retaining the title but that match wasn't the main event at WrestleMania. The main event saw John Cena face The Miz for the WWE Championship, a match in which the special Guest Host, The Rock was heavily involved.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Edge turned out to be Edge's final professional wrestling match as he had to vacate the World Title and retire a few days after WrestleMania due to neck injuries. If the Alberto Del Rio vs. Edge match had been booked a little longer and had main evented WrestleMania, Edge would have finally gotten his WrestleMania main event. Edge's career is filled with amazing WrestleMania moments including his amazing spear to Jeff Hardy off a ladder, his spear to Mick Foley through a burning table etc. but he never got the chance to main event Mania and never will. This should have been his chance to main-event the big one.
#4 Sheamus
Sheamus shocked the WWE Universe when he defeated John Cena to become the first ever Irish-born WWE Champion in 2009, and that too in less than 6 months of his WWE arrival. Sheamus' career witnessed a slight downfall in late 2010 and he transformed into an upper mid-card jobber but he again started to pick momentum with his face turn in 2011. Sheamus went to on the win the 2012 Royal Rumble match and chose to face the World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. Sheamus was about to witness the best year of his wrestling career but unfortunately, his match with Daniel Bryan took place in the opener and ended in just 11 seconds and was billed as "Worst match of the night".
It's understandable that The Rock vs. John Cena was much bigger in stature than Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan but it should have been given the chance as Daniel Bryan had always been popular with the fans while Sheamus was improving as a babyface too, more or less similar to Batista during WrestleMania 21 season. Sheamus didn't main event WrestleMania but what's even worse was that he wasn't even allowed to showcase his potential and have a good match at the Grandest Stage of Them All. Sheamus and Daniel Bryan had an amazingly intense 2-out-of-3 falls match at Extreme Rules the following month.
#3 Shinsuke Nakamura
Again, this might sound a little selfish but one of the main reasons why Shinsuke deserved to main event WrestleMania was so that we could see AJ Styles and Shinsuke main event WrestleMania. Fans had high expectations from them after seeing their match at Wrestle Kingdom 10. A possible match between the 2 in WWE was teased at Money in the Bank 2017, when Styles and Nakamura faced off and battled during the final moments of the ladder match. In November last year, AJ Styles won the WWE Title from Jinder Mahal and it was almost confirmed that Nakamura would be winning the Royal Rumble match, which he did, setting up the dream match for WrestleMania, and that too for the WWE Championship.
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura didn't main event WrestleMania. Roman Reigns main-evented Mania with Brock Lesnar. Styles and Nakamura's match ended up disappointing many fans due to so many limitations in the ring which made the match lackluster. Both Styles and Nakamura worked very hard to reach to the top in a company where most of the times, the homegrown talents are given preference over successful Indy sensations. Styles/Nakamura match suffered due to limitations and if they were allowed to display their full potential, they could have easily given a 5 star match which should have main evented WrestleMania.
#2 The Undertaker
It took The Undertaker more than 17 years with WWE to win his first ever Royal Rumble match. What took him so long? The actual reason is that everyone, including the officials, believed that The Undertaker was a special attraction. He didn't need a title or a Royal Rumble win to stay relevant. His mere presence was enough to ensure high ratings and grasp the audience's attention. When The Undertaker finally won the Royal Rumble match in 2007 however, it was a big moment for him. He chose to face the World Heavyweight Champion Batista at WrestleMania 23. This was a huge match and should have definitely main evented WrestleMania but instead, Shawn Michaels and John Cena main evented the show.
John Cena and Shawn Michaels were both huge stars then but The Undertaker and Batista weren't any less successful either. It should have been the main event so that Undertaker could have had his big moment after winning the World Title and closed the show while celebrating. Nonetheless, The Undertaker has always been the highlight of WrestleMania and his Mania matches are mostly more anticipated than other high profile matches.
#1 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio won the Royal Rumble match in 2006 and went on to face Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22 but Rey didn't main event the show. John Cena and Triple H had a much more interesting feud going on at the same time on Raw and their match had every right to main event Wrestlemania but there's a reason why Rey's match should have been the main event.
If rumors are to be believed, Rey Mysterio wasn't even going to win the Rumble at the first place as Randy was supposed to win the Rumble and face Batista for the World Title at WrestleMania 22 but Eddie's sudden death caused WWE to push Rey Mysterio in tribute to Eddie. Rey paid tribute to Eddie after winning the Royal Rumble match and he also celebrated with Eddie's wife, Vickie Guerrero and nephew, Chavo Guerrero after winning the World title. Rey Mysterio should have main evented WrestleMania and the show should have ended with an Eddie Guerrero tribute with Mysterio celebrating his title win with Eddie's family. It would have been an emotional moment.
