#4: Royal Rumble 2008
Winner: John Cena
A lot of people source this Rumble match as one of the best because of John Cena’s shocking surprise return at #30. He had been injured in October of 2007 and, not unlike his most recent godlike recovery, he made his comeback a full 4-8 months sooner than expected, putting stunned looks on the faces of everyone left in the ring. But if you only look at the highlight of Cena’s return and victory, you’re going to miss one of the best start-to-finish Rumble matches in history.
The previous year’s winners, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, started the match off from the #1 and #2 positions. So right out of the gate we had two of the greatest wrestlers in history competing, insuring a hot Madison Square Garden for at least the 32 minutes they remained in the match. While there was a fair lot of filler Superstars following Undertaker and HBK, the Garden did their part to recognize who they saw as future stars. CM Punk and Mr. Kennedy got huge reactions, as did Shelton Benjamin, while heels like Miz, John Morrison and Umaga were appropriately dealt with. The returning legends cast for this Rumble is among the best, with Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Mick Foley blowing the roof off MSG. Add to that a solid roster of top tier talents like Batista, Triple H, and Kane. It’s true that John Cena’s return was the most talked about event from the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and if Twitter was popular then I’m sure he would have “trended” all over the place, but don’t be fooled by that one fantastic moment; this was a truly great match all around.
