WWE: The Top 15 Greatest Moments in Royal Rumble History

5. Triple H and Cactus Jack’s Street Fight For WWE Championship: January 23, 2000

The Royal Rumble pay-per-view has offered up some outstanding matches outside of the Royal Rumble match itself that go widely unnoticed.  And while this match isn’t unnoticed, it isn’t necessarily what someone thinks of when it comes to the Royal Rumble.

Many would agree that Triple H vs. Cactus Jack in a Street Fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship is the best non-rumble match in the history of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.  The Game and Mick Foley were entangled in a bitter feud in early-2000, and the return of Foley’s alter ego Cactus Jack made the feud even more bitter.

The match was set for the Royal Rumble and despite the Royal Rumble match taking the headlines leading into the pay-per-view, this match undoubtedly stole the show.  It was a brutal, bloody, hard-hitting, and violent match that saw a little bit of everything.  And just like Foley did the year before at the Royal Rumble with The Rock, he did the same this time around with Triple H.

The Game would go on to retain his championship in an epic match that still holds up to this day.  Triple H’s ascent to the top of the WWE only took off even farther throughout the rest of the year and he even had another insane match with Cactus Jack at No Way Out inside Hell in a Cell.

Triple H vs. Cactus Jack at Royal Rumble 2000 proved that despite the rumble match itself drawing most of the interest for the pay-per-view, other matches can steal the show as well.