Nunzio was added to the Royal Rumble match during the pay per view, making him Smackdown’s 15th entrant. This kills all speculation that Brock Lesnar or another “mystery” entrant would be added to the show at the last minute, filling a slot seemingly open due to RVD’s recent knee injury.
Kurt Angle, who had been pinned by JBL during the JBL/Big Show/Angle triple threat match for the WWE Title earlier in the PPV, took the slot from Nunzio backstage, threatening him if he didn’t hand over the ball that contained the # at which he would be entering.
During the Rumble match itself, WWE seemed to strongly hint that Angle would be entering a program with RAW superstar Shawn Michaels. At the last RAW/SD duel-show, Survivor Series, Angle hinted that he “could make Michaels tap” in a backstage segment with Edge and Eugene.
