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Apparently they'd finalized everyone that was going to be on the show and in the Rumble about six weeks ago, right around the time Bryan got cleared. Hornswoggle, Khali, Rey, and Hiroki Sumi were all scheduled around that time. They'd already agreed to terms with Lashley to come back after Mania, and they knew Cass and Jeff were cleared to return as well. Besides that the idea was to just get every active male wrestler from Raw and SmackDown onto the card, similarly to how they handle Mania.
Big Show, Kane, Sami Zayn, and Zack Ryder all had to be pulled within a week of the show for a variety of reasons, so they simply plugged their spots with the various NXT guys that were already scheduled to be over there to help with the Saudi tryouts.
This somewhat explains why the NXT participants seemed so random. Also why Drew McIntyre, No Way Jose, and the Authors of Pain weren't there - because they hadn't yet been called up when WWE were filling out the show and making arrangements. Could also be why R-Truth wasn't there either as he only got medically cleared days before Mania.
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