5 Best No. 15 Entries in the Royal Rumble

We are now halfway through the 30-day countdown to the 2019 Royal Rumble, at this stage, 15 competitors have come to the Royal Rumble, and the Ironman of the Rumble has been established for the most part. The Ironman is one of many Royal Rumble tropes that seem to happen in every year as a way to build the Royal Rumble.

Another is the dominator role, usually filled by a prominent wrestler that won't win the Royal Rumble, but will get the most eliminations. Recent notable examples are Cody Rhodes in 2012 with 6 eliminations, Roman Reigns in 2014 with 12 eliminations, and Braun Strowman in 2017 with 7 eliminations.

Despite several eliminations, none of the wrestlers went on to win the Royal Rumble. The role was pioneered by Hulk Hogan, who eliminated 10 participants in the 1989 Royal Rumble and Kane in the 2001 Royal Rumble despite eliminating 11 competitors, a record at the time.

A further part of the Royal Rumble is the surprising entrant, which historically has been taken by the role of a Superstar returning from a long injury lay-off, held back until the Royal Rumble, a Legend coming back for the Royal Rumble but in more recent years the role has been taken by a cameo from a top Superstar coming up from NXT.

Last year's Royal Rumble saw the WWE return of the Hurricane and Rey Mysterio, but also cameos from NXT superstars Adam Cole and Andrade 'Cien' Almas. The cameos often get great reactions from the crowd as the unexpected wrestler comes out for another appearance in the squared circle.

You can see the other entries in this series below:

Part 1 is here; Part 6 is here; Part 11 is here

Part 2 is here; Part 7 is here; Part 12 is here

Part 3 is here; Part 8 is here; Part 13 is here

Part 4 is here; Part 9 is here; Part 14 is here

Part 5 is here; Part 10 is here

#5 Scotty 2 Hotty (2005) - Never made it to the ring

Scotty 2 Hotty before getting attacked by Muhammad Hassan at the 2005 Royal Rumble

The fun-loving Scotty 2 Hotty was a mainstay of the WWF/WWE Midcard during the late 1990s early 2000s. Mostly known as a part of the "2 Cool" tag team with Grand Master Sexay and they would later be joined by Rikishi. Best known for their mid-match dance breaks, before Carmella and R-Truth would bring it back. Scotty 2 Hotty would also win the WWF Light Heavyweight championship and also form a Tag Team with Albert known as the "Zoo Crew".

During the 2005 Royal Rumble, Scotty 2 Hotty entered as the 15th entrant of the Royal Rumble and was shuffling and dancing his way down the ramp towards the ring. Unfortunately for Scotty, he would never make it to the ring as he would be attacked from behind by the recently eliminated Muhammad Hassan, as Hassan was making his way back up the ramp. Hassan would then lock in the Camel Clutch on Scotty at the bottom of the ramp and refused to let go.

By the time the attack was over, Scotty was removed from the ramp and the Royal Rumble continued without him.

#4 Roddy Piper (1992) - Eliminated 26th - 1 Elimination

Piper and Flair by themselves during the 1992 Royal Rumble

Rowdy Roddy Piper was an excellent wrestler for the WWF back in the day. It was with the WWF that the most notable moments of Piper's career occurred, from his feud with Jimmy "Supafly" Snuka which involved the infamous Piper's Pit segment, and a feud with Hulk Hogan, in which the two were involved in a tag team match that was the main event of the first ever Wrestlemania.

While the majority of the 1992 Royal Rumble saw the ring filled with superstars, by the time Piper's number 15 reached the ring only one man was left, and that was Ric Flair. Piper would capitalize on this and make it all the way to the final 5 of the Royal Rumble, before being eliminated by Sid Justice.

Piper would end up with the second-longest run in the 1992 Rumble, behind Flair, at 34 minutes and 6 seconds, and Piper would also eliminate Irwin R Shyster from the Rumble as well.

#3 Cody Rhodes (2009) - Eliminated 28th - 2 Eliminations

Cody Rhodes helped his Legacy stablemate, Randy Orton, to victory in the 2009 Royal Rumble

Cody Rhodes may be better known now for his career outside of the WWE, but at one point in time he was considered as one of the best up and coming stars the WWE had, putting him in the Legacy stable with Ted DiBiase and Randy Orton. Legacy would be pivotal in the 2009 Royal Rumble in helping Randy Orton win his first Royal Rumble.

Coming in last of the three members of Legacy after DiBiase and Orton, Rhodes was able to eliminate Kane and his brother Goldust, while making it to the final three before being eliminated by Triple H.

Cody Rhodes would record a Royal Rumble time of 37 minutes and 1 second and would be Cody's best Royal Rumble performance, though he came close to matching it in the 2012 Royal Rumble.

#2 Rusev (2015) - Eliminated 29th - 6 Eliminations

Rusev entering in at number 15 to the 2015 Royal Rumble

A year after appearing at the Royal Rumble as a surprise call up from NXT, Rusev made his second appearance at the Royal Rumble and his first as a member of the main roster. The "Bulgarian Brute" came to the 2015 Royal Rumble as the 15th entry and played the role of the destroyer.

Coming in halfway into the Rumble allowed Rusev to unleash his natural potential, as the then US Champion made it all the way to the final 2 before being eliminated by Roman Reigns at the end of the match to crown Reigns as the winner.

During the Royal Rumble itself, Rusev lasted 35 minutes and 40 seconds, which was second after Bray Wyatt's Ironman performance. Rusev would also tie with Wyatt and Reigns for the most eliminations of the Rumble, with 6.

Rusev managed to eliminate Diamond Dallas Page, Fandango, Adam Rose, Kofi Kingston, Damien Mizdow and Big E during the Rumble.

#1 Roman Reigns (2014) - Eliminated 29th - 12 Eliminations

Coming in as the 15th entrant in his first ever Royal Rumble, not many people could have predicted the records that Roman Reigns would break.

The Powerhouse of the Shield would come in and clean house, eliminating over a third of the competitors in the Royal Rumble. In his 2014 Royal Rumble run, he eliminated 12 other competitors breaking Kane's record of 11 from the 2001 Royal Rumble, a record that had stood for 13 years.

Amongst Reigns' victims included Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Nash, Goldust, El Torrito, John Bradshaw Layfield, Luke Harper, Antonio Cesaro, his former Shield brothers in Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Sheamus before being eliminated by Batista and finishing second. Reigns would only need to wait just another year before he would taste Royal Rumble success after winning the 2015 Royal Rumble with a mere 6 eliminations.

Reigns would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the company in the following years, until 2018 when he stepped away from wrestling to treat his Leukemia which had returned from remission.