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The 2018 Royal Rumble is on the horizon and, unlike previous years, fans are still no closer to knowing who will emerge victorious from the men’s match in Philadelphia.
A whole host of names, from John Cena and Roman Reigns to Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor, have been among the favourites to win the match at one point or another over the last few months.
Whatever happens, it won’t take much for WWE to deliver a more exciting Rumble, at least as far as the outcome is concerned, than fans have become accustomed to in recent years, with the last five events having underwhelming and/or unpopular finishes.
In this article, we take a look every Rumble between 2013 and 2017 and question what WWE could have done differently to appease fans.
#5 Royal Rumble 2013
The winner: One year on from his "Once In A Lifetime" meeting with The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII, John Cena was the 19th entrant in the 2013 Royal Rumble. He lasted a total of 26 minutes before eliminating Ryback to win the match for the second time in his career, setting up another WrestleMania main event against “The Great One”.
Fan reaction: There was only one way Cena and The Rock could emulate their previous WrestleMania match and that was by having the WWE Championship on the line, so Cena’s victory made sense. Were most fans happy to see him win? No, but there was nobody else involved in the match who would have made for a better winner at the time.
Alternative winner: The Undertaker. CM Punk has revealed since leaving WWE that he had an idea to retain the WWE Championship until WrestleMania 29, meaning his reign would’ve surpassed 500 days, before facing “The Deadman” in a Title vs. Streak match at the event. As it turned out, ‘Taker did face Punk at WM29 – and they stole the show – but it would’ve been even better if he won the Rumble and went on to claim the title.
#4 Royal Rumble 2014
The winner: Batista returned to WWE in January 2014 as a baby face, despite the man behind the character wanting to play a heel. In his first match in almost four years, he outlasted 29 other men to win the Royal Rumble.
Fan reaction: It’s never a good sign when fans are chanting “Roman! Roman!” and actively wanting Roman Reigns to win a match instead of you. The reaction from the Pittsburgh crowd was less than favourable, with fans turning against Batista – and even 30th entrant Rey Mysterio – once they knew Daniel Bryan wasn’t going to be in the match.
Alternative winner: Who else but Daniel Bryan? At the time, “The Leader of the Yes Movement” was the most universally liked WWE Superstar since the days of The Rock and Steve Austin. In the end, he was given his fairy tale moment when he defeated Batista and Randy Orton to become World Heavyweight champion at WrestleMania XXX, but the Rumble would have been so much better had he won that, too.
#3 Royal Rumble 2015
The winner: A year after breaking Kane’s long-standing Royal Rumble elimination record, Roman Reigns overcame the odds, with a little bit of help from The Rock, to eliminate six men and win the 2015 Rumble. In doing so, he booked his spot in the main event of WrestleMania 31, where he faced Brock Lesnar for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Fan reaction: The response to Batista’s 2014 win was the most negative there had ever been following a Royal Rumble, but the vociferous reaction after Reigns’ triumph was on a whole different level. The hostile Philadelphia crowd knew “The Big Dog” was going to win and hijacked the last few minutes of the match by booing everyone and everything that moved.
Alternative winner: Daniel Bryan (again). The popular former World Heavyweight champion had recently returned from a long-term injury and was many people’s favourite to win the 2015 Rumble and go on to main-event WrestleMania for the second year in a row. However, he was eliminated midway through the Rumble by Bray Wyatt and he lost a number one contender match to Reigns the following month at Fastlane.
#2 Royal Rumble 2016
The winner: Triple H outlasted 29 men to not only win the Royal Rumble but also win the WWE Championship, previously held by Roman Reigns, for the 14th time in his career. It was just the second time in Rumble history that a title was up for grabs in the match.
Fan reaction: Not the best but certainly not the worst. Fans weren’t so much happy to see Triple H emerge victorious, they were just happy that Roman Reigns didn’t win. “The Big Dog” was entrant #1 and lasted almost an hour before he was eliminated by HHH a couple of minutes from the end.
Alternative winner: Kevin Owens, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles… take your pick! The WrestleMania main event from 2016, Triple H vs. Reigns, left a lot to be desired. Granted, WWE had an influx of injuries at the time, but it would’ve made for a much better Rumble – and build to WrestleMania – if the title wasn’t on the line and if the story wasn’t built around an underwhelming feud between HHH and Reigns.
#1 Royal Rumble 2017
The winner: Randy Orton entered at #23 and spent over 20 minutes in the match before eliminating Roman Reigns, the unpopular 30th entrant, to win the 2017 Royal Rumble. In doing so, he became just the seventh person in WWE history to win the Rumble more than once.
Fan reaction: Loud and supportive, largely thanks to the San Antonio crowd being petrified that Reigns, who wasn’t even advertised for the match, was going to win. Once it came down to “The Viper” and “The Guy”, there was only one person they wanted to emerge victorious.
Alternative winner: Luke Harper… seriously. With a stacked WrestleMania 33 card already set in stone, a feud for the WWE title needed to begin at the Rumble and Orton seemed to be the right call at the time. However, the ‘Mania match with Bray Wyatt was massively disappointing and we’d much rather Harper was catapulted to main-event level to set up a Wyatt Family Triple Threat on the grandest stage, with Orton getting added to the match at a later date. Anyone agree? Or have we taken this fantasy booking thing way too far?
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