Who Were the Runners Up in the 2008-2018 Royal Rumble Matches?

The early years of the Royal Rumble event were a great success. The added stipulation in 1993, that the match winner would headline Wrestlemania opposite the WWE Champion made the event that much more anticipated.

As the Royal Rumble gimmick entered a third decade, WWE experimented with the format, increasing the number of participants to 40 men in 2011 and then 50 for the Greatest Royal Rumble show in Saudi Arabia in April 2018, making much longer contests. However, as of this writing, WWE are yet to repeat either gimmick and the 30 participant Royal Rumble match appears destined to remain the de-facto version of the event. WWE finally added an all-female Royal Rumble match in January 2018, which was won by Asuka.

So coveted were spots in the Royal Rumble that qualification became a necessity in the 2000s, with a large roster vying to earn a spot in the match wherein big prizes awaited the winner.

Between 2008 and 2018, the conversion rate between 'Rumble' victories and title wins at Wrestlemania, dramatically reduced. However, the luster of the event remains.

The Rumble match nevertheless remains a major platform for an up-and-coming superstar to become a bonafide headline mega draw. By winning the Rumble, they would earn a first class ticket to the top of the business.

However, the margins between success and failure are small and for the great success experienced by most Rumble winners, disappointment and a return to the drawing board were experienced by those wrestlers who missed out on victory and were runners-up in the annual spectacular.

In this the third of three articles (you can read my first here and second here), SK revisits the most recent Royal Rumble matches and looks at the runners-up and what became of their careers after they missed out on victory.

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2008-10

The final three in the 2008 Royal Rumble

2008 - Triple H

Triple H found himself in the final two of the excellent 2008 Royal Rumble match with the newly returned John Cena. However, it would be Cena's night as he became the second consecutive winner from the number 30 spot.

The Rumble loss did not affect Triple H's Wrestlemania title ambitions, however. Despite the defeat, he competed in a triple threat bout with Cena and Randy Orton at Wrestlemania XXIV though he would come up short in that bout.

Cena's return in such a short duration is one of the all-time mark-out favorite moments in WWE history and Triple H's expression pretty much summed up just what all of us had in mind.

2009 - Triple H

"The Game" finished second for the second Rumble match in a row. He was eliminated by long-time rival Randy Orton.

However, his Wrestlemania ambitions were once more not dimmed by defeat. Triple H would win the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber the following month and would end up defending the title against Rumble winner, Orton. Not only that, but he would pin Orton to defend the title.

Triple H has been one of those superstars who has found a method to redeem himself time and again and this is just another example of bis tenacity.

2010 - John Cena

The 2010 edition of the Royal Rumble had a strong field and the final four saw Shawn Michaels, Batista, John Cena and a returning Edge square off.

It would be Edge who last eliminated Cena to win.

Cena would find his way to the title match at Wrestlemania though as he challenged Batista for the WWE Championship whilst Edge challenged world champion Chris Jericho instead.

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2011-13

Santino Marella: Comes within a whisker of winning the 2011 Royal Rumble

2011 - Santino Marella

Well, what would have happened if comedy character Santino Marella had last eliminated Alberto Del Rio to win the first 40 man Royal Rumble match in history?

It would have been a far more interesting result, that's for sure.

Fans had almost forgotten that Marella was still in the match and when he rose quietly from the ring apron with the intention of outwitting Del Rio, it looked too good to be true. But that was not to be as Del Rio eliminated the Italian to win his first Royal Rumble match.

Del Rio failed to wrest the title from Edge at Wrestlemania in what turned out to be the Rated R Superstar's final match before bowing out due to an injury. Marella would win soon win the United States Championship and compete instead in a throwaway eight-man tag team match at the big show.

Edge vs Marella would certainly have been fun though.

2012 - Chris Jericho

Everyone predicted the newly returned Chris Jericho would win the 2012 Royal Rumble, and he made it to the final two, where he was surprisingly eliminated by Sheamus in one of the least memorable Rumble encounters in recent memory. Jericho would also go on to fight in a title fight though at Wrestlemania, so the fact he did not win the Rumble had no bearing on his Wrestlemania status.

2013 - Ryback

John Cena won the Royal Rumble match in 2013 as WWE put in motion their plan for Cena vs The Rock 2 at Wrestlemania 29, this time with the WWE Championship at stake.

However, what if runner up, Ryback had won instead? The Rock vs Ryback may not have had the same mainstream appeal and is a bit of a tongue twister of a match to be honest but in January 2013, Ryback was a hot commodity and if the man born Ryan Reeves had defeated Rock to win the title instead of Cena, then a new main eventer would have been born.

Perhaps WWE missed a trick here. Ryback instead was cleanly beaten by the past-his-sell-by-date Mark Henry in a throwaway undercard match and then somehow was named the number one contender for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules the following month.

That feud with Cena saw his main event aura permanently extinguished.

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2014-16

The final two in the 2014 Royal Rumble

2014 - Roman Reigns

In what was an extremely unpopular result on the night, a returning Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Roman Reigns. The fan backlash stemmed from the fact, that the live crowd expected Daniel Bryan to wrestle in the bout. When he didn't, the fans turned on the contest and loudly booed the man they clicked on that would win: Batista.

So Reigns, who at that point was a heel, was for several minutes the biggest babyface in wrestling as he fought Batista in the final stages.

He came up short, but over the next 12 months, he began his ascent up the card and won the 2015 Royal Rumble, where ironically history would repeat itself. The fans were aghast that Bryan was once again disrespected in the match and turned on Reigns, the expected winner, in the same manner they had with Batista the year before.

2015 - Rusev

If any superstar would have greatly benefited from a Rumble victory, then Rusev would be that man. Rusev debuted as a near invincible monster, being unbeaten in WWE for a year before an ill-fated feud with John Cena post-Rumble saw his aura dissipate and any upward mobility was lost. Had he won this match, he could well have become a bonafide main eventer.

It was not to be. Roman Reigns would be the victor and Rusev would lose all momentum in a long pay-per-view series with Cena and would become a glorified jobber before the year was out. In 2019, he is United States Champion once more; the exact same position he was in in January 2015. Not exactly career progression for the talented Bulgarian.

2016 - Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose was the reigning Intercontinental Champion at the time of this match and thus was not expected to win the Royal Rumble match. However, he did make it to the final two where he was eliminated by the winner, Triple H. The WWE Championship was on the line in this match as the Authority sought to and achieved their aim of wresting the belt away from Roman Reigns.

All was not lost for Ambrose though. He participated in a hyped bout with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania before finally winning the WWE Championship from former buddy Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank in June.

The Rumble victory would not have altered his career trajectory.

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2017-18

Asuka last eliminates Nikki Bella to win the women's 2018 Royal Rumble

2017 - Roman Reigns

The 2017 edition of the Royal Rumble was a star studded affair filled with veteran talent such as Goldberg, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Mark Henry, and Chris Jericho.

However, it was another veteran, Randy Orton who last eliminated Roman Reigns to win the bout. However, what if Reigns had won? It would have made no difference to his career, having already reigned as WWE Champion many times. Anyway, he had a Wrestlemania main event with The Undertaker to look forward to.

2018: Men's - Roman Reigns

When the 2018 edition of the Royal Rumble came down to two men, Roman Reigns and Shinsuke Nakamura, most people expected Reigns's hand to be raised in victory as he continued to pursue Brock Lesnar and the Universal Title.

However, it was not to be and Nakamura, after failing in his attempts to wrest the WWE Championship away from Jinder Mahal the previous summer, would receive another crack at the belt, now held by AJ Styles.

But what if Reigns had won? It would not have made a jot of difference as he challenged Lesnar for the strap regardless, though like Nakumura he was unsuccessful at Wrestlemania in his title challenge.

2018: Women's - Nikki Bella

Can you imagine the backlash if the semi-retired Nikki Bella had won the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble match? Asuka was the correct winner as it enabled her to capitalize on the momentum she had built up over two years undefeated.

Bella vs Charlotte Flair had already been done as a pay per view bout and was never on the cards for Wrestlemania 34.

2018: Greatest - Big Cass

In what may be the most underwhelming Royal Rumble runner-up of all time, Big Cass eliminated Daniel Bryan, the first entrant in the only 50 man Royal Rumble encounter of all time, before he as dumped out by winner Braun Strowman.

Cass was involved in a mini feud with Bryan at the time and his runner-up berth existed solely to give him some heat for the Bryan conflict.

Even if he had won, it would not have made much difference to his career. There was no reward for winning the bout other than a trophy and he was cut from the promotion just a couple of months later due to his poor attitude backstage.