When Batista’s WWE return first got hyped up in 2014, there had been some anticipation to see him back. The only thing that slightly holds him up is the WrestleMania 31 match he had with Brock Lesnar. It was one of the most poorly booked and bizarre Royal Rumble matches you will ever see. Rusev got more cheers than these two, which should say something about how the fans felt. Worst of all, WWE found a way to get the Rock booed when he made the save as Show and Kane beat down Reigns. He ended up tossing both men over the top rope, spearing Rusev, dumping him, and then celebrating as the audience gave potentially the most negative reaction you will hear anything on WWE programming receive. In one of the most anticlimactic moments in Royal Rumble history, Reigns stood in the ring with Big Show and Kane, two stars well past their prime, for the chance at headlining WrestleMania 31. Then the Big Dog proceeded to get booed throughout for any little thing he did, until we got to the final four. He entered in the middle of the bout, which had already seen the Philadelphia crowd implode over Daniel Bryan being eliminated early. However, the booking of it may have been the worst of them all.
The road seemed clear for Reigns to win coming into the match. There isn’t a big issue here with Reigns being the overall winner because WWE was booking a young star into a main event role, something fans had looked for the company to do throughout the John Cena era. Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble in 2015 is still fresh in fan’s minds and likely will be for the next handful of years. Who ranks first? How about last? Which Superstars appear on here multiple times? Through 29 Royal Rumble matches, there have been 30 winners. Some of their victories were historic, while others had unappealing fallout booking decisions. Some of the greatest WWE stars of all time have won the Royal Rumble match, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, John Cena, and the Rock. This used to be a guaranteed main event spot in past years, until the brand split got announced in the summer of 2016. The winner of this goes on to the Show of Shows to wrestle a World title match. It occurs in January, about 10 weeks before the upcoming WrestleMania event. The WWE Royal Rumble match is always one of the most anticipated parts of the year. Who goes down as the greatest WWE Royal Rumble match winner ever?