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