Boos, Bryan & Batista: How WWE should have booked the last 5 Royal Rumble matches
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.