Royal Rumble - Roman Reigns' worst nightmare
WWE’s annual extravaganza Royal Rumble is just two weeks away. The annual 30-man over the top rope battle royal is something that every WWE fan eagerly awaits each year.
The invigorating suspense, spectacular returns, impactful debuts, glory of the bounty and the multitude of possibilities surrounding the event make it a must-watch for every WWE fan.
While several superstars have found their doors to glory at the event, there is a superstar on the current roster for whom the event is nothing but a nightmare. For three years now, right around Royal Rumble, WWE Creative’s plans to push Vince’s top guy in WWE have been backfiring on them in spectacular fashion.
It is a wonder that WWE always manages to screw up their top priority’s booking year after year. Yes, you have guessed it right. That guy is Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns and Royal Rumble have a history. This is the PPV which has been a constant thorn on the side of Roman Reigns for three years in a row now. And the fact that it is only three years since Roman actually wrestled on the PPV only makes it worse.
Before we discuss Roman’s bad run with the event, let’s refresh our memories with the history between him and the event.
Strike 1 – 2014
The very first Royal Rumble for Roman Reigns was, in fact, a good one. But what went wrong here is his booking.
If one recalls right, the entire arena was crying for Roman to win the Royal Rumble and go on to main event WrestleMania. The fact that he was the last guy to be eliminated just rubs salt in that wound.
But evidently, WWE had a whole different idea. Batista had returned to WWE after a long time and WWE was planning to make him win the match and headline WrestleMania, despite the protest of a majority of fans.
Also read: 5 opportunities to turn Roman Reigns heel that WWE wasted
Roman, who was on the rising stage off his career, was fed to The Animal and Batista won the match. The result created such a severe backlash from the fans that WWE had to alter their main event plans and appease the WWE Universe by adding Daniel Bryan into the match.
Sadly, no one can guess what Reigns’ career would have been now if he had indeed won the Royal Rumble at that time.