Change one winner of the last 10 Royal Rumble Men's matches?

[The Rick Jericho]

Not to go too far back, let's recap the last 10 Men's rumbles.

2023 - Cody Rhodes. There was no other world title at the time, so I expect no other choice really here. The only argument I see here is that if Cody was gonna job, you don't make him the winner that year to face Roman. Keep them away each other until it's time to drop the title to Cody.

2022 - Brock Lesnar. Definitely I can see this one get votes. Brock didn't need a Rumble win to get to Roman.

2021 - Edge. Considering he lost and got stacked, I could see some people picking other wise.

2020 - Drew. Yeah, just like Cody, this was the right choice and I don't really see any complaints here.

2019 - Seth. Personally, I would've rather see Kofi Kingston get the Rumble win under his belt. Plus Seth flip-flopped the belt with Brock all summer, so he didn't need a rumble win.

2018 - Shinsuke. Poor guy, but since we know they had no plans for him with the title, I think 2018 definitely gets a lot of votes here.

2017 - Randy Orton. He didn't need this either during the Wyatt Family civil war. Orton/Harper/Wyatt for the title works alone. I did hear rumours before Bill Goldberg came back, some were saying Jericho would win it and challenge Owens for the Universal after they breakup. I see some votes here too.

2016 - Triple H. You saw how over Ambrose was during the final 2 with Hunter. Especially once Roman got eliminated the crowd went nuts. Even if Dean wasn't in the Mani plans, listen to the crowd. Hotshot the belt to Ambrose and he loses it to Hunter before Mania. And it sets up the rightful main event, Roman/Dean/Hunter 3 way.

2015 - Roman Reigns. At the time, yes, people didn't like this decision. But you know what, he was the golden boy at this time and was there really anyone else who could've used the win? Bryan was cooled down way much to the mid-card at this point, plus he faced Roman at Fastlane for the title match, so once Bryan jobbed there was no other choice.

2014. Okay, even with a decade and time passed by. And looking at the last 10 years, we've had some other head scratcher Rumble winners. Does time heal all wounds, or does 2014 still irate you to this day and Daniel Bryan should've won and gone to Wrestlemania to take out the authority's chosen champion Randy Orton?

[Nosnorb]

Jan 15, 2024 18:39:56 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

2015 - Roman Reigns. At the time, yes, people didn't like this decision. But you know what, he was the golden boy at this time and was there really anyone else who could've used the win? Bryan was cooled down way much to the mid-card at this point, plus he faced Roman at Fastlane for the title match, so once Bryan jobbed there was no other choice.

Dude. What. The. F***.

Bryan had just returned from injury and dude was still OVER AS F***. Dean Ambrose, despite losing a feud to Bray Wyatt, was still over. Dolph Ziggler was riding high from being the man who had sent the Authority packing (or so we thought) at Survivor Series. All of those guys could have used the win far more than Roman Reigns did. Hell, Roman didn't exactly benefit from winning that match considering he spent most of it on his arse and won it in a way that made him look like he lucked out.

Stating that Bryan had cooled way too much down was, and is, an absolutely idiotic statement. Without question, either Dolph, Dean or Bryan would have been a better winner than Roman was in 2015.

[Andew9001]

The 2015 rumble win did a lot of damage to Roman with fans soundly rejecting him and the visual of The Rock looking confused has lived in infamy. Bryan could've won and they could've had Seth still cash in and steal the title and it only would've made Seth a bigger bad guy.

[The Rick Jericho]

Jan 15, 2024 18:54:44 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

Jan 15, 2024 18:39:56 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

2015 - Roman Reigns. At the time, yes, people didn't like this decision. But you know what, he was the golden boy at this time and was there really anyone else who could've used the win? Bryan was cooled down way much to the mid-card at this point, plus he faced Roman at Fastlane for the title match, so once Bryan jobbed there was no other choice.

Dude. What. The. F***.

Bryan had just returned from injury and dude was still OVER AS F***. Dean Ambrose, despite losing a feud to Bray Wyatt, was still over. Dolph Ziggler was riding high from being the man who had sent the Authority packing (or so we thought) at Survivor Series. All of those guys could have used the win far more than Roman Reigns did. Hell, Roman didn't exactly benefit from winning that match considering he spent most of it on his arse and won it in a way that made him look like he lucked out.

Stating that Bryan had cooled way too much down was, and is, an absolutely idiotic statement. Without question, either Dolph, Dean or Bryan would have been a better winner than Roman was in 2015.

The reason why I said that for 2015 is simple. Nothing was getting in the way of Roman that year from management's point of view. Do I agree with you Bryan was over. Of course. But of all the years WWE tried to simply force a Roman push, this was the year. This is why when I look back at that year there was no one, even if they were over, was going to get this win over Roman.

That's why this is the one year I ain't even mad at.

Ziggler? WWE threw him out like trash during this match. Ambrose? The same. Yes, it was mortifying. Yes it was awful.

Plus don't forget at that time, Bryan was still being watched incase he got hurt again, so he was a risk to give the main event again. So health is what did DB in too. If he was completely healthy? Yeah go for it. And sadly when he did get hurt again, you have to look at it being justified not to give DB the win. Could you imagine DB having to forfeit the titles back to back years? I can see that being a risk WWE just didn't want to go through for a second year in a row.

[bob]

only 1? sheesh

Roman I guess... but Nakamura, HHH, Orton, Batista were all head scratchers

[Push R Truth]

There's only like 3 of those I'd keep: Cody, Drew and Seth


god the last 10 rumbles have mostly been buttcheeks

[Gerard Gerard]

I've never mourned a coronavirus case quite like Roman's in early 2022 as it indirectly led to a Brock Rumble win and the consequent hostage-holding of the WWE belt ever since. A whole new world title has come into being because of it and that's before we even get into Brock winning one of the lamest Rumbles in the last decade in less time than it takes to make instant ramen.

At very least Roman in 2015 was designed with the bigger picture in mind, however much we had to suffer for the fact.

[fw91]

Batista. I might not like many of the others, but I understood them. This one was as tone deaf as it gets.

[ChitownKnight]

Batista ended up adding to the story of Bryan winning. I’d say 2015. You can have Bryan win, face Brock at mania, Seth cashes in middle of the match like what happened anyways and he gets heat for it. Roman can then dethrone Seth at Survivor Series and get a positive reaction. They can still eventually do the 2020 heel turn

[clc]

Wow. When you list them like that, I have been unhappy with many of the Rumble winners. Still my favorite event of the year though!

2023 - Cody was a poor choice. 2023 should have been Sami's year to main event Mainia. He earned it.
2022 - Brock was a poor choice. Didn't need it. Brock vs Roman was very stale at that point.
2021 - Edge. I was mad when he won. He did not need it. I'm sour on Edge's entire comeback. He comes back at 50 and puts no one over (except freakin' Roman..ugh)
2020 - Drew. This one was good. No gripes.
2019 - Seth Rollins. This one was fine I guess. The Men's Rumble was somewhat irrelevant since the big match was predetermined to be the Women's match (which was also the wrong call. Kofimania should have headlined that year. The Becky match was so convoluted with shoehorning Charlotte and the angle cooled off come mania. The match itself was not great either with an underwhelming finish)
2018 - Nakamura was absolutely the right choice. The wrong choice was him losing at Mania.
2017 - I remember that night thinking, by making Randy and Roman the final 2, they somehow managed to make Randy winning seem like a good idea. It wasn't but I can't think of anyone better that year either.
2016 - HHH...See above
2015 - Daniel Bryan should have won, especially after he didn't in 2014. This one gets my vote.
2014 - Daniel Bryan. Was never a big Batista fan, and this was most certainly not his time.

[rrg251]

There are many, many WrestleMania cards that I would have done differently, and the winner of those years' Royal Rumbles would be affected by those changes. But there is one year where the lineup of WrestleMania could have been the same, but the winner of the Royal Rumble should have been someone else that challenged for a championship that night.

I am not, surprisingly, talking about 2014. As great as a Daniel Bryan Royal Rumble win would have been (and Authority leader Triple H could always have inserted Batista into the Mania match anyway just to be a jerk), I feel like WWE needed to make the mistake of the Batista win, so they could redeem themselves in such spectacular fashion with the Bryan win at Mania. The Miracle on Bourbon Street wouldn't have meant as much if Bryan had overcome the odds to win the Rumble two months earlier.

I'm talking about 2017. Orton's win made for an awful story where it looked like WWE realized that they were about to give us a terrible match, so they made Orton give up his title shot, which gave fans hope for a better match, only for Orton to reclaim the title shot and challenge Wyatt in an all-time terrible match that I thought WWE had been going out of their way to avoid.

I wouldn't have done that match at all, but even if the WrestleMania card is set in stone, the Rumble win could have been better spent on the night's other title challenger: Brock Lesnar. Brock was inexplicably allowed to challenge for a brand's top championship at WrestleMania despite not having won a televised match since Summerslam the previous year. A Rumble win would have been the first step in a redemption arc that for once in his career, he needed.

Again, I'm not saying I wouldn't have done different championship matches at WrestleMania 33. I'm saying that if WrestleMania 33 had to have those championship matches, it would have made more sense for Lesnar to challenge via a Rumble win than Orton.

[Eunös ✈]

It still annoys me that Daniel Bryan never won a Rumble.

There are 3 here he easily could/should have.

2014 and 2015 are the obvious ones.

But 2021 is another one. In fact I remember hearing he was the favourite that year, and considering he still ended up in the Main event at Mania.

Edge didn't really need the Main event. He could have had a match with Orton at the next PPV where the winner goes into the WM Main event etc.

[msc]

Brock Lesnar killing the Rumble in 2022 easily. He lost the title, then walks into the Rumble, wins in 2 minutes, then wins the WWE title back in the Chamber killing the RAW main event 2 weeks later, all done to make the Rumble pointless that year so Roman Reigns could win both belts.

Still pissed off by that.

2017-20 are fine. Orton got it because he was in the hottest programme on Smackdown, Nakamura deserved it (not the Rumbles fault Mania happened), Rollins was the fan choice, and Drew, well, you know my thoughts on Drew Mac.

[Woo]

2014. Absolutely should have been Bryan.

If 2014 wasn't Bryan then 2015 definitely should have been.

2015 should have been Ambrose.

2023 without doubt should have been Zayn. He was the most over guy in the company.

It's a shame I can't go earlier then 10 years as I'd have Santino over Del Rio and Kofi Kingston over Edge in 2010.

[Cvslfc123]

2014: Daniel Bryan- nothing more needs to be said.

2015: Keep as Roman just for the crowd's reaction.

2016: Dean Ambrose and the Royal Rumble is not for the WWE Championship. He faces Roman at WrestleMania and wins. This starts a bad year for Roman which cumulates in him turning into the Tribal Chief after beating Undertaker in 2017.

2017: Chris Jericho, so he can face Kevin Owens for the Universal Title.

2018: Keep as Nakamura but have him win at Mania.

2019: Keep as Seth.

2020: Keep as Drew

2021: Bobby Lashley, Edge didn't need the win.

2022: Matt Riddle, sure he screwed himself over but at the time it would have made a new star.

2023- Keep as Cody but have him enter earlier than 30.