5 Worst Royal Rumble Winners in the History of the Pay-Per-View

Winning the Royal Rumble is not and never was a cake walk. Apart from the confidence from the people backstage, a superstar had to win the crowd as well if he had to become a successful Royal Rumble winner.Majority of the winners achieved this paramount task with flying colors but there were a lot of others who ended up making a fool out of themselves. It would probably be a nightmare for both the company and the superstar but then again, wrestling fans are one of the most unpredictable breeds out there.As we prepare for witnessing another winner being crowned this year, here is a look at some of the worst Royal Rumble winners in the history.

#6 Honorable mention - Roman Reigns

Even the Rock couldn't save Reigns from the wrath of the Philly fans

Predictability hurts the WWE product and that is exactly why Roman Reign’ Royal Rumble 2015 win was an epic fail.

There were many reasons that contributed to the plan backfiring – one of which was Daniel Bryan getting eliminated early on the match that drew the ire of the Philadelphia crowd. The boisterous Philly crowd mercilessly booed Reigns as they got behind the leader of the Yes movement.

Even a cameo from Rock couldn't save the whole match from being a debacle. WWE’ horrid booking of the match didn’t help their cause either as it ended up being one of the most predictable Rumble matches ever.

#5 John Cena

When WWE advertised the Cena – Rock match as a once in a life time event in 2012, no one expected the company to have a rematch in the very next year. They needed something different in 2013, and the answer was to include the title into the mix.

So WWE let Cena win the Royal Rumble match and later allowed Rock to mark an end to CM Punk’s record reign. It was a predictable match right down to the core and was also one of the reasons for Punk walking out from the company.

At WrestleMania, Cena and Rock had a horrible outing in terms of wrestling and Cena winning back the title seemed nothing more than obvious.

#4 Yokozuna

WWE’s love of giant men dates back to ages. Vince McMahon always wanted big guys to rule the WWE ring and to be frank; this addiction backfired on him every single time. 1993 was such an instance.

The Royal Rumble match had legends like Ric Flair, Undertaker, Owen Hart, and Randy Savage but the company made Yokozuna win for no apparent reason. Yes, he did have an intimidating size but a WrestleMania main event with him was sure to fall short. And it did.

Even Bret Hart couldn’t make Yokozuna look good as it ended up being one of the worst WrestleManias in the history of WWE. Yokozuna did win the title from Bret but lost it just minutes later to Hulk Hogan.

#3 Alberto Del Rio

Alberto Del Rio is the only superstar who has won a forty men Royal Rumble. On paper it might sound bad but in reality, the fact is worse. Del Rio is indeed a great in ring worker and a decorated name in the business but that doesn’t explain the company letting him be the ‘one’.

Del Rio entered into the match at the 38th position and eliminated Santino Marella to win the match. Does it get any worse that this? Yes, it does. He opened WrestleMania instead of headlining it and lost the championship match against Edge.

The Mexican’s recent departure from the company makes the situation a lot more botched as WWE cannot bank in on a superstar who defeated 39 other men in one night.

#2 Sheamus

Chris Jericho was one of the best choices to win Royal Rumble in 2012, but the company decided to go with Sheamus instead. The Celtic Warrior entered into the match at 22nd position and went all the way to win it by eliminating Jericho.

It didn’t look bad at first but it looked horrible when Sheamus reached WrestleMania. The whole point of Royal Rumble is to give the winner a chance to headline the Mania. However, Sheamus opened the show alongside Daniel Bryan in an 18 second match.

Jericho, who lost meanwhile, worked further up the card and faced the WWE Champion CM Punk. Sheamus never got the luxuries of winning the Rumble thus deserving a place in the list.

#1 Batista

Arguably one of the worst booking decisions of 2014 was to bring back Batista and let him win the Royal Rumble. After a four year gap, the Animal was rusty at each corner when he entered the Rumble but he was the favorite nevertheless.

Vince McMahon assumed that bringing back Batista after a long layoff would work wonders but that wasn’t the case. Batista was jeered when he eliminated Roman Reigns in the end and the buildup to WrestleMania was instantly screwed up.

The company tried to solve the chaos by introducing Daniel Bryan into the mix, but the crowd was not buying what Batista sold. And considering the original plan of Orton and Batista headlining WrestleMania, it was indeed a complete botch from the booking team.