5 Royal Rumble matches with the best Final Four

#2 2005 (Rey Mysterio, Edge, John Cena, and Batista)

A sight into the future, as Batista and John Cena would soon become the biggest stars in WWE.

The story of the Royal Rumble match in 2005 was the exact opposite of what we witnessed in 2010. In 2010, all the competitors in the final four were bonafide main event stars, with a total of 25 World Title reigns already under their name. On the flip side, neither of the four Superstars in 2005 had a World Title reign under their belt and were still fighting tooth-and-nail to reach the top of the food chain.

That is exactly what made this clash between Rey Mysterio, Edge, John Cena, and Batista exciting, possibly even moreso than the big-time final four of 2010. That a star was going to rise from the mid-card, go on to main event WrestleMania 21 against a megastar, and become the face of the company had the excitement for the finish reach unimaginable levels.

Edge and Mysterio were the two cornerstones of this match as they lasted for almost 40 minutes each, although they were the first two eliminated from this group. Despite the error in the finish that caused the match to be restarted, the 2005 Royal Rumble marked the birth of four main event Superstars, all of whom had a World Title under their name within the next 14 months and, 15 years later, have won 36 World Titles combined. Two of them (Cena and Batista) would win the WWE ans World Heavyweight Championships just a few months later at WrestleMania.