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2) 2012 Royal Rumble winner Sheamus
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The 2012 Royal Rumble Match had a few possible winners. Sheamus was building momentum on SmackDown and looked most likely to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship on the blue brand. Randy Orton was always a favorite to win this contest, while Cody Rhodes was having a nice run as well. However, the odds-on favorite had to be the returning Chris Jericho.
After weeks of vignettes teasing his return, Jericho returned to the WWE on RAW and baffled the fans. He returned to a massive pop but did not give fans the "RAW Is Jericho" routine. Instead, Jericho didn't say a word instead. This showed that he would be a new character during this run.
This made many fans believe that he would win the Royal Rumble Match and go on to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 28. The latter did in fact happen, but the company got there the long way. Sheamus instead last eliminated Chris Jericho to win the 2012 Rumble. While the Irish star did not receive nuclear heat like Roman Reigns would three years later, Jericho was still the right winner and could have used the victory to build on the feud with Punk.
1) 2014 Royal Rumble winner Batista
Remember when 2015 was Daniel Bryan's year for a second time? Well this is why! Heading into the 2014 Royal Rumble, the fans were so behind Bryan that the "Yes!" chants would take over every city the company hosted. The leader of the Yes Movement betrayed Bray Wyatt and boosted his popularity even more in the process.
In the opener to the 2014 Royal Rumble, Wyatt defeated Bryan in a fantastic bout. The crowd wasn't too let down because there was still the Royal Rumble Match for their hero to win. However, #30 entered and it was Rey Mysterio, meaning Daniel Bryan wasn't in the match. This turned the Pittsburgh crowd nuclear with massive boos raining down on all the competitors in the ring.
Fans soon got behind Roman Reigns when it came down to him and Batista. The Animal had just returned and the crowd wasn't interested in another part-timer headlining WrestleMania, but it was in fact Batista who eliminated Reigns to win the 2014 Royal Rumble Match. The sight of fans booing Batista during his celebration left a lasting memory.
Batista soon turned heel and would tap out to Daniel Bryan in the WrestleMania 30 main event. This, more than anything, proved that WWE should have just gone with what the fans wanted. Daniel Bryan needed to win and close out Mania as the new WWE Champion. As much of a legend as Batista is, he did not need to win the 2014 Royal Rumble.
