49-year-old legend says he was "almost" picked for controversial Royal Rumble won by Roman Reigns, teases WrestleMania 40 appearance (Exclusive)

Roman Reigns winning the 2015 Royal Rumble caused a lot of backlash. ECW alumni and wrestling legend The Blue Meanie shared some backstage details about the time when he was supposed to appear for that match. He revealed the entire process, including which other ECW legend was chosen over him, and even teased a WrestleMania 40 appearance.

In a Sportskeeda Exclusive interview with Riju Dasgupta, 49-year-old legend The Blue Meanie was asked about whether he was interested in participating in the upcoming Royal Rumble match.

The Blue Meanie revealed that he was supposed to be in the 2015 Royal Rumble match - the controversial one that was won by Roman Reigns:

"Truth be told, I was almost a part of the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia. It's been here twice. This was the infamous Roman Reigns win [2015] where everybody wanted Daniel Bryan to win, but Roman won. I had reached out to JBL of all people and JBL went to the office and pitched me for the Royal Rumble."

He added:

"At the time, me and Stevie Richards and Joey Styles were coming out with a DVD - ECW: Home Release for WWE. So I was like, 'Hey, it's Philly, it's ECW territory, you're putting out an ECW DVD with me being one of the hosts, so what better way to promote the DVD than Blue Meanie [in the Royal Rumble]?'" (0:29-1:27)

The ECW veteran revealed that the choice came down to him and Bubba Ray Dudley, and WWE chose the latter:

"And it came down to two people, [me] and Bubba Ray Dudley. And it was almost me, but they picked Bubba, and that's awesome. No regrets, you know? I love Bubba, Bubba's a great guy and they picked him, but I was almost in there."(1:30-1:57)

He also teased appearing at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia - hopeful for an ECW presence:

"I wish I could be in that Rumble, but WrestleMania's coming to Philadelphia very soon, so we will see if we can have an ECW presence there." (1:58-2:13)

You can watch the full video below:

Roman Reigns has been a Royal Rumble runner-up more than any other superstar

In 2018, Roman Reigns broke a record previously held by The Big Show. The latter was a runner-up at the Royal Rumble on two occasions - more than any other WWE star in history.

Reigns' elimination by Shinsuke Nakamura meant that he had been the runner-up on three occasions. Interestingly, just two years later, he would be the runner-up to Drew McIntyre.

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You can follow The Blue Meanie by clicking the post below. The Acknowledge Meanie T-shirt is also for sale at the link below:

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