Arn Anderson thinks different Superstar should have won WWE Royal Rumble instead of Triple H

Arn Anderson believes AJ Styles should have won the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble instead of Triple H.

The WWE Royal Rumble usually guarantees the winner a World Championship match at WrestleMania. However, in 2016, Roman Reigns was forced to enter the WWE Royal Rumble and put his WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line.

Anderson, who worked for WWE as a producer at the time, thinks Triple H was the wrong person to win the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble. Speaking on his ARN podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer said the debuting AJ Styles should have won the match. That moment could also have prompted Roman Reigns’ heel turn, over four years before it finally happened.

“Let’s just say if we take our booking genius a step forward, if you want another step, [if] AJ Styles did win that Rumble. Get your full celebration to where the audience feels like, ‘Man, that is so cool,’ and they’re getting ready to leave and Roman is getting ready to leave the ring, or Roman has already left the ring and AJ bails out. Then Roman, because he is a bitter son of a b****, kicks the s*** out of AJ Styles, just as you’re going off the air.”

I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind that day. Some of the same thoughts that ran through my mind for the seventeen years before I stepped foot through the curtain. #RoyalRumble will always be special to me. #WWEUntold Jan. 17 on @WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/JIPUeoFCd6

— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) January 11, 2021

As the tweet above shows, WWE recently released a WWE Untold episode about Styles' debut in the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble. Anderson added that his idea would have given WWE fans something fresh and brand new on RAW after the pay-per-view.

The 2016 WWE Royal Rumble finish

Triple H and Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Triple H were the last three Superstars involved in the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble. The entire match revolved around Reigns and whether or not he was going to lose his title.

In the end, Triple H eliminated both Reigns and Ambrose to win the WWE Royal Rumble and his 14th WWE World Championship.

Please credit ARN and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.