Who Were the Runners Up in the 2008-2018 Royal Rumble Matches?

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2014-16

The final two in the 2014 Royal Rumble

2014 - Roman Reigns

In what was an extremely unpopular result on the night, a returning Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Roman Reigns. The fan backlash stemmed from the fact, that the live crowd expected Daniel Bryan to wrestle in the bout. When he didn't, the fans turned on the contest and loudly booed the man they clicked on that would win: Batista.

So Reigns, who at that point was a heel, was for several minutes the biggest babyface in wrestling as he fought Batista in the final stages.

He came up short, but over the next 12 months, he began his ascent up the card and won the 2015 Royal Rumble, where ironically history would repeat itself. The fans were aghast that Bryan was once again disrespected in the match and turned on Reigns, the expected winner, in the same manner they had with Batista the year before.

2015 - Rusev

If any superstar would have greatly benefited from a Rumble victory, then Rusev would be that man. Rusev debuted as a near invincible monster, being unbeaten in WWE for a year before an ill-fated feud with John Cena post-Rumble saw his aura dissipate and any upward mobility was lost. Had he won this match, he could well have become a bonafide main eventer.

It was not to be. Roman Reigns would be the victor and Rusev would lose all momentum in a long pay-per-view series with Cena and would become a glorified jobber before the year was out. In 2019, he is United States Champion once more; the exact same position he was in in January 2015. Not exactly career progression for the talented Bulgarian.

2016 - Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose was the reigning Intercontinental Champion at the time of this match and thus was not expected to win the Royal Rumble match. However, he did make it to the final two where he was eliminated by the winner, Triple H. The WWE Championship was on the line in this match as the Authority sought to and achieved their aim of wresting the belt away from Roman Reigns.

All was not lost for Ambrose though. He participated in a hyped bout with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania before finally winning the WWE Championship from former buddy Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank in June.

The Rumble victory would not have altered his career trajectory.