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

Royal Rumble Runners Up 2017-18

Asuka last eliminates Nikki Bella to win the women's 2018 Royal Rumble

2017 - Roman Reigns

The 2017 edition of the Royal Rumble was a star studded affair filled with veteran talent such as Goldberg, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Mark Henry, and Chris Jericho.

However, it was another veteran, Randy Orton who last eliminated Roman Reigns to win the bout. However, what if Reigns had won? It would have made no difference to his career, having already reigned as WWE Champion many times. Anyway, he had a Wrestlemania main event with The Undertaker to look forward to.

2018: Men's - Roman Reigns

When the 2018 edition of the Royal Rumble came down to two men, Roman Reigns and Shinsuke Nakamura, most people expected Reigns's hand to be raised in victory as he continued to pursue Brock Lesnar and the Universal Title.

However, it was not to be and Nakamura, after failing in his attempts to wrest the WWE Championship away from Jinder Mahal the previous summer, would receive another crack at the belt, now held by AJ Styles.

But what if Reigns had won? It would not have made a jot of difference as he challenged Lesnar for the strap regardless, though like Nakumura he was unsuccessful at Wrestlemania in his title challenge.

2018: Women's - Nikki Bella

Can you imagine the backlash if the semi-retired Nikki Bella had won the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble match? Asuka was the correct winner as it enabled her to capitalize on the momentum she had built up over two years undefeated.

Bella vs Charlotte Flair had already been done as a pay per view bout and was never on the cards for Wrestlemania 34.

2018: Greatest - Big Cass

In what may be the most underwhelming Royal Rumble runner-up of all time, Big Cass eliminated Daniel Bryan, the first entrant in the only 50 man Royal Rumble encounter of all time, before he as dumped out by winner Braun Strowman.

Cass was involved in a mini feud with Bryan at the time and his runner-up berth existed solely to give him some heat for the Bryan conflict.

Even if he had won, it would not have made much difference to his career. There was no reward for winning the bout other than a trophy and he was cut from the promotion just a couple of months later due to his poor attitude backstage.