10 Most Heated WWE Crowd Reactions Ever

9. Royal Rumble - January 25, 2015

John Cena Crowd Reactions
WWE.com

It's difficult to separate the 2014 and 2015 editions of the Royal Rumble match as to which was the least well received - but 2015 gets the nod here because of the literal lunacy of it all.

Albert Einstein's definition of that term is "repeating the same process and expecting different results"; WWE for a second consecutive year failed to grasp just how much fans had taken Daniel Bryan to their hearts - even after the triumph that was WrestleMania XXX and the fact that Bryan's return was both known and heavily advertised.

Bryan lasted just over ten minutes in a match he was unanimously chosen to win. He barely did anything of note before Rusev threw him over the top rope. When Bray Wyatt drove him off the mat onto the floor, the initial reaction of shock gave way to dismayed jeers. Loud and ceaseless "Daniel Bryan!" chants followed, as did hoarse cries of "Bullsh*t!"

What followed was a tone deaf lowlight reel of antagonism. Damien Sandow briefly rallied the crowd, but he was swiftly eliminated as a blackly comic punchline. The finishing sequence saw The Big Show and Kane, beyond stale big men, pick up and toss out the prone corpses of crowd favourites Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose, played out to a heated but quietly seething din.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!