10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2016 Facts
Everybody hates Roman. Oh, and he has to face 29 wrestlers, too.
As 2015 drew to a close, it seemed like WWE had managed to pull off a divine miracle - they were finally getting Roman Reigns over as a kickass babyface. His championship win over Sheamus on the December 14 Raw drew an alarmingly-big rating (by 2015 standards) and the crowd was cheering him rabidly as he took out Vince McMahon, The League of Nations, and ultimately "The Celtic Warrior" en route to taking the title.
Yeah, Reigns may not have been the second-coming of Stone Cold. However, the resolute, uncompromising swath he cut through McMahon and all of his contrived obstacles was getting Reigns some very real cheers from crowds that were once apt to boo him. This was the Roman people wanted: the destructive, violent force of nature (like Goldberg), not the smiling, prefab babyface that delivers corny, hack one-liners (like John Cena, minus the conviction).
However, somewhere between New Years and the Rumble, that goodwill wore off, and it was back to booing Reigns again. Ah well.
The 2016 Royal Rumble is probably the best Rumble of the last decade, with a tremendous undercard, a Rumble match that never slowed to a crawl, and just wall to wall great action for the event's duration. Even Triple H winning in the end couldn't ruin the show.
Here are ten facts about the 2016 Royal Rumble you may not have known.
10. It Was The First Rumble To Go Head-To-Head With The NFL Playoffs Since 2003
For ratings reasons, WWE usually schedules the Royal Rumble around the NFL playoffs, using the one-week gap between the Championship round and the Super Bowl to hold their January pay-per-view. In five different years (1991, 1994, 2000, 2002, and 2003), the NFL had no week off between those two playoff rounds, so WWE either had to hold the Rumble on a Saturday (1991 and 1994) or bite the bullet and go head-to-head with the playoffs (the other three years).
In 2016, despite January 31 being an open date with no pertinent NFL playoff games, WWE held the Rumble on the 24th, up against the Carolina Panthers/Arizona Cardinals NFC title game. It's not exactly clear why WWE chose to schedule this way.
Some have theorized that if they held the show on the 31st, fans in the UK (who would technically be watching it early on Monday, February 1, due to the time difference) that were subbing to the Network wouldn't reflect the January subscription totals, thus WWE wanted to pad their numbers before the February stockholders call. But that's just speculative.