In a unique twist of events, the 2014 Royal Rumble match was a huge moment in the career of Daniel Bryan even though he wasnt even in the match. Having lost an excellent earlier bout against Bray Wyatt, fans wanted no, expected to see Bryan turn up in the Rumble match later in the night. And we waited. And waited. And waited a little longer. And a little longer. Then came the 30th entrant Rey Mysterio. At the realisation that there would be no D-Bry in the Rumble match, not only did fans boo the super babyface Mysterio, but the rest of the Rumble match was soured on by those in attendance as Batista went on to win the match and a Mania title shot. The fact that the fans hijacked the Royal Rumble match was a firm statement of intent: they wanted to see Daniel Bryan, he was their guy, and if they didnt get to see him in a big role then they were going to make sure that WWE programming wasnt going to go the way that Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn et al wanted it to.