Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble's Biggest Surprise 1988-2022

14. 2014 - NO! NO! NO!

Not all surprises are good, and Daniel Bryan not being the 2014 Royal Rumble was categorically not good.

A disastrous re-debut for Batista saw 'The Animal' and others booed mercilessly as WWE continued to not give the audience the thing they'd made abundantly f*cking clear they wanted. With absolutely nobody else to get behind, fans turned to then-heel upstart Roman Reigns of all people. He'd be in the other spot just one year later.

Authored by Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.

Posted On: 10th Jan 2023

In this post:

John Cena EDGE WWE Royal Rumble