10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2016 Facts

2. Reigns Spent More Time Out Of The Ring Than In It

Dean Ambrose - Royal Rumble 2016
WWE.com

To retain his WWE Championship, Roman Reigns was going to have to survive the duration of the Rumble match, since he was stuck with the number one entry. That would require either a hefty amount of Ric Flair/Rick Martel-like endurance, or some protective booking.

Reigns was pulled from the ring by the League of Nations after little more than 20 minutes into the match, and put through a table by Rusev. He was helped away by medics, allowing him to eschew a large chunk of the match, prior to his Herculean comeback when Sheamus entered at number 29.

Officially, Reigns was "in the match" for 59:48. From the time he was pulled under the ropes until his re-entry, he sat out for 30:24. That means he was only an active participant for 29 minutes and 24 seconds. For the fans that took delight in chanting, "Roman's sleeping!" at him at the previous SummerSlam, this didn't aid his standing.

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Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.