10 Greatest Performances In WWE Royal Rumble History
5. Roman Reigns (2014)
Remember when half the world didn’t hate Roman Reigns? Those were the days.
The 2014 Royal Rumble was one of Reigns’ best moments as a WWE performer. While many went into the 2016 Rumble with an “anyone but Roman” mindset, 2014 was very much “anyone but Batista.” The returning former Evolution member would become one of the most widely rejected Rumble winners in history by the end of the match, but Reigns’ performance was the real highlight.
Roman became the quintessential Royal Rumble monster that night. There were times throughout the match where The Shield looked nigh on unstoppable, and much of it was down to Reigns’ dominance. Walking down to the ring at number 15, Reigns tore into the Rumble like Andre the Giant at an all you can eat buffet. Goldust, Dolph Ziggler and countless others fell by Reigns’ hand, including his Shield brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, and Roman’s performance almost made up for the disappointment of Daniel Bryan’s exclusion.
Batista eventually put him over the top rope, and Reigns finished second. Still, he entered the history books by scoring 12 eliminations that night, thus ending Kane’s 13-year record. Having scored a further 11 eliminations since then, there’s a very real possibility that Reigns will soon become the most dominant wrestler in Rumble history, particularly if he stays in his current role.