10 Times WWE Royal Rumble Winners Risked It All Before WrestleMania
7. John Cena - 2013
The year of twice in a lifetime.
When John Cena won the Royal Rumble match in 2013, it was a given that The Rock would defeat CM Punk later in the night and become WWE Champion. Despite their match in 2012 being promoted for an entire year as once in a lifetime, here we were on the Road to WrestleMania with Rock-Cena II on the horizon.
The story had come at the expense of CM Punk, who lost his belt to the Great One after holding it for 434 days. He had the chance to usurp Cena and headline WrestleMania, if he could beat the Chain Gang Soldier in a winner goes to 'Mania match on Raw. This is another case of the WWE knowing exactly what the fans wanted (CM Punk main eventing WrestleMania), creating a situation where it could happen (John Cena putting his place in the match on the line), then reverting to the status quo (Cena wins lol) and carrying on with the planned story.
Cena only agreed to defend his Royal Rumble victory to prove that he was a fighting champion, albeit without a belt to show for it. It was a cheap move to feed CM Punk to both The Rock and Cena in the space of two weeks, especially when the once in a lifetime rematch practically built itself.