10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Won The WWE Royal Rumble
3. Dean Ambrose (2016)
When Triple H returned at the 2016 Royal Rumble to win the thing outright, it gave the following months of programming a rather predictable feel.
As nice as the nostalgia trip was, Triple H’s win all-but-confirmed a WrestleMania showdown with the former champ, Roman Reigns. And given the age differential, not to mention the fact that Reigns was being pushed as the company’s top babyface, it seemed all too likely that Reigns would pick up a passing-of-the-torch-type win come ‘Mania. Which is exactly what happened.
But if we rewind back to the Rumble, the company could’ve placed a very welcome spanner in the works in the form of Reigns’ former faction-mate Dean Ambrose.
Ambrose had been the last man Triple H eliminated in the Rumble match, and the crowd had gone absolutely nuts when the pair squared off as the final two. He didn’t necessarily have to make it all the way to ‘Mania as the no. one contender, but having Ambrose win the Rumble would have at least shaken up the main event picture and added an intriguing dynamic to Reigns’ world title hunt.