10 WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations More Significant Than You First Thought
5. Roman Reigns (2018)
Having won the 2015 match, finished 2nd in the 2014 and 2017 editions and 3rd in the 2016 match, Roman Reigns entered the 2018 Rumble boasting an average Rumble finish of 2nd place. That statistic alone is incredible, let alone the fact that Reigns had only been a singles competitor for 3 years.
It was no surprise, then, that Roman found himself one of the final 2 competitors of the 2018 Royal Rumble match, but this time it was different - Reigns was face to face with one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time in Shinsuke Nakamura, and Nakamura had the entire Wells Fargo Center singing his theme song minutes earlier.
While the WWE universe had been teased before with the prospect of an 'indie darling' dethroning the 'Big Dog', they had never seen an independent wrestler thwart Reigns in a Rumble match, which is what made Nakamura's victory so much sweeter.
Reigns' elimination gave the fans a much-needed breath of fresh air, and although Nakamura's victory never really amounted to everything, it's still an iconic moment and the perfect ending to one of the greatest Rumbles ever.