10 WWE Royal Rumble Wins That Would Have Improved WrestleMania
6. Daniel Bryan (2015)
It requires a special brand of ineptitude to incur the wrath of the fans in attendance, fans at home and Mother Nature itself.
When neck surgery forced Daniel Bryan to relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in June 2014, the titles passed to John Cena, then quite emphatically to Brock Lesnar two months later. Meanwhile, it became clear that a certain Roman Reigns was being groomed to conquer both the Royal Rumble and later The Beast at WrestleMania. To suggest this decision was being received poorly by the WWE Universe would be just the slightest of understatements.
However, with ten days to spare, the perfect angle practically fell into WWE’s lap as Bryan returned from the shelf and declared for the Royal Rumble match. Surely, WWE couldn’t resist the allure of the quintessential David versus Goliath story–Brock Lesnar defending the WWE Championship against the man who never actually lost the gold, right?
Turns out, with a Roman Reigns-shaped token burning a hole in their pocket, they could.
Bryan’s heroic return was jettisoned after ten minutes and Reigns’ spite-filled Rumble win spurred parking lot blockades. #CancelWWENetwork trended worldwide and in a cosmic coincidence, a blizzard in Hartford, CT canceled the following night’s Monday Night RAW, resulting in a recap show filmed at WWE HQ in Stamford.
Perhaps Seth Rollins’ dastardly “Heist of the Century” would have had the intended reception had he cashed in against Daniel Bryan after conquering Lesnar. Instead, ‘The Architect’ was greeted as the savior of WrestleMania 31.