10 WWE Royal Rumble Wins That Would Have Improved WrestleMania
5. Bray Wyatt (2017)
While not as catastrophic a misstep as the 2014 and 2015 editions, 2017’s Royal Rumble had an equally simple remedy.
Some contend that Chris Jericho should have won this installment, initiating his WrestleMania feud with former friend and then-Universal Champion Kevin Owens. While that’s a more than fair assessment, a more elegant solution was still in play as the field dwindled to its final trio of participants.
Given the choice between a first-time victory for clear crowd favorite Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns, who was still at his peak of fan vitriol and backlash, WWE opted to split the difference and gave 12-time World Champion Randy Orton another moment in the sun. Worse, when Wyatt was finally given his long overdue WWE Championship reign at Elimination Chamber 2017, it would be Orton who dethroned ‘The Eater of Worlds’ a mere seven weeks later.
The solution was clear. Orton and Reigns didn’t need the boost of winning another Royal Rumble. Bray Wyatt needed it desperately. Had Wyatt won, Orton is then freed up to win the title in a stacked Elimination Chamber match. The cat-and-mouse game between the Viper and the future Fiend culminates with Wyatt securing his WrestleMania moment and the WWE Championship. Meanwhile 15-year veteran Orton loses no credibility whatsoever by taking the loss.
It’s unclear just what is more impressive–the amount of times Bray Wyatt pulled his characters out of the fire or the amount of times WWE hamfistedly dropped them into the flames in the first place.