100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever

36. The Rock’s Confused Face (2015)

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Edge
WWE.com

The Rock is no stranger to Royal Rumble success, whether that’s in the Rumble match itself or defending and winning titles. However, what the Great One was not used to was the reaction he got to experience at the 2015 Royal Rumble.

On the heels of Batista being booed out of the building for winning the previous year’s Rumble, 2015 again ended with raucous boos as Roman Reigns emerged victorious. And for The Rock, he clearly was not expecting that sort of reaction when he raised his cousin’s hand.

Having earlier saved Roman from a Big Show and Kane beatdown, Rocky stuck around to watch Reigns last eliminate Rusev to win that Royal Rumble. But man, did Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center not like that outcome.

Of course, Philly fans are amongst the most passionate and rabid in the game, and they certainly let Roman, Rock, and WWE as a whole know that they were already sick of Roman Reigns being shoved down their throats as the company’s new poster boy. Not just was Philadelphia fed up, though, for this was the Royal Rumble that famously led to #CancelWWENetwork trending on Twitter for the next week or so.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.