20 Awesome WWE Royal Rumble Moments
17. Pittsburgh Turns On The Rumble (2014)
If you’re employed by WWE, then this moment
absolutely would not make your list. But if you’re someone who fully bought into
the underdog story of Daniel Bryan and felt that him winning the Royal Rumble
and headlining WrestleMania was the perfect wrestling storyline, then you
probably agree with this selection.
The crowd that crammed into Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center for the 2014 Royal Rumble very clearly wanted to see Daniel Bryan succeed, so after he lost the opening match to Bray Wyatt, the fans began to turn on the PPV. But when it came to the Rumble match itself, the crowd took it to a new level. Things reached a crescendo when Batista entered at #28. Knowing that conventional wisdom said that the Animal was going to win the match, fans began turning on him and nearly everything in the match.
While Batista was heavily booed, Rey Mysterio probably drew the most venom, simply for entering at #30 and thus dashing the fans’ hope for a D-Bry miracle. Fans ultimately would get their wish, but it only came after crowds did like Pittsburgh and vocally showed their refusal to accept WWE’s planned storyline.