9 Times Wrestling Made You Believe

The 2016 Royal Rumble posed a tricky booking conundrum for the WWE. The year before had seen Roman Reigns win to a brutally negative reaction. The year before, similar crowd grumpiness ensued when Daniel Bryan failed to win, or even compete in the main match. Fans were primed to hock a running throat dumpling at whatever displeased them, especially anything Reigns-shaped. That was a problem since Reigns was actually defending his world title in the match.

So what to do? Simple, in hindsight - make everyone forget Roman Reigns. Firstly, Reigns didn't win, which was stage one of the solution to this exam-level booking question. Secondly, fireworks had already erupted when smart mark favourite AJ Styles made a rumoured but still groundbreaking appearance in the Rumble to create a story about someone other than Roman. Thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, Triple H glowered his way to the ring at number 30, an event unexpected enough to take the focus off Reigns. Finally it wasn't Roman contesting the win at the end, but Trips and Dean Ambrose, whose greasily lovable babyface act was a fine counterpart to the boss’ regal douchitude.

Thus, Triple H’s win achieved a rare booking triumph. In the drama of a pretty well-booked Rumble, and especially of a big storyline turn in Triple H’s imperious victory, it made everyone forget they were supposed to hate it.