Every Babyface WWE Royal Rumble Winner Ranked From Worst To Best

13. Batista (2005, 2014)

Bianca Belair John Cena Bret Hart
WWE

Batista's Royal Rumble winner's legacy is fascinating.

Though technically a heel for his first win in 2005, he was cheered vociferously as audiences anointed him and John Cena as the company's next two top stars. The opposite occurred despite a babyface return in 2014 because, put simply, he wasn't Daniel Bryan.

One cancels the other out, though that maiden victory was genuinely star-making before a quad-tearing Vince McMahon accidentally sat down and stole all the headlines.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett