Every Babyface WWE Royal Rumble Winner Ranked From Worst To Best

8. Shinsuke Nakamura (2018)

Bianca Belair John Cena Bret Hart
WWE.com

An unlikely victory pulled Shinsuke Nakamura's flailing WWE career back from the fire before he willingly strolled back into it as the years ticked by. For a split second though, it genuinely felt as though WWE had at long last made a Japanese megastar without relying on dated cliches or questionable xenophobia.

Fans, unused to such a thing, went apesh*t for his victory, not least because it came at the climax of one of the greatest Rumble's ever. A final showdown between Nakamura and Roman Reigns was fan service in the extreme, even if 'The Big Dog' ended up in the WrestleMania main event anyway.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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