Every Heel WWE Royal Rumble Winner Ranked From Worst To Best

9. Randy Orton (2009)

Ric Flair Vince McMahon Charlotte Flair
WWE.com

Dull Rumble featuring a dull winner helped by his dull stable, "Legacy leader Randy Orton victorious in 2009 Royal Rumble" is a headline impossible to imagine reading anywhere else but WWE.com at its greyest.

A well-booked match of a fashion - Orton wisely lets his lads do the work to see his way to a predictable win - it rather diluted the energy WWE had generated just days earlier when he'd booted Vince McMahon in the head as hard as he could.

Make no mistake, 'The Apex Predator' was absolutely the most talked-about man in the promotion and a natural choice to win the golden ticket to WrestleMania. Not least with Triple H soon to regain the WWE Championship and be the one to try and avenge the various McMahon assaults. But that in itself was emblematic of the company's key problem at the time - even their best stuff was pretty dull.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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