I've always felt that the Royal Rumble is best used as a tool for priming a new star for his first world title win. It's always easy to root for a young gun who's clearly destined for greatness, and in 2005 the final four was nothing but. As of January 2005, John Cena, Batista, Edge and Rey Mysterio were all ascendant midcarders with obvious upsides. Rey was a longtime underdog favorite that was finally escaping the cruiserweight division, Edge was fresh off the heel turn that made him a (Rated-R) superstar, Cena was a dominant U.S. Champion, and Batista was becoming Raws babyface hero by picking up the ball Randy Orton had dropped. You couldn't really ask for four bigger future stars, and within 18 months all four would be World champions.
