One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024

9. 2015 - Brock Lesnar Vs John Cena Vs Seth Rollins, Royal Rumble

John Cena, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar
WWE.com

Historically, WWE permit themselves to experiment a little with title shots on the Royal Rumble undercard. Not least because, again historically, it's not typically what fans have bought their tickets for. 

That shifted somewhat in the mid-2010s, partly due to the thirst fans had developed to see Champions defend their titles on monthly pay-per-views at all costs, and also due to the mess WWE kept making with the Royal Rumble itself. In the face of a potentially disappointing battle royal, the title matches needed to be more than just added value.

Case in point.

On any show at any time in any city, 2015's triple threat between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins would have been the talking point on every fans' lips as they exited the building. On this particular show in this era in Philadelphia, this match was the only saving grace. 

Deviating between escape and adventure plotting depending on who stole focus, Cena and Rollins were fantastic trying to stop rampaging beast Lesnar just enough to concentrate on each other and try and get the win. They ultimately both fail, but when viewed alongside the runs of matches they'd have in their belt-swapped roles between January and October, the performances were effectively mission statements for the months ahead. 

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

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