Ranking EVERY Royal Rumble WWE Championship Match From Worst To Best

28. John Cena Vs John Bradshaw Layfield - 2009 (World Championship)

Royal Rumble
WWE

A match both carried and cursed by Shawn Michaels' overacting on the outside, JBL's crack at John Cena's World Heavyweight Championship was thus one of the pair's better matches.

'HBK' needing cash from the Texan millionaire was inherently absurd, and the betrayal of his boss on the night ensured his babyface bottle remained in tact. When the drama wasn't totally ham-fisted, it thankfully really helped.

Contributor
Contributor

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