Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

35. 2016

Triple H Royal Rumble 2016
WWE

Obviously, the fabulous WWE debut of one AJ Styles was on everyone's lips following the 2016 Rumble. Unfortunately for WWE, something else was too. Far too many folks deliberated the on/off annoyance of ramming Roman Reigns down everyone's throats as John Cena-lite. His incessant babyface hero push was over the top, and it hogged the spotlight that January.

Triple H was The Authority's counterpunch to Reigns. He'd end up winning the whole thing by lastly eliminating Roman's old Shield pal Dean Ambrose. The WWE Title was on the line too, which meant Trips kicked off the new year by scoring his final top title victory on one of the tentpole events. That's huge, but there wasn't much fun to be found in Reigns putting in nearly an hour from the #1 slot.

Roman's unbelievably kickass run as Tribal Chief (both heel and babyface) only further highlights how lame this period was for the Big Dog, too. It's pretty painful to look back on now. Oh, about the rest of the Rumble lineup. They were only there as supporting actors - no-one else had a hope of winning the Rumble other than Triple H, Roman, and maybe Ambrose.

Even that would've been far-fetched, 'cause Deano was third-wheeling hard.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.