Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

41. 2014

Shawn Michaels Ranked
WWE

Batista's return was supposed to be a grand, crowd-pleasing moment that'd feed into events to come at WrestleMania XXX, but there was just one problem. Fans in Pittsburgh didn't want to see the Animal. No, no, no. They wanted to see one Daniel Bryan, because Bryan Fever had gripped the core audience and wouldn't let go.

Vince McMahon wanted Big Dave instead. Yikes.

Look, Batista is great, but he was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time in January 2014. Things were so toxic in the arena by the end of the night that even the normally-beloved Rey Mysterio was booed out of the building for having the cheek to roll out as #30. This is all fascinating to revisit, but people hated the 2014 Rumble at the time and the match doesn't hold up too well.

A tired and soon-to-depart CM Punk burned through 49 minutes of uninspired kicking/punching, and the whole occasion fell flat once everyone realised that Bryan (who had lost out to Bray Wyatt earlier on the card) wasn't one of the faces strolling through that curtain. Then, things took a turn for the worst when Batista eliminated Roman Reigns to win. Keep that last name in mind...

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.