Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match From Worst To Best

3. 2018 (Men)

Cody Rhodes
WWE

A line in the sand between the Roman Reigns megapush years and Royal Rumble's hopefully-brighter-days, 2018's effort was a masterpiece of selling, story and battle royal psychology.

WWE handled just about everybody perfectly, including atoning for the returning Rey Mysterio's 2014 boos with a monster pop, Finn Bálor and eventual winner Shinsuke Nakamura fighting for WWE's future against established company favourites Reigns and John Cena, and a magnificent Heath Slater running gag to anchor the early portions.

This was so good, it appeared as though Pat Patterson himself still had the pencil. Just as he did 26 years earlier...

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