Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View From Worst To Best

15. 2016

Royal Rumble
WWE.com

The Good: Dean Ambrose got a huge response as Rumble runner-up in a match designed to get his best mate over by having him finish third. Roman Reigns had put in a reasonable shift before that, most notably in being the person required to sell AJ Styles' shocking WWE arrival. Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio had a completely forgotten but largely enjoyable scrap over the United States strap, whilst Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose stole the show with their Last Man Standing stuntfest.

The Bad: Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair's Divas Title match had too many echoes of times gone by thanks to awkward interference by Ric Flair. His forced kiss on the 'Irish Lass Kicker' was years out of date, as was him throwing his jacket over her head to counter a match-winning submission. This patter was as dead as the Divas division itself.

The Ugly: Having Roman survive the whole field was intended to make him a gutsy babyface, but WWE "took him out" via a League Of Nations attack that the audience saw clean through. 2016 didn't fix the damage done by the two years prior, not least when the years were rolled back from "RomanWinsLOL" to "Spoiler: Triple H Wins". As usual, the company were reverting to type.

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