As of January 2024, Roman Reigns is still the dominant force he was back in 2020.
At Payback 2020, The Tribal Chief defeated Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt inside an empty arena to become the Universal Champion. More than 1,200 days later, Reigns has successfully defended the Universal title in 3 WrestleMania main events, added the WWE Championship to his collection, and defeated almost every top name on the WWE roster. 10 years on from his debut in the Royal Rumble match, Roman Reigns will defend the Undisputed title against LA Knight, Randy Orton and AJ Styles under Fatal 4-Way rules. A completely different incarnation to the Superstar fans witnessed back in 2014, here is every Roman Reigns appearance in the Royal Rumble match.
2014: Roman Reigns Makes An Impactful Debut
Reigns was booked for success right from the get-go. While the 2104 Royal Rumble is best known as CM Punk’s final WWE match before he walked out on the company the next night, the match itself saw a dominating performance by The Shield. With Seth Rollins entering at number 2 and lasting almost 50 minutes, The Architect put in an Iron Man performance before being eliminated by Reigns. Dean Ambrose would last just over half an hour before also being eliminated by his Shield brother. In regards to Reigns, the powerhouse would eliminate 12 Superstars in his debut performance, at that point setting the record for most wrestlers eliminated from a single Rumble match. Like many more Rumble matches in the future, Reigns was last eliminated by eventual winner Batista.
2015: The Win That No One Wanted
The second half of 2014 saw The Shield implode when Seth Rollins shockingly betrayed Reigns and Ambrose to buy into The Authority. More so than ever before, WWE made it clear that they wanted Reigns to be the next top star and made him a dominating force. The fans rejected this and would not cheer for Reigns no matter what was presented to them. Even an appearance by The Rock would not persuade the Philadelphia crowd to give Reigns the reaction WWE wanted, which was apparent on Rock’s face when he made the save. With many expecting a predictable WrestleMania main event between Reigns and Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins sent the crowd home happy with his Money in the Bank cash-in.
2016: Saved By The Game
For the first time since 1992, the winner of the 2016 Royal Rumble would be crowned the new World Champion. Hoping to recycle the Steve Austin vs. Authority storyline from The Attitude Era, Vince McMahon and Co. stacked the deck as high as possible against Reigns. Entering at number one and being attacked by The League of Nations, the crowd would still cheer every near elimination of Reigns. Triple H entered the match at number 30 to a thunderous ovation, despite clearly being the heel. The biggest cheer of the night came when The Game eliminated Reigns to guarantee a new World Champion would be crowned. Reigns would find his way to the main event of WrestleMania 32 to get revenge on Triple H, but this time there was nothing to save a long and boring match, which many consider one of the worst Mania events in the history of the show.
2017: Struck By A Viper
Earlier in the night Reigns had unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship, which many expected to mean that he would not be a part of the Royal Rumble match in the main event. With all confirmed entrants in the match when the countdown to number 30 took place, there was an air of mystery and excitement in San Antonio as anyone could enter. Unfortunately, the excitement vanished almost instantly when Reigns’ music hit, turning the crowd increasingly hostile. Much like 2015, Reigns was the last one eliminated by winner Randy Orton.
2018: Humbled By The King
By this point, WWE had a formula when it came to Roman Reigns appearing in the Royal Rumble match. Reigns would enter the match to a negative crowd reaction, have a strong showing and make it to the final 2 with a fan favourite. With the company always behind Reigns, there was always that sense of dread that maybe Reigns would win the match once again because that was what Vince McMahon wanted. However, in one of the better Rumbles in recent memory, Shinsuke Nakamura eliminated Reigns to guarantee The King of String Style a marquee match at WrestleMania.
2020: Slayed By The Scottish Warrior
Reings’ final appearance in the Royal Rumble match to date took place in one of the most memorable and unique Rumble matches in recent memory. Beginning with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar entering the match at number one, Lesnar would continually eliminate stars one by one shortly after they entered. All would change when Drew McIntyre slayed The Beast and the match resumed some sense of normality, at least until entrant 21 arrived. As the opening chords of Metalingus by Alter Bridge rang our through the arena, the crowd erupted as Edge made his return out of retirement to the surprise of many. Reigns would enter the match at number 26 and eliminate Edge to the annoyance of the Houston crowd. However, just as the crowd nervously thought that it might be repeat of 2015, Reigns was last eliminated yet again by winner Drew McIntyre.
Featured images: WWE
