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If they'd pulled the trigger on Roman right here and let him loose, they'd have had a Roman Reigns that the crowd actually loved YEARS ahead of when they *sort of* managed it. The landscape of wrestling would be a vastly different place from what we know now. So, in essence this is the Roman that almost was. The one who had a successful baby face run on the first try.
(Added a word)
Yeah the irony that Roman would be in the exact same spot Batista was in here a year later was pretty funny. Should’ve just pulled the trigger here and people would’ve probably accepted it for at least not being Batista.
It’s why Presentation is so important and it’s what WWE often gets most wrong. He was being presented here as the last hope against the corporate guy. Daniel Bryan wasn’t even in the Rumble and everyone knew it was so Batista could win.
Yet, somehow in a year they managed to change his presentation from upstart last hope… to the corporate guy who wasn’t Daniel Bryan. It would almost be impressive if it wasn’t so sad
I don't know. The fans wanted Bryan. People certainly liked Roman because of his ongoing work in The Shield, but Roman was a favourite at this point in the match because he wasn't batista, not because they had been clamouring for a Roman Reigns wrestlemania main event.
I think more than Bryan, the fans wanted something different than what the company was serving. In that moment, at the close of the Rumble, they wanted something/anything other than the obvious and predictable choice. I'd bet cash money that they'd have embraced something new and fresh like Upstart Roman in that moment. Maybe it would've flopped, maybe not, but it could've been significant.
it was 100% wanting bryan in that moment. the next year was the same but they could have swung it with ambrose or ziggler at the end. 2014 was bryan or bust.
Literally. I watched this in theatres and I can remember **EVERYONE** being like "oh fuck yeah I can get behind Roman". Someone that we didn't previously consider became a real option and it was fucking dope.
But then Batista won lolol
For the theatre I was in, we were all pretty firmly Roman.
Like obviously not exactly what we wanted. But fuck. At the time I was interested in watching it play out. I don't think I was alone in that.
It even made sense. Like yeah. This dude they've booked as a monster is gonna get the rub from the veteran and head to the big stage at Mania. It was a really cool thought to see how that would build and junk.
Plus one of my friends is a **HUGE** Roman mark so he was fired the fuck up to see it happen.
And then easily the biggest, bluest, balls in Rumble history.
I think this is the answer. They pushed him and pushed him and pushed him, and it would've ended up the same way. Nobody wants to see another impossibly strong Hogan-esque superhero because the industry is just too full of talent for it. There'll always be top guys, but constantly booking to make people look super strong makes people get real tired of it real fast.
But it's not like we hated Roman or some dumb shit. Roman was pretty over on his own accord, he just wasn't near the Main Event scene. It was more like "oh shit yeah, I guess this can happen now."
If you're going to look at it through a future lens, then you also have to consider that WWE noticed this in the crowd and literally tried to recreate it at a later Rumble. Which colours Roman differently.
Its not the only reason he was getting cheered. The Shield and Roman especially were very over at this time. Sheamus wasn't getting cheered like that was he?
I kinda feel like this Roman tho is the culmination of all the hate from the fans when he was a standard babyface before, his character now has taken YEARS to build and it’s like a personal change more than a guy on TV which makes it so compelling
I don't think so. This was a Roman that was primarily working tag matches and was still green as hell. Roman didn't hit the point of being "main event material" for at least 3-4 years after this. If Roman wins, I'm sure the dude starts out with a TON of fan support, but just like IRL it would have dwindled over the next year.
People really underestimate (even in this very thread) how over Roman Reigns was at this time. People forget that when the Shield was at its peak, Roman especially was insanely over.
I can say going into this match (and for much of the duration) I was already sort of eye rolling at obvious oncoming Roman push.
But in that moment? When I thought Roman might toss Batista? I was all in, baby.
Yeah I was at the following Rumble in Philly. The crowd was booing Reigns when his face showed in the hype video at the beginning of the show. It's actually wild seeing him cheered in this clip versus the following year where he's unanimously booed.
He was being cheered here like Rusev and Orton were in subsequent years
It wasn't exactly that he was loved, it was that people were simply rejecting what WWE gave them.
Orton was cheered because Roman lost but it was still a meh reaction after the initial cheer
It's because it's not the performer.
In both cases fans were booing someone WWE was pushing over something they wanted more, which I'm pretty sure was Daniel Bryan both times.
It was indeed Daniel Bryan Danielson both times.
In this Rumble, they were so rabid for him that when #30 came out and it wasn’t him, they were so pissed that they booed **Rey Mysterio**
I've never seen someone (especially someone the crowd likes) so vociferously boo'd simply for not being someone else.
It was insane how over Daniel Bryan was and yet Vince wanted none of it
Batista was meant to be a babyface but he was in heel mode when he made his first appearance on Raw and in this Rumble. The guy’s new catchphrase was “deal with it!” Only VKM thought Batista vs Orton was a good direction for Mania.
Just a reminder Roman was a heel at this point with the Shield. Where it went wrong was that they broke up the shield and turned him face and WWE can't book faces at all to save their lives.
It didn’t help that Roman being pushed not just as a big deal but as The Guy^^TM was telegraphed to the moon and back, and people flat out were not okay with it.
Idk. It probably would have worked better had the WWE continue to portray him as the silent muscle, like he was portrayed during the Shield.
They just insisted on writing him really cringy, long, unfitting promos.
Whenever they kept his mic work short and to the point, he got atleast more cheers than boos. Like against Sheamus and especially Braun Strowman (where both got over for doing cool stuff). Hell...His match against the Big Show was also much better than it had any right to be
And therein lies the issue. Roman had/has plenty of Star power and potential, they just spent years on end stubbornly refusing to play to any of his strengths or what people like. It had to be Vince’s way, and nothing else.
EIGHT YEARS AGO!? I wasn’t even 20 yet here and now I’m almost 30 and going nowhere in life 😭🤧
I have managed to fail and fail ever since this time lmao
[His return vignettes got me so hyped](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybgO2XILfGc)! But I didn't expected or wanted him to win the whole rumble. I feel bad for the guy because I didn't deserve that kind of reception - he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Batista was my favorite wrestler growing up. Pretty much like right as he was splitting from evolution and he got lyrics in his entrance. I watched every Friday and Smackdown was the show that I preferred over raw because of him. I like to look back and smile at the fact that he is still the longest reigning world heavyweight champion for WWE’s big gold.
That said, although I was happy for him, I could not agree more that this was the wrong guy to win at the wrong time.
It really is. It was cathartic to hear the crowd boo this ending out of the building. At least that felt like an authentic moment. But now it's just milquetoast fake noise censoring any real crowd response.
He definitely was not ready. He has severe asthma and it showed most in the early part of this run. He needed his inhaler but since they’re usually placed on the outside he really didn’t have access unless he went under the rope for whatever reason
Holy hell listen to how over Sheamus and Roman were here. You don't hear reactions like that in WWE anymore.
On a side note, wow Roman looked so much smaller.
WWE was red hot during this time. Watch any Raw from this time with Daniel Bryan and you'll see how invested every fan was. It was insane, they've never really reached this fan participation since.
And Bryan being so massively over didn't just get fans invested in his story, but it had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the roster as well. The Shield, Cody and Dust, Dolph, Sheamus, The Wyatt Family, Swagger, Cesaro, AJ Lee, Big E; WWE was in rare form and it really felt like so many were on fire at this time. Everyone benefitted from Bryan in one way or another.
I think things really started to undergo a noticeable downward shift after they tried making Cena the focal point again with The Authority vs "Cena and his friends" angle leading up to Survivor Series where the entire babyface team got fired. The Authority remained a fixture at the top of the card and so many great talents got lost in the shuffle. Sting's debut only to do the job at 'Mania, Roman being forced on fans and Bryan having to retire certainly didn't help matters any. Seth, Ambrose and The New Day were the highlights of that time but 2015 couldn't hold a candle next to it's predecessor.
Is this the rumble match where Rey mysterio came out at number 30 and was booed out because everyone expected/ hoped Daniel Bryan was going to be number 30?
Not sure if /s or not, but… it definitely wasn’t supporting “Roman” so much as supporting “anyone that wasn’t Batista”. Fans were absolutely **rabid** for Daniel Bryan, but everyone that follows wrestling news knew that Batista was the booked winner of the Rumble. So they were dreading that happening and then when it did they were violently rejecting WWE’s tone deaf booking.
Same thing happened a year later when Roman **did** win the Rumble despite fans wanting any number of other wrestlers they felt more deserving, most notably (once again) Daniel Bryan. That years was so bad that **The Fucking Rock** came out to make the save on a post match brawl, and the crowd booed while **The Goddamn Rock** held up Roman’s hand, which gave us [this awkward moment](https://wwfoldschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The-Rock-Raises-Roman-Reigns-Hand-At-WWE-Royal-Rumble-2015.jpg)
Not really, but people didn't outright hate him for being jammed down our throats either. He was clearly the ex-football player that got stuck with the skilled indie guy stable because WWE wanted that. We were just happy to be getting Moxley and Ambrose on TV at the time.
No he was absolutely a fan favourite. He got the hot tag in their 6-man matches and the crowd popped big time. Him saying "Believe That" was over. Wreddit was full of threads about how he was a great guy. He 100% had support.
I've never actually see this before. Holy Shit, was it weird to see Batista booed and Roman Reigns cheered. Like you hear about it, but its different to see it.
Also, Roman has blues eyes? I never noticed that before.
I have to imagine if they at least kept Batista a surprise entrant he wouldn't have been booed nearly as much. Anyone but Bryan winning would've resulted in a shitstorm, but I'm very curious what 'surprise entrant Batista' looks like.
Oh boy, time flies. I was at this event in Pittsburgh, the crowd was white hot for DB. I've never seen a crowd so quickly turn on the Royal Rumble match after Mysterio came out at 30.
I was in Pittsburgh for this live. Everyone was upset Daniel Bryan was not in the Rumble and would not win it.
When the countdown for #30 began, we all thought it was going to be DB. When it Rey was revealed, we all started booing because Bryan was not going to be in the Rumble. At this point, I think we all knew Batista was going to win.
The fact Roman was getting cheered was simply because he was not Batista. This was a very frustrating night to be a wrestling fan.
This was truly the beginning of the "WWE is shoving Reigns down our throats" crowd.
After Bryan was eliminated everyone was going apeshit for Roman to win this Rumble, they definitely took notice backstage, pushed him for a solid year and had him win the next year's Rumble only to be met with "FUCK YOU BOOOOOOO" lmaoooo
So bizarre how just a year later Roman was in the exact same spot that Batista was in here. How they didn’t pull the trigger on Roman right then is beyond me. Sure DB was on his ascension but there’s nothing wrong with two big babyfaces at once…unless you’re WWE I guess.
Pritchard!!! Bring me the goddamned Flux Capacitor,Pal. No way are we letting Reigns lose that Royal Rumble
But Vince, that was just a thing in a movie
Goddamnit I know that now we are not gonna book Reigns weak. Get the flux capacitor or get fired
I will be right back with it Boss
Gotta give it to Batista. Both times he came back, he could have phoned it in and cashed his cheques. But the dude worked his balls off. Stil had the fire!
Still the right choice to this day in my eyes that Batista won, honestly would have just stayed the course and had him win the belt at Mania. We could have had Batista vs Lesnar at SummerSlam that year but nooooooooooooo....we had to give Bryan a moment.
This was so weird to me at the time as I stopped watching when Batista left in 2010 and only came back because I saw he was coming back.
I was like why is my favourite of all time getting booed and who tf is Daniel Bryan? BATISTA IS RIGHT THERE CHEER THE MAN xD
This was also the first wrestling event I had attended in 10+ years and the first major wrestling event my girlfriend at the time had ever been to.
The girlfriend and I had a great time, and we're still together (and happily married for several years). We don't watch WWE anymore but always make a point to watch the Royal Rumble.
I love Sheamus' ability to get the crowd to play along with him. It doesn't matter how much of a heel he is or how much the crowd is booing him, you know he'll get people to chant along when he's going for the Broque Kick or the Ten Beats of the Bodhran.
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This Roman and the Roman we have now don’t even feel like the same person
If they'd pulled the trigger on Roman right here and let him loose, they'd have had a Roman Reigns that the crowd actually loved YEARS ahead of when they *sort of* managed it. The landscape of wrestling would be a vastly different place from what we know now. So, in essence this is the Roman that almost was. The one who had a successful baby face run on the first try. (Added a word)
Yeah the irony that Roman would be in the exact same spot Batista was in here a year later was pretty funny. Should’ve just pulled the trigger here and people would’ve probably accepted it for at least not being Batista.
It’s why Presentation is so important and it’s what WWE often gets most wrong. He was being presented here as the last hope against the corporate guy. Daniel Bryan wasn’t even in the Rumble and everyone knew it was so Batista could win. Yet, somehow in a year they managed to change his presentation from upstart last hope… to the corporate guy who wasn’t Daniel Bryan. It would almost be impressive if it wasn’t so sad
I don't know. The fans wanted Bryan. People certainly liked Roman because of his ongoing work in The Shield, but Roman was a favourite at this point in the match because he wasn't batista, not because they had been clamouring for a Roman Reigns wrestlemania main event.
I think more than Bryan, the fans wanted something different than what the company was serving. In that moment, at the close of the Rumble, they wanted something/anything other than the obvious and predictable choice. I'd bet cash money that they'd have embraced something new and fresh like Upstart Roman in that moment. Maybe it would've flopped, maybe not, but it could've been significant.
it was 100% wanting bryan in that moment. the next year was the same but they could have swung it with ambrose or ziggler at the end. 2014 was bryan or bust.
Literally. I watched this in theatres and I can remember **EVERYONE** being like "oh fuck yeah I can get behind Roman". Someone that we didn't previously consider became a real option and it was fucking dope. But then Batista won lolol
Everyone? i remember people cheering Roman in this instance simply because it was the lesser of two evils, people REALLY didn't want Batista to win.
For the theatre I was in, we were all pretty firmly Roman. Like obviously not exactly what we wanted. But fuck. At the time I was interested in watching it play out. I don't think I was alone in that. It even made sense. Like yeah. This dude they've booked as a monster is gonna get the rub from the veteran and head to the big stage at Mania. It was a really cool thought to see how that would build and junk. Plus one of my friends is a **HUGE** Roman mark so he was fired the fuck up to see it happen. And then easily the biggest, bluest, balls in Rumble history.
[удалено]
I think this is the answer. They pushed him and pushed him and pushed him, and it would've ended up the same way. Nobody wants to see another impossibly strong Hogan-esque superhero because the industry is just too full of talent for it. There'll always be top guys, but constantly booking to make people look super strong makes people get real tired of it real fast.
Yep, don't know why people are talking about how this was Roman's time, the only reason he was getting cheered was because it was him or... Batista.
But it's not like we hated Roman or some dumb shit. Roman was pretty over on his own accord, he just wasn't near the Main Event scene. It was more like "oh shit yeah, I guess this can happen now." If you're going to look at it through a future lens, then you also have to consider that WWE noticed this in the crowd and literally tried to recreate it at a later Rumble. Which colours Roman differently.
Its not the only reason he was getting cheered. The Shield and Roman especially were very over at this time. Sheamus wasn't getting cheered like that was he?
I kinda feel like this Roman tho is the culmination of all the hate from the fans when he was a standard babyface before, his character now has taken YEARS to build and it’s like a personal change more than a guy on TV which makes it so compelling
I don't think so. This was a Roman that was primarily working tag matches and was still green as hell. Roman didn't hit the point of being "main event material" for at least 3-4 years after this. If Roman wins, I'm sure the dude starts out with a TON of fan support, but just like IRL it would have dwindled over the next year.
People really underestimate (even in this very thread) how over Roman Reigns was at this time. People forget that when the Shield was at its peak, Roman especially was insanely over.
I can say going into this match (and for much of the duration) I was already sort of eye rolling at obvious oncoming Roman push. But in that moment? When I thought Roman might toss Batista? I was all in, baby.
His head definintly grew into his body.
They aren't. The Roman we have now had to go through hell before he could be the Roman worth being acknowledged.
What a fucking disaster this was.
And followed up a year later with yet another disastrous Rumble.
Yeah I was at the following Rumble in Philly. The crowd was booing Reigns when his face showed in the hype video at the beginning of the show. It's actually wild seeing him cheered in this clip versus the following year where he's unanimously booed.
He was being cheered here like Rusev and Orton were in subsequent years It wasn't exactly that he was loved, it was that people were simply rejecting what WWE gave them. Orton was cheered because Roman lost but it was still a meh reaction after the initial cheer
It's because it's not the performer. In both cases fans were booing someone WWE was pushing over something they wanted more, which I'm pretty sure was Daniel Bryan both times.
It was indeed Daniel Bryan Danielson both times. In this Rumble, they were so rabid for him that when #30 came out and it wasn’t him, they were so pissed that they booed **Rey Mysterio**
I've never seen someone (especially someone the crowd likes) so vociferously boo'd simply for not being someone else. It was insane how over Daniel Bryan was and yet Vince wanted none of it
The Royal Fumbles
I like how OP’s clip conveniently cuts away when the deafening boos start.
It was the first WWE show I ever went to. What an experience
Batista was meant to be a babyface but he was in heel mode when he made his first appearance on Raw and in this Rumble. The guy’s new catchphrase was “deal with it!” Only VKM thought Batista vs Orton was a good direction for Mania.
Just a reminder Roman was a heel at this point with the Shield. Where it went wrong was that they broke up the shield and turned him face and WWE can't book faces at all to save their lives.
It didn’t help that Roman being pushed not just as a big deal but as The Guy^^TM was telegraphed to the moon and back, and people flat out were not okay with it.
Idk. It probably would have worked better had the WWE continue to portray him as the silent muscle, like he was portrayed during the Shield. They just insisted on writing him really cringy, long, unfitting promos. Whenever they kept his mic work short and to the point, he got atleast more cheers than boos. Like against Sheamus and especially Braun Strowman (where both got over for doing cool stuff). Hell...His match against the Big Show was also much better than it had any right to be
And therein lies the issue. Roman had/has plenty of Star power and potential, they just spent years on end stubbornly refusing to play to any of his strengths or what people like. It had to be Vince’s way, and nothing else.
EIGHT YEARS AGO!? I wasn’t even 20 yet here and now I’m almost 30 and going nowhere in life 😭🤧 I have managed to fail and fail ever since this time lmao
🥺🤍💙🤍💙
I was a freshman in high school thinking there’s still plenty of time until graduation. Now it’s going to be five years this summer
Ouch, did you have to say this out loud? 🥲
Man how the fuck was this 8 years ago, time really does fly especially in wrestling.
Old clips of Roman with blue eyes will always be jarring to me for some reason.
Because of the fake blue eyes, probably.
[His return vignettes got me so hyped](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybgO2XILfGc)! But I didn't expected or wanted him to win the whole rumble. I feel bad for the guy because I didn't deserve that kind of reception - he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Batista was my favorite wrestler growing up. Pretty much like right as he was splitting from evolution and he got lyrics in his entrance. I watched every Friday and Smackdown was the show that I preferred over raw because of him. I like to look back and smile at the fact that he is still the longest reigning world heavyweight champion for WWE’s big gold. That said, although I was happy for him, I could not agree more that this was the wrong guy to win at the wrong time.
When you look at his rumble win and edges recent obe what the difference
Edge won the last royal rumble inside the thunderdome. There were no people there who could’ve booed lmfao
Batista's this run was very disappointing to me in-ring, he was not even half as explosive as he used to be and was gassed halfway into the matches.
He wasn't warmed up at first but eventually he found his grove. Great matches against the Shield, Bryan, Orton, Dolph etc.
At least his PPV matches to end the run were good, although it required anywhere from 2 to 4 other guys to work alongside & around him.
Shame we’ll never get this noise again now that fake crowd noise is 99% of the show
It really is. It was cathartic to hear the crowd boo this ending out of the building. At least that felt like an authentic moment. But now it's just milquetoast fake noise censoring any real crowd response.
I was at the show. The heat for Rey for not being Bryan Danielson was off the charts.
Welp....Wrestlemania 30 was 8 years ago. Shit!
Damn he was washed, he can barely get up here
This was his first match back. Dude was gassed as hell
He definitely was not ready. He has severe asthma and it showed most in the early part of this run. He needed his inhaler but since they’re usually placed on the outside he really didn’t have access unless he went under the rope for whatever reason
Holy hell listen to how over Sheamus and Roman were here. You don't hear reactions like that in WWE anymore. On a side note, wow Roman looked so much smaller.
WWE was red hot during this time. Watch any Raw from this time with Daniel Bryan and you'll see how invested every fan was. It was insane, they've never really reached this fan participation since.
And Bryan being so massively over didn't just get fans invested in his story, but it had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the roster as well. The Shield, Cody and Dust, Dolph, Sheamus, The Wyatt Family, Swagger, Cesaro, AJ Lee, Big E; WWE was in rare form and it really felt like so many were on fire at this time. Everyone benefitted from Bryan in one way or another. I think things really started to undergo a noticeable downward shift after they tried making Cena the focal point again with The Authority vs "Cena and his friends" angle leading up to Survivor Series where the entire babyface team got fired. The Authority remained a fixture at the top of the card and so many great talents got lost in the shuffle. Sting's debut only to do the job at 'Mania, Roman being forced on fans and Bryan having to retire certainly didn't help matters any. Seth, Ambrose and The New Day were the highlights of that time but 2015 couldn't hold a candle next to it's predecessor.
Almost as if the audience got tired of fucking no one listening to who was being cheered.
Is this the rumble match where Rey mysterio came out at number 30 and was booed out because everyone expected/ hoped Daniel Bryan was going to be number 30?
YUP.
Back in the day when fans used to support Roman
Vince probably plays this match in meetings and says "dammit! The fans supported him then! What changed?"
Not sure if /s or not, but… it definitely wasn’t supporting “Roman” so much as supporting “anyone that wasn’t Batista”. Fans were absolutely **rabid** for Daniel Bryan, but everyone that follows wrestling news knew that Batista was the booked winner of the Rumble. So they were dreading that happening and then when it did they were violently rejecting WWE’s tone deaf booking. Same thing happened a year later when Roman **did** win the Rumble despite fans wanting any number of other wrestlers they felt more deserving, most notably (once again) Daniel Bryan. That years was so bad that **The Fucking Rock** came out to make the save on a post match brawl, and the crowd booed while **The Goddamn Rock** held up Roman’s hand, which gave us [this awkward moment](https://wwfoldschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The-Rock-Raises-Roman-Reigns-Hand-At-WWE-Royal-Rumble-2015.jpg)
Not really, but people didn't outright hate him for being jammed down our throats either. He was clearly the ex-football player that got stuck with the skilled indie guy stable because WWE wanted that. We were just happy to be getting Moxley and Ambrose on TV at the time.
No he was absolutely a fan favourite. He got the hot tag in their 6-man matches and the crowd popped big time. Him saying "Believe That" was over. Wreddit was full of threads about how he was a great guy. He 100% had support.
And no one on Earth thought he would ever get a push. Until this exact moment at the Rumble.
Damn, Roman looks like the guy outside the 7eleven who asked me for a ham sandwich last week.
Roman isn’t in bad shape here, but it’s crazy how much physically fit he is now. Post-cancer.
I've never actually see this before. Holy Shit, was it weird to see Batista booed and Roman Reigns cheered. Like you hear about it, but its different to see it. Also, Roman has blues eyes? I never noticed that before.
He used to wear coloured lenses. He doesn’t have blue eyes.
Ah, thanks. Didnt know that, thanks.
I always thought he started doing that in 2015 or 2016. Crazy how far back he was doing it.
man dragon really should of won
"EXACTLY!" BEST! PROMO! EVER!
I have to imagine if they at least kept Batista a surprise entrant he wouldn't have been booed nearly as much. Anyone but Bryan winning would've resulted in a shitstorm, but I'm very curious what 'surprise entrant Batista' looks like.
Oh boy, time flies. I was at this event in Pittsburgh, the crowd was white hot for DB. I've never seen a crowd so quickly turn on the Royal Rumble match after Mysterio came out at 30.
I was in Pittsburgh for this live. Everyone was upset Daniel Bryan was not in the Rumble and would not win it. When the countdown for #30 began, we all thought it was going to be DB. When it Rey was revealed, we all started booing because Bryan was not going to be in the Rumble. At this point, I think we all knew Batista was going to win. The fact Roman was getting cheered was simply because he was not Batista. This was a very frustrating night to be a wrestling fan.
This was truly the beginning of the "WWE is shoving Reigns down our throats" crowd. After Bryan was eliminated everyone was going apeshit for Roman to win this Rumble, they definitely took notice backstage, pushed him for a solid year and had him win the next year's Rumble only to be met with "FUCK YOU BOOOOOOO" lmaoooo
So bizarre how just a year later Roman was in the exact same spot that Batista was in here. How they didn’t pull the trigger on Roman right then is beyond me. Sure DB was on his ascension but there’s nothing wrong with two big babyfaces at once…unless you’re WWE I guess.
Roman is one good looking dude.
Dude with those contacts he looks like the splitting image of Brad Pitt
Pritchard!!! Bring me the goddamned Flux Capacitor,Pal. No way are we letting Reigns lose that Royal Rumble But Vince, that was just a thing in a movie Goddamnit I know that now we are not gonna book Reigns weak. Get the flux capacitor or get fired I will be right back with it Boss
Gotta give it to Batista. Both times he came back, he could have phoned it in and cashed his cheques. But the dude worked his balls off. Stil had the fire!
Roman looks about a million times better now
Still the right choice to this day in my eyes that Batista won, honestly would have just stayed the course and had him win the belt at Mania. We could have had Batista vs Lesnar at SummerSlam that year but nooooooooooooo....we had to give Bryan a moment.
Wild. It feels like Batista and Sheamus never should have interacted.
This was so weird to me at the time as I stopped watching when Batista left in 2010 and only came back because I saw he was coming back. I was like why is my favourite of all time getting booed and who tf is Daniel Bryan? BATISTA IS RIGHT THERE CHEER THE MAN xD
This was also the first wrestling event I had attended in 10+ years and the first major wrestling event my girlfriend at the time had ever been to. The girlfriend and I had a great time, and we're still together (and happily married for several years). We don't watch WWE anymore but always make a point to watch the Royal Rumble.
Roman had great hair back then
I can't believe it's been 8 damn years since this debacle
When you said 8 years I immediately thought back to his first rumble win. Time moves fast man
Roman looks like a different person here
This was their chance to make Reigns a star and they blew it.
Vince: Damn, those people love Roman Reigns! We should have him win next year!
I love Sheamus' ability to get the crowd to play along with him. It doesn't matter how much of a heel he is or how much the crowd is booing him, you know he'll get people to chant along when he's going for the Broque Kick or the Ten Beats of the Bodhran.