The Biggest Winners From Royal Rumble 2016

After a couple of years of groaning after watching the Royal Rumble, it’s good to feel like WWE got one right. Maybe that’s a controversial statement considering who left the event with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but I thought it was a solid Pay-Per-View from beginning to end. There were plenty of good takeaways from this show and many performers can consider themselves real winners from the night.

If you’ve read one of these “Biggest Winners” articles before then you’ll know that not every wrestler featured is a literal match winner. Some are, but this is more of a celebration of the performers who had an exceptional showing. It’s mostly done in a chronological order from the show, so don’t assume that the wrestlers here are being ranked.

Let’s get this recap article started, beginning with the pre-show…

Damien Sandow

Good for Mark Henry and Jack swagger for winning the pre-show qualifying tag team match, but the star of that match was actually on a losing team. The former Intellectual Savior of the Masses, who seemed to come out to that gimmick, was insanely over from the moment his music hit.

Even Damien Sandow was appreciative of the response he received…

Ha ha ha. Thank you WWE Orlando! For the first time in my career I was entertained by a chant . Heeeeeey we want some Sandow. I laughed ol

— Damien Sandow (@TheDamienSandow) January 25, 2016

Maybe it is false hope to think that WWE heard the pop and would want to capitalize on how much the fans love him, but I hope that’s what happened. People love this guy, can’t he at least get into a lower card feud? I bet the Social Outcast wouldn’t mind a team to spar with. Damien could lead his own rival clan.

Dean Ambrose

If Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens were trying to give their peers a hard opening act to follow, they more than succeeded. The amount of highlights that came out of this Last Man Standing Match was almost too much to count.

Kevin performed a barrier destroying cannonball onto Dean near the beginning of the match. Ambrose threw a chair at Owens’ head that wrapped around his neck completely; Dean even took a few jabs while it was still adorning his neck. And then that ending… DANG. Kevin Owens has already offered a contender for spot of the year when he took a spill over the top rope through two tables stacked on top of each other. He definitely wasn’t going to get up after that. Dean retained his IC Championship as Kevin was layed out in the debris from the tables.

This rivalry for the Intercontinental Championship has been one of the best things about 2016 so far. After that match, it seemed like the rivalry might be over and that would be sad for me because I love it so much. Thankfully, the two faced off a little more in the Rumble, giving me hope that they’ve still got more hatred to give each other.

Another major win for Ambrose is how long he lasted in the Rumble match. He came in at number 19 and survived until the final two. After Roman was eliminated, it was just Hunter and Dean. I was giving myself false hope that maybe, just maybe, WWE might pull the trigger on Ambrose after all. Maybe Reigns would re-enter and eliminate Hunter so that his buddy would win? That didn’t happen, of course, but it was still extremely fun that he lasted so long in the Rumble.

New Day

Just when it looked like Xavier Woods was preparing for life without his beloved trombone, he replaced her. Francesca #2 is now in the lives of New Day because “a brother’s got needs.”

The nearfalls were great in the final few moments of the Tag Team Championship Match. I was legitimately worried that the Usos might win, but thankfully Big E intercepted a top rope splash and turned it into a Big Ending. It was a very well put together finale to an overall good tag match.

Later on in the night, Kofi would represent his team in the Royal Rumble match. He almost got eliminated at one point but avoided the loss when he shimmied onto Big E’s shoulders instead. It was good that his buddies looked out for him like that. Despite the buddy-system save, Jericho later eliminated Kofi.

Kalisto

This article is an inherently positive one, but the thing that stood out most to me in the match for the United States Championship was that botch by Kalisto. It looked like he was attempting a sunset flip Powerbomb after standing on Alberto’s back, but he instead just landed on his head. Luckily, he was okay and had enough wherewithal to still rollup Del Rio.

Botch aside, the match had a great ending. Alberto sort of defeated himself when his head was driven into the turnbuckle that he himself exposed. This made him vulnerable for a Salida del Sol that put him away for a pinfall.

This marks the second United States Championship reign for Kalisto. I’m excited to see what challengers he moves on to next.

Charlotte

It was good to see Charlotte and Becky Lynch compete in front of a hot crowd as Orlando was loving this one. There was great wrestling and silly antics that worked. The Ric Flair kiss on Becky was goofy and served a purpose because Charlotte started taking over after that moment.

This was a hard fought contest and I really got behind Becky as it went on. There was a point in which she had an armbar applied and I really thought she might get the Diva’s Champion to tap out. Ric later play a pivotal role near the end of this one when he threw his jacket into Becky’s face. This set up a cheap shot and a Spear by Charlotte for the win.

After the match, Charlotte continued to be the slimy heel and kept attacking Becky. I was bummed a little about the Lass’s loss until a certain former NXT Women’s Champion joined in the mix…

Sasha Banks

Orlando got most of their cheers and boos right on this night and they were extra on point when Sasha came out to the ring after the Diva’s Championship match. The ovation for her was thunderous. The Diva’s division is finally starting to feel like it’s living up to its potential.

Sasha showed the bad girl side of her as she attacked Becky and knocked her out of the ring. She was acting buddy-buddy with Charlotte, but then attacked her as well as she tried to exit the ring. She held up the Diva’s Championship, showing her intentions. As the WrestleMania build is finally in full swing, it’s fantastic that Sasha is positioned where she is.

AJ Styles

There really weren’t too many surprise entrants into this Rumble, save for this explosive debut. Just about a day removed from a Bullet Club Curtain Call in Ring of Honor, AJ entered the ring at number 3. The crowd went wild for him; probably the biggest pop of the night.

He was positioned opposite of Roman Reigns in these early moments of the Rumble, like they were trying to one up each other with each new competitor that entered the ring. It was a fantastic introduction for him into WWE.

Styles was number 3 and didn’t get eliminated until he faced off against the number 18 entry, Kevin Owens. We’ll get to him in a second, but first lets celebrate some comedy…

R-Truth

This was hilarious. The man brought a ladder into the ring and climbed it to the top, only to get confused when he didn’t find a briefcase waiting to be snatched. Bravo, Truth. Please continue this act for a long time.

Kevin Owens

Sure, Kevin Owens lost the Intercontinental Championship match at the opening of the show, but some of the most exciting moments in the Royal Rumble match were the ones he was a part of. He even sold the damage from his earlier bout effectively as he staggered to the ring…

Kevin Owens had a great show down with AJ Styles and even eliminated the debuting star. He also got the opportunity to scuffle with Dean Ambrose once again in the Rumble. He even was part of a wild exchange of fists with Sami Zayn. Zayn would be the one to eliminate Owens.

At this point, Kevin has begun or continued rivalries with Styles, Ambrose, and Zayn. There’s no risk of him being in a boring feud anytime in the near future.

The Wyatt Family

The Wyatt’s closed out the Raw before the Royal Rumble standing tall over Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. That Raw beatdown seemed a little out of nowhere. Based on past booking I wasn’t so sure that WWE was going to follow through with a strong Wyatt performance in the 30-man contest. Luckily, Bray and his buddies actually did pretty well for themselves.

The big giant shiny new toy, Braun Strowman, notably eliminated both Kane and Big Show shortly after entering as the number 17 man in the Rumble. Braun, Harper, and Rowan all lasted until Brock Lesnar came out. The Beast Incarnate then eliminated all three of them. When Bray Wyatt came out at number 27, his three eliminated Family members re-entered the ring with him to do a number on Brock.

The worked together to eliminate Brock, which sets up a big WrestleMania match. Bray stayed in the Rumble for a little while longer. I believe he was in the final six but it’s the Brock scuffling that’s the big takeaway.

Triple H

I can’t say that I would’ve ever enjoyed a HHH title win this much in 2016, but I really did. I’ll probably get to the point of not liking it soon, but as of the time of writing this I’m digging his victory.

Hunter came in at number 30, which is pretty much what many people were calling. (I didn’t call it. I knew that he was favored but I was still holding out for Brock.) He personally threw out the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and even survived a showdown with the current Intercontinental Champion.

The winner of the Royal Rumble and the top title in WWE is its COO, Triple H. He celebrated his victory with his wife and father-in-law as the show went off the air.

Final Thoughts

My overall score for this is 8.5 out of 10. I really liked the card and think pretty much all of the matches were good. The only weak bout was the US Championship match and even then, it wasn’t terrible or anything.

There are several matches coming out of this show to look forward to. Roman vs. Hunter is inevitable and I think it will be good. Sami Zayn is back and will be challenging Kevin Owens. Brock is battling the Wyatt Family; we better get a Paul Heyman/Bray Wyatt promo battle at some point or I’ll feel personally slighted. Sasha Banks is officially in the Diva’s Championship picture as the women’s side of wrestling on the main roster is finally coming together. And AJ Styles can feud with anyone at this point; I’m just giddy that he’s on WWE programming.

Follow me on Twitter @MitchNickelson.

If you want to consume even more analysis from me regarding this event, check out mine and my wife’s podcast. In the latest episode of Wrestling Date Night, we review the Royal Rumble. Sure, you just read over 1900 words from me about this show, but why miss out on hearing my voice as well? Just click play on the embedded player below if I’ve convinced you, then subscribe to us on whatever podcast catcher you use. Thanks for reading.