WWE Royal Rumble: Roman Reigns and 4 Stars Who Should Have Won Previous Matches

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4. Cesaro – 2013

John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble and went on to face the Rock for the WWE Championship. His victory was a foregone conclusion, because WWE was hell-bent on repeating the main event from WrestleMania XXVIII. They wanted Cena vs. Rock II so badly they’d do anything they could to ensure Cena and Rock would face off again.

By having Cena win, not only did it lead to a relatively boring and predictable Rumble match, but it also prevented WWE from using that illustrious match to build up a new star. At the time, WWE still had the two World Championships, and the World Heavyweight title was in dire need of new contenders.

They ended up going with Jack Swagger as a repackaged Tea Party sort of character, but the gimmick, and subsequent feud with Alberto del Rio, didn’t catch on fire as WWE hoped it would.

What WWE should’ve done instead was book Cesaro to win the Royal Rumble and challenge Alberto for the WHC. Cesaro was a spectacular yet underrated wrestler working on the pre-show, which was a major insult to his abilities. Even back in 2013, when he was still relatively new, many people both within WWE and outside it knew Cesaro was an excellent worker that could thrive with the right booking and gimmick.

Had Zeb Coulter taken Cesaro on as his charge instead of Swagger, and acted as a regular mouthpiece without the over-the-top Tea Party rhetoric, they could’ve built Cesaro up as a credible contender for Alberto’s world title. The matches they’d have had together would’ve been spectacular, as both Cesaro and Del Rio were noted for being great wrestlers.

Even if Cesaro lost at WrestleMania, it would’ve been a great feud and a great match. Cena could’ve found another means to find his way into the main event against the Rock. After all, they just thrust him into the world title picture now against A.J. Styles, even though there’s other contenders on the roster.