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

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3. Dean Ambrose – 2016

The 2016 Royal Rumble match was unique. For the first time ever, the defending champion put his title on the line in the Rumble match itself. The whole point of this match was to see if Reigns would walk out of the Rumble as champion. He didn’t, as he was eliminated by the surprise #30 entrant, Triple H. This set up an eventual WrestleMania confrontation between the Game and ‘the Guy’, but that match (and the entire ‘Mania PPV, for that matter) backfired spectacularly.

What made this a bad choice was that the last man in the ring alongside Triple H was none other than Dean Ambrose. Ambrose was presented as Reigns’ close friend and partner, and he stood alone against Triple H. It would’ve made much more sense for Ambrose to win, for several reasons.

First, it would’ve been a much more surprising result than Hunter winning. As surprising as it was to see him, seeing the boss’s son-in-law with the championship will always rub some people the wrong way.

Second, it would’ve told a much deeper story of Ambrose wanting to escape Reigns’ shadow and prove he’s the better wrestler. Ambrose had proved he was more popular in terms of fan reaction, and this win would’ve cemented the belief that he was good enough to strike out on his own.

Third, we’d have that much-desired Shield WrestleMania main event that has been desired by so many for so long. Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns would’ve been a much more exciting and memorable main event than Reigns vs. Triple H. There would’ve been more intrigue, as many more would speculate that Ambrose might win.

What we got instead was a main event whose result was so predictable the audience booed the victorious Reigns out of the building.