WWE Royal Rumble 2016: Best Moments from Buildup to PPV Event

The lead-up to WWE Royal Rumble 2016 was at its best when rivals went on a rampage. Violence and unchecked emotion bolstered the build to several matches on the pay-per-view. 

Becky Lynch's emotion spilling over, the battle for the Intercontinental Championship hitting the apex of its havoc and Bray Wyatt and his family forcibly entering themselves in the Rumble conversation stood out as WWE's biggest hits en route to the event.

Those successes point to the viability of a simple formula: Make things more personal, amp up the animosity and watch the intrigue for a wrestling match go up. WWE followed that advice most often with the IC and Divas Championship feuds.

As for the Rumble itself, the company focused so much on Roman Reigns that it hurt the anticipation for the 30-man match. Often, it didn't boast that anyone-can-win feel.

On the other hand, inserting Wyatt into the mix at the last minute and introducing Heath Slater's new crew are two times when WWE generated added interest and subplots for the annual Battle Royal.

Formation of The Social Outcasts

Throughout 2015, Slater, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas barely made it to TV each week. WWE had little to offer them. And so naturally, they atrophied on the bench.

Then those men joined forces. It's not clear yet whether creating The Social Outcasts faction was an out-of-left-field, last-ditch effort or a stroke of midcard-booking genius, but it was a welcome move nonetheless.

On Jan. 4, Axel, Rose and Dallas accompanied Slater for his match against Dolph Ziggler on Raw. The new stable helped The One-Man Band score an upset.

And suddenly, four meandering lower-level guys had a bit of direction. It gave them possibilities that didn't exist before.

As Kyle Fowle of the A.V. Club wrote of the group, "Axel teaming up to get themselves out of Superstars and jobber purgatory is exactly the kind of thing that Raw could use right now. It's something different, but more than that, The Social Outcasts have motivation."

While WWE hasn't presented them as a legit threat at the Rumble, their convergence as a team added depth to the match.

Normally, Rose entering the Rumble would be a meaningless moment. Now, should he and his fellow outcasts team up, they could well make an impact on the 30-man contest. That could be as a comedy act or as a foursome that makes a surprise elimination or two.

Either way, WWE gave fans something else to look forward to come Rumble time.

Champion and Challenger Destroy Each Other

The Ambrose vs. Owens feud has tailed off some since, but for a stretch, the hunt for the Intercontinental Championship was WWE's hottest story.

That's because the enemies' bad blood overflowed again and again. Their matches weren't athletic contests; they were alleyway fights. That was most true when they collided for the title on the SmackDown from Jan. 7.

Not only did the foes stop caring about winning or listening to the referee's count, but they forewent wrestling moves for just beating the crap out of each other. They brawled throughout the arena until collapsing together amid debris and broken tables. 

The booking left fans wanting more of these battles, and it did well to elevate Owens and Ambrose. As Jake Barnett put it for ProWrestling.net, "Both men looked doubly tough for taking the abuse that they did throughout the match."

That kind of moment was key to the rivalry needing to be settled in a Last Man Standing match, as it is set to do at the Royal Rumble.

Without that night of barbarity, it would make far less sense to go with that stipulation. And the acrimony between the titleholder and the man who last held the gold wouldn't be nearly as convincing as it is now.

Driven to Rage

The slow-burning story of Lynch and Charlotte's alliance splintering has been top-notch. Friends-turned-foes is a familiar narrative, but the old standard has had plenty of life with these two women involved.

Charlotte clearly looks more comfortable as a heel, and having her slide toward the darkness thanks to her father's guidance is brilliant.

It's Lynch's fire, though, that has made this a must-watch angle.

That element was on full display when Lynch attacked Charlotte on Jan. 11. The champ was prepping for a showdown with Brie Bella. The Lass Kicker, however, had a thrashing in mind instead.

She pounced on the champ and battered her with right hands, and when officials pulled her off, she promised to take both Charlotte's arm and title. That moment and the story overall have made the Divas title bout the easiest to invest in.

Lynch is the classic wronged-and-enraged babyface. Charlotte has become the cocky cheater one wants to see fall.

The wrestlers have thrived in those roles, and WWE has done well to use tried-and-true storytelling to make this one of the biggest Divas matches in recent memory.

The Wyatt Family Attacks

Having Reigns defend his title in the Royal Rumble, having him enter first and painting the bout as "one versus all" has made it hard to buy into other Superstars as serious contenders. The story has revolved around The Big Dog. Brock Lesnar, by default, is another favorite to win.

WWE didn't do enough to build up anyone else. That is, until the end of Raw on Jan. 18.

Reigns and Lesnar brawled. The League of Nations attacked. And then stormed in the four horsemen of the apocalypse—The Wyatt Family.

Wyatt led the way as his monsters flattened Reigns and punished Lesnar. The sight of a helpless The Beast Incarnate was stunning, like seeing a deity turn mortal.

On his blog, Jim Ross wrote that the moment "created ample 'heat' going off the air for the go home RAW leading into this Sunday's Royal Rumble in Orlando."

It also played up the possibility that Wyatt could potentially win, especially with three soldiers as immense as his aiding him to victory.

Reigns and Lesnar still remain the top choices to win on Sunday, in addition to Triple H. Still, the Royal Rumble is better off with the audience not sure if a band of monsters is going to be the night's dark horse.