WWE Royal Rumble 2015 Results: Biggest Stars of the Night
The Royal Rumble event is the best time of the year for someone on the WWE roster to make a name for himself and establish that he will be a force to be reckoned with in 2015.
Naturally, the biggest opportunity is in the Royal Rumble match itself, wherein the winner will receive a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship itself and attempt to win the most coveted prize in the company.
However, even if one doesn't win the match, there are still chances to stand out among one's peers.
With all of the crazy eliminations that can take place and many performances of past events being memorable for their quality alone, the possibilities are endless.
Of course, that isn't even taking into account the other matches on the card, which could all have a huge impact on what is coming later this year.
Now that the pay-per-view is in the books, let's look back on the results and determine who were the wrestlers who came out of it looking like the biggest stars of the evening.
Honorable Mention: Damien Mizdow
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At two different points on this card, Damien Mizdow became a highlight for the audience.
The first of which came during the WWE Tag Team Championship match, wherein his antics overshadowed everything that was happening inside the ring, as expected.
Later on, his appearance in the Royal Rumble resulted in another fun, albeit quick moment.
The fans are firmly behind Mizdow's character, and he received some of the biggest applause of the entire night consistently, with unfettered support that only grew and never diminished.
7. Seth Rollins
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It's tough to argue against the idea that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match would not have been as good as it was had Seth Rollins not been involved.
While credit needs to be shared with Brock Lesnar and John Cena, the workhorse of the bout was easily Rollins.
Several times during the match, Rollins looked like the favorite to walk away with the title, which helped legitimize him even more—as if that were necessary at this point.
Outside of Lesnar himself and Triple H, Rollins is the top heel in the company, with many people making the case that he even surpasses them.
Rollins had one of the biggest highlights of the entire event with his flip off the top rope, and he is going to continue to ride this wave of success with fantastic performances on the Road to WrestleMania all the way to the top.
When all things were said and done, Rollins received a round of applause from the audience out of support for just how good of a performance he put on.
6. Bray Wyatt
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If WWE is trying to build Bray Wyatt up for a big match at WrestleMania, then this event sure helped accomplish that.
Almost nobody had a more impressive outing than Wyatt in this elimination match.
He not only eliminated a good portion of the competitors, but he also lasted for one of the longest times out of anyone and made it rather close to the finals.
At no point did he look weak, which is not something that many of the other challengers experienced.
Being tossed out by giants after a dominant performance means Wyatt's stock has gone up considerably.
Whomever he faces at WrestleMania will look all that much better if he is victorious, since he will be going up against someone who had a significant amount of this year's spotlight cast upon him in the most important match so far.
5. Rusev
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2014 was very good to Rusev, and it appears as though 2015 will be even better for The Bulgarian Brute.
Rusev's dominance was a big factor in the Royal Rumble, as expected by any fan who has watched WWE programming in the past several months.
Coming in second place is not an easy task,and it is not something to overlook.
Most runner-ups in previous Royal Rumbles went on to have some of the most important matches on the WrestleMania card.
Last year's final elimination was Roman Reigns, who went on to win it this time around, so Rusev could be looking at a victory for the 2016 Royal Rumble.
The fact that WWE chose him to be the last man thrown over the top rope is a huge indicator that Rusev's star power has only grown, and the WWE Universe better get used to it.
4. Brock Lesnar
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The Beast Incarnate gets a spot on this list for not only an impressive performance in a great match but also since he retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the process.
This feat was accomplished despite the handicap of being in a Triple Threat match wherein he did not even need to be pinned or made to submit in order to drop the title.
That could have been an easy out for WWE to take to protect Brock Lesnar, but have someone else walk with the title.
Instead, Lesnar suplexed his way to victory, withstanding numerous finishers, a spot through the commentary table and even being blasted in the head with the Money in the Bank briefcase.
The damage to Lesnar's reputation that occurred during his previous match with John Cena has been somewhat erased by what transpired at the Royal Rumble.
Now that Lesnar has firmly established himself as the true top of the food chain, he will attempt to do so again at WrestleMania against Roman Reigns.
3. The Rock
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Out of all the surprise appearances, none measure up to The Rock.
A good portion of the chatter heading into the arena surrounded everyone's suspicions of whether The Rock would show up or not, due to his tweet about being in the Philadelphia area.
When the last man entered the Royal Rumble, a wave of disappointment hit the crowd that had expected him to be a participant in some fashion.
Thankfully, the audience was given what it wanted when The Rock helped make the save for Roman Reigns.
Diamond Dallas Page, The Boogeyman, Zack Ryder, Bubba Ray Dudley and whomever else might have been a surprise all pale in comparison to the response The Rock received.
After all this time, he's still such a big star to the level where he did not even wrestle a match and he'll undoubtedly be a major talking point for the next few days more so than the majority of the people on the card.
2. Daniel Bryan
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It should come as no surprise that Daniel Bryan was easily the star with the biggest support from the crowd out of the entire show.
Whether it was a video package being played in the arena or his actual appearance in the Royal Rumble match, the audience could not get enough of the former WWE World Heavyweight champion.
Many expected him to win the whole thing and were horribly disappointed at his elimination, which became yet another reason why so many boos were heard for the rest of the evening.
More attention was given to Bryan's exit to the backstage area than what was going on in the ring itself for anyone who was still able to get a glimpse of him.
For all the doubters who thought Bryan's injury would curtail his success and he would find himself down in the midcard territory, this event proves that those words should be eaten.
He did not come out with the win, but the booking of the match goes to show how popular he is, as he was likely eliminated at an earlier point in the match to help give fans time to mourn and move on.
Let the record show that this experiment failed, since Bryan's popularity is too big to be swept under the rug like that.
1. Roman Reigns
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From a storyline perspective, there is no better person for the top of this list than Roman Reigns.
While he was not nearly as dominant in this Royal Rumble as he was last year, the big difference between the two was how he got the job done this time around.
Fans will cry out that Daniel Bryan or The Rock are bigger stars than Reigns, which is true.
However, neither one of them will be headlining WrestleMania and likely defeating the unstoppable Brock Lesnar to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The magnitude of earning that spot is exactly why Reigns is the biggest star of the night, despite the boos in the audience from those who would have preferred someone else winning.
Remember, these are the same people who loved Reigns a few months ago, but since it is always the cool thing to do to go against the grain, the boos started rolling in.
That never stopped Cena from being undoubtedly the biggest star in the company, and it did not stop Reigns from being the biggest star of this year's Royal Rumble.
What would your list look like for the top stars of the evening? Who deserves a ranking who may not have been mentioned here?
The comments section below is your chance to sound off, so let your voices be heard!
Anthony Mango is the owner-operator of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment as well as the host of its podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
