WWE Royal Rumble 2019: 7 Worst Battle Royal Winners in PPV's History

The WWE Royal Rumble match is typically one of the best booked, most exciting and most anticipated matches of the year.

Since its inception in 1988, the match has featured the biggest names and brightest stars in sports entertainment.

So much meticulous detail is put into booking the match that it usually does not disappoint.

The actual winner of the Rumble, though, is another story.

In recent years, questionable booking decisions or tone deafness from a creative standpoint has led to some of the worst winners in match history.

In hopes that trend does not continue in 2019, relive the Royal Rumbles that have left fans demanding better or wishing their payoff was worth the push.

7. Batista (2014)

Credit: WWE.com

Batista's return in 2014 understandably culminated with a Royal Rumble win.

Any other year, it would have made perfect sense for a Ruthless Aggression Era great to make a triumphant comeback that culminated with that kind of win before heading to WrestleMania and capturing championship gold.

Just not that year.

Daniel Bryan was the undisputed hero of the WWE Universe, the Superstar everyone and their mothers wanted to see win the Royal Rumble and advance to WrestleMania, where he would capture the WWE Championship.

When they did not get that (Bryan was not even entered in the match), they lashed out with negativity usually reserved for a John Cena or Roman Reigns title win. What should have been one of the greatest moments of Batista's career, a second Royal Rumble victory, was instead one of the most disappointing.

His placement on this list is through no fault of his own.

6. Shinsuke Nakamura (2018)

Shinsuke Nakamura went from midcard afterthought to suddenly emerge as a favorite to win the 2018 Royal Rumble match.

When he did, eliminating Roman Reigns to earn his shot at either the WWE or Universal Championship at WrestleMania, it confirmed fans' worst fears: WWE Creative was attempting to use the Rumble to create a star rather than enhance one.

The company had routinely used championships in its attempt to elevate stars, but the Rumble was a whole other beast. It had tried, and failed, to catapult Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus to the forefront of the company with their Rumble wins, but neither was able to break through the proverbial glass ceiling and really stand alongside the elite.

Ditto Nakamura, who won the match and followed it up with an inconsequential match against Rusev and went to WrestleMania, where he lost the biggest match of his WWE career to AJ Styles—and every subsequent one thereafter.

Nakamura won the match but achieved nothing as a result, making the 2018 match largely insignificant.

5. Randy Orton (2017)

Randy Orton winning the 2017 Royal Rumble was less bad, more boring.

The Viper had feuded with, then joined, The Wyatt Family heading into the event. His win in the Royal Rumble set up a scenario where he would challenge SmackDown's WWE champion at WrestleMania. 

The win tipped the creative team's hand, leading to a Bray Wyat WWE Championship victory at Elimination Chamber that everyone saw coming and a showdown between the leader of the cult-like faction and Orton.

Sure, Orton's win made sense within the context of the story being told, but the third-generation star had been so one-dimensional and uninteresting that his win did little to spark excitement coming out of a show that is used annually to jumpstart the road to the biggest event of the year.

4. John Cena (2013)

John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble because...there was no one else to win it.

There was a returning Chris Jericho, a rolling Dolph Ziggler, the always trusty Randy Orton and Ryback, but none of them had any real chance of winning the match and heading to WrestleMania. Not with The Rock as the WWE champion.

Not with the chance of a high-profile main event between The Great One and Cena.

Cena eliminated Ryback, further diminishing whatever credibility he had left, and won his second Royal Rumble match.

To the surprise and excitement of no one.

3. Alberto Del Rio (2011)

Credit: WWE.com

What was, to that point, the largest Royal Rumble in event history, with 40 Superstars vying for the win, culminated with one of the most lackluster and uninteresting winners.

Alberto Del Rio entered at No. 38, lasted just under 10 minutes, and won the match when he eliminated Santino Marella.

The win cashed his ticket to WrestleMania 27, where he would fail to dethrone Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship in the night's opening match.

Del Rio never really became the international icon WWE had hoped he would, and though he was a multiple-time world champion, he never reached the level of John Cena or Randy Orton, two of the Superstars he defeated to win the 40-man extravaganza. 

2. Mr. McMahon (1999)

Credit: WWE.com

There is a reason no one ever would have expected Mr. McMahon to win the 1999 Royal Rumble: because the idea of the chairman of the board outlasting 29 other guys was stupid.

Yet that is exactly what happened that year as the owner of WWE capitalized on a beatdown of Stone Cold Steve Austin by his Corporation, and a late-match distraction from The Rock, to win the match. This, despite the fact that he took an ass-kicking from The Texas Rattlesnake on more than one occasion over the course of the match.

Sure, the post-match celebration was ridiculously fun, and it earned the boss even more heat than he already had, but all that could have been accomplished on an episode of Raw.

The Rumble still had a sense of prestige and honor. Using it as a plot device was a mistake that helped drag the '99 match into the "Worst Rumble Ever" conversation.

1. Big John Studd (1989)

Credit: WWE.com

After the success of the first Royal Rumble television special, Vince McMahon and Co. decided to promote the event as a pay-per-view extravaganza.

The event's namesake match would feature appearances from the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Ted DiBiase, but none of those iconic Superstars would win the match.

That honor, instead, would be reserved for Big John Studd.

Studd had been a heel under the guidance of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in 1985, when he feuded with Andre over who was really the greatest giant in WWE. After a two-year retirement, Studd returned as a babyface to feud with Heenan and his stable.

He resisted DiBiase's attempt to pay him off, dumped the hated villain and earned the victory.

Except, no one really wanted to see that outcome.

Studd did not have the type of charisma or character to succeed in McMahon's larger-than-life traveling circus. The product had passed him by.

While the win added to his Hall of Fame resume, it stands out as one of the bigger head-scratchers in match history, particularly with the wealth of talent elsewhere in the bout.