Royal Rumble (2016)

The 2016 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 29th annual Royal Rumble and took place on January 24, 2016, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The event was also the fifth Royal Rumble pay-per-view to be held in the U.S. state of Florida, after the 1990, 1991, 1995, and 2006 events, the second to be held in Orlando (after 1990), and WWE's first pay-per-view event to be held at the Amway Center.

Traditionally since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner receives a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2016 event, however, Roman Reigns was scheduled to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the 2016 Royal Rumble match and as the number one entrant. This was the main event match, which was won by the returning Triple H, who eliminated Reigns before lastly eliminating Dean Ambrose to win the championship. This was Triple H's second Royal Rumble win and he became the third person to win the match as the number 30 entrant. This was only the second time that a Royal Rumble winner won the world championship for winning the eponymous match, after the 1992 event, where the vacant title was the prize, however, it was the first in which the reigning champion defended the title in the match.

Five other matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. The event was notable for the WWE pay-per-view debut of longtime Total Nonstop Action Wrestling mainstay AJ Styles as the third entrant in the Royal Rumble match. This was also the last Royal Rumble event to be held before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event produced every January by WWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views (PPV), along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". The concept of the event is based on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2016 event was the 29th Royal Rumble and was scheduled to be held on January 24, 2016, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. In addition to airing on PPV, the event was available to livestream on the WWE Network.

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2016, that would have been a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32; however, reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns was scheduled to defend the title in the match as the number one entrant. This marked the second time that the promotion's world championship was the prize of the match (the first being in 1992), but the first time in which the champion defended the title in the match, as in 1992, the championship had been vacated, and it was decided that the Rumble winner would win the vacant title.

Storylines

The event comprised six matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.

Traditionally, the winner of the 30-man Royal Rumble match is awarded a world championship match at WrestleMania. However, as a culmination of his attempts to deprive the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns for attacking his son-in-law Triple H and overall disrespecting the McMahon family, WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon decided that Reigns would have to defend his title in the Rumble match as entrant number one.

On the December 28 episode of Raw, Big Show was the first wrestler to announce his participation in the Royal Rumble match. Early in January, Curtis Axel, Ryback, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman), Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Stardust, and Sheamus were added to the match. On the January 11 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced that Brock Lesnar would compete in the match in spite of Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman arguing that Lesnar should bypass the match and face the winner at WrestleMania 32. The next week on Raw, a rigged lottery assigned the #1 spot to Reigns, meaning that he would be the first contestant to enter the match.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Their rivalry intensified for over weeks; including a match ending in a double countout for the Intercontinental Championship. On the January 14 episode of SmackDown, Owens accepted Ambrose's challenge to a Last Man Standing match for the Intercontinental Championship at the Royal Rumble.

On the January 7 episode of SmackDown, John Cena introduced Kalisto as an opponent for United States Champion Alberto Del Rio. After Kalisto won the match, he was granted a title match on the January 11 episode of Raw, in which he defeated Del Rio to win the United States Championship. Del Rio went on to win back the championship the following night on SmackDown. Subsequently, another title match between the two was scheduled for the Royal Rumble.

On the January 4 episode of Raw, Becky Lynch was attacked by Divas Champion Charlotte after defeating her in a non-title match. With the help of father Ric Flair, Charlotte defeated Lynch to retain the championship on the January 7 episode of SmackDown. Subsequently, Lynch challenged Charlotte for another title match at the Royal Rumble. Though Charlotte was unwilling to grant Lynch another title opportunity, Lynch goaded Flair to accept the challenge on his daughter's behalf.

On the January 11 episode of Raw, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E, with Xavier Woods) in a non-title match. The following week on Raw, a title match between the two teams was scheduled for the Royal Rumble.

On January 20, a fatal four-way tag team match between Darren Young and Damien Sandow, The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), and Mark Henry and Jack Swagger was scheduled for the Royal Rumble pre-show, with both members of the winning team earning a spot in the Royal Rumble match later in the night.

Event

Pre-show

On the Royal Rumble kickoff pre-show, The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Jack Swagger and Mark Henry, Damien Sandow and Darren Young, and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) competed in a fatal four-way tag team match, in which the winners would qualify for the Royal Rumble match. In the end, Bubba Ray and D-Von performed a 3-D on Viktor before Swagger applied a Patriot Lock on Bubba Ray whilst Henry performed a Running Splash on Bubba Ray. Henry pinned Viktor, allowing Swagger and Henry to qualify for the Royal Rumble match.

Preliminary matches

The actual pay-per-view opened with Dean Ambrose defending the Intercontinental Championship against Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing match. During the match, Owens performed a Cannonball through the barricade on Ambrose. Owens attempted a Powerbomb on Ambrose through two chairs but Ambrose countered with a Back Body Drop through the chairs. Ambrose performed Dirty Deeds on Owens on a chair. Ambrose performed a Diving Elbow Drop on Owens through a table. Owens performed a Swinging Fisherman Suplex off the top rope on Ambrose through a table. In the end, Ambrose pushed Owens off the top rope through two tables stacked outside the ring. As Owens could not stand by a ten count, Ambrose won the match to retain the title.

Next, The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (accompanied by Xavier Woods) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso). In the closing moments of the match, Big E tackled Jimmy into the barricade, only for Jey to perform a Superkick on Big E. Jey leapt to the top rope but was caught by Big E, who performed a Big Ending on Jey to retain the titles.

After that, Alberto Del Rio defended the United States Championship against Kalisto. During the match Del Rio attempted a double foot stomp on Kalisto whilst he was held in the tree of woe, but Kalisto avoided it and executed a Salida Del Sol, however, Del Rio grabbed the ropes to void the pinfall. In the end, as Del Rio removed the padding from a turnbuckle, Kalisto performed a Diving Hurricanrana on Del Rio, knocking Del Rio into the exposed turnbuckle. Kalisto performed a second Salida Del Sol on Del Rio to win the title.

In the fourth match, Charlotte defended her Divas Championship against Becky Lynch. In the climax of the match, as Lynch applied the Dis-arm-her on Charlotte, Ric Flair threw his jacket onto Lynch. Lynch threw the jacket only for Charlotte to execute a Spear on Lynch to retain the championship. After the match, Sasha Banks returned and applied the Bank Statement on Charlotte. Flair pulled Charlotte out of the ring.