Royal Rumble 2014
Promotional poster featuring various WWE wrestlers
Promotion	WWE
Date	January 26, 2014
City	Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania
Venue	Consol Energy Center
Attendance	15,715[1]
Buy rate	467,000[2]
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs Next → Elimination Chamber
Royal Rumble chronology
← Previous 2013 Next → 2015

Royal Rumble (2014) was the 27th annualRoyal Rumbleprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced byWWE. It took place on January 26, 2014, at theConsol Energy Center inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It was the first Royal Rumble to be held in the city of Pittsburgh and the first WWE pay-per-view event held in the Consol Energy Center. TheRoyal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year'sWrestleMania. For the 2014 event, the winner received a match for theWWE World Heavyweight Championship atWrestleMania XXX, marking the first Royal Rumble since2002 where there was only one eligible championship for which the winner could challenge.

The event featured five professional wrestling matches, including one match on the kickoff pre-show. Themain event was the titular Royal Rumble, which a returningBatista won by last eliminatingRoman Reigns to become a two-time Royal Rumble winner. Other matches sawRandy Orton successfully defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship againstJohn Cena,Bray Wyatt defeatingDaniel Bryan, andBrock Lesnar defeatingBig Show. On the kickoff pre-show,Goldust andCody Rhodes lost theWWE Raw Tag Team Championship to theNew Age Outlaws (Road Dogg andBilly Gunn).

Considered one of the worst Royal Rumble pay-per-views of all time, the event is notable for the overwhelmingly negative audience response to the Orton–Cena and Royal Rumble matches. The fans booed Royal Rumble winner Batista in protest and chanted for Bryan (who was not part of the match) and runner-up Reigns, though the Bryan–Wyatt match was praised. The event marked the final WWE appearance ofCM Punk, who abruptly left the company on bad terms the following day and retired from wrestling for the next seven-and-a-half years; he then joinedAll Elite Wrestling atThe First Dance in August 2021, returned to WWE atSurvivor Series in November 2023, and competed in his first WWE match in a decade at the2024 Royal Rumble.

The event received 467,000 buys, down 8.8% from the 512,000 buys for theprevious year's event.

TheRoyal Rumble is an annualgimmickpay-per-view (PPV) produced every January byWWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along withWrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four".^[3] It is named after theRoyal Rumble match, a modifiedbattle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2014 event was the 27th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 26, 2014, at theConsol Energy Center inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, which opened in August 2010 replacing the formerMellon Arena, making the first WWE pay-per-view held in this venue, although the arena was originally going to host the2012 Survivor Series.^[4] On the final episode ofRaw before the Royal Rumble event,Batista returned to WWE after an absence of nearly four years, and the Royal Rumble match was scheduled to be his first return match.^[5][6]

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns aworld championship match at that year's WrestleMania Main Event.^[7][8] For 2014, the winner received a match for theWWE World Heavyweight Championship atWrestleMania XXX. It was the first Royal Rumble since the2002 event to only feature one world championship, as the WWE Championship andWorld Heavyweight Championship were unified as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship atTLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2013.^[4][9]

The event comprised five 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 andSmackDown.^[10][11]

A highly promoted match featured WWE World Heavyweight ChampionRandy Orton defending the title against long-time adversaryJohn Cena. AtSurvivor Series in November 2013, Orton successfully defended his WWE Championship againstBig Show,^[12] on the same night theWorld Heavyweight Champion John Cena defeatedAlberto Del Rio to retain his title.^[13] After Orton's victory at Survivor Series, Cena came down to the ring with his title, and celebrated with the crowd asThe Authority (Triple H,Stephanie McMahon, andKane) looked on, much to Orton's chagrin.^[12] The next month, at theTLC pay-per-view, Orton defeated Cena in aTables, Ladders, and Chairs match to unify the two titles into the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship.^[14] On the December 30 episode ofRaw, Cena was awarded a rematch for the title against Orton at the Royal Rumble, with the match stipulation of atraditional one-on-one singles match, except that it could be won bypinfall orsubmission only.^[15] On the January 13, 2014, episode, Orton suffered an upset loss toKofi Kingston and took out his frustrations by attacking Cena's father, who was attending the event at ringside.^[16]

On the December 30, 2013, episode ofRaw,Brock Lesnar returned with his manager,Paul Heyman, to announce his intentions to challenge the winner of the upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and John Cena at the Royal Rumble.^[15] Lesnar then dared any wrestler who disapproved of that notion to challenge him, which was answered byMark Henry, and a brawl would ensue, ending with Lesnar delivering anF-5 to Henry.^[15] The following week onRaw, Henry challenged Lesnar again, only to have Lesnar dislocate his elbow with theKimura lock in storyline, which ledBig Show to come out afterwards to confront Lesnar.^[17] On the January 10 episode ofSmackDown, Big Show issued a challenge to Lesnar, Paul Heyman accepting on behalf of Lesnar and scheduling the match for the Royal Rumble event.^[18]

Announced on WWE.com,GoldustandCody Rhodes facedThe New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg andBilly Gunn) for theWWE Tag Team Championship on the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show preceding the pay-per-view.^[19] This match was made when The New Age Outlaws defeated Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match on the January 17 episode ofSmackDown due to a distraction fromVickie Guerrero.^[20]

On the October 28, 2013, episode ofRaw,The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt,Luke Harper, andErick Rowan) attackedDaniel Bryan backstage, which ignited a feud between the two.^[21] The next month at Survivor Series, Bryan teamed withCM Punk and defeated Harper and Rowan.^[22] The rivalry between Bryan and the Wyatt Family continued in December, as the latter defeated the former in a3-on-1 handicap match at TLC,^[14] with Wyatt attempting to recruit Bryan in the previous weeks.^[23] On the December 30, 2013, episode ofRaw, Bryan defeated Harper and then Rowan in a gauntlet match so that he could face Wyatt, whereupon Harper and Rowan interfered for a disqualification and beat him down, before announcing he would join the Wyatt Family.^[15] However, on the January 13, 2014, episode ofRaw (after Bryan and Bray Wyatt were defeated byJey Uso andJimmy Uso in aSteel Cage match), Bryan betrayed Wyatt and attacked him, culminating with Bryan hitting his flying knee finishing maneuver on Wyatt.^[16] The following week onRaw, Bryan explained that his joining the Wyatts was a ruse to infiltrate the stable and bide his time to strike, and that he would wrestle Wyatt at the Royal Rumble event with the added stipulation that if Bryan wins, he would have the right to compete in the 30-man Royal Rumble match later that night.^[5]

Before the show aired live on pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show was shown live onYouTube and other digital platforms. Backstage, the general managers of Raw and SmackDown,Brad Maddox andVickie Guerrero, respectively, rolled the "Rumble Drum" to give wrestlers their numbers.Alberto Del Rio,R-Truth, The Real Americans (Jack Swagger andAntonio Cesaro), Kofi Kingston,The Great Khali, andDamien Sandow picked their numbers during the segment.^[24]

In the pre-show, Goldust and Cody Rhodes defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn). Towards the end of the match, Rhodes applied adropkick to Dogg, but was unaware that Gunn blind-tagged in for the latter. From the back, Gunn entered the ring and delivered aFame-Ass-er to Rhodes, to win the match and the titles for the Outlaws.^[24]

In the first match on the pay-per-view portion of the show, Bray Wyatt faced Daniel Bryan where if Bryan wins, he would have the right to compete in the 30-man Royal Rumble match later that night. Early in the match, the referee saw Bray's Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan attempting to interfere, so he ejected them from ringside. During the match, Wyatt targeted Bryan's head, ramming it into the ring-post. Bryan later mounted a comeback with a runningtornado DDT off the ring apron, planting Wyatt's head on the floor. Wyatt managed to escape Bryan'sYes! Lock submission hold by biting Bryan's hand. To avoid Bryan'srunning knee, Wyatt rolled out of the ring to the floor. Bryan then attempted asuicide dive but Wyatt caught him and executed aSister Abigail into the barricade. After another Sister Abigail in the ring, Wyatt scored the pinfall victory and stopping Bryan from participating in the Royal Rumble match.^[25][26][27]

In the next match, Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) faced Big Show. Lesnar attacked Big Show before the match started, and then hit him with a chair. When the match started, Big Show landed hisKO Punch, but Lesnar picked up the victory after executing anF-5. Lesnar then continued to attack Big Show with a chair after the match.^[25][26][27]

In the penultimate match, Randy Orton defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena. After both wrestlers failed to win despite executing theirRKO,Attitude Adjustment, andSTF moves, both wrestlers resorted to using their opponent's signature moves but still could not win the match. At the end of the match, Cena again trapped Orton in the STF submission hold, but the lights temporarily went out due to the arrival of The Wyatt Family on the ring apron. Orton took advantage of the distraction to drop Cena with the RKO to pin him and win the match.^[25][27][28]

The main event was the Royal Rumble match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX.CM Punk andSeth Rollins were entrants #1 and #2; they spent the longest and second longest time in the entire match (49 and 48 minutes respectively).Kane entered at #5 and targeted Punk, but Punk managed to eliminate him.NXT'sAlexander Rusev entered at #6. Kofi Kingston, who entered at #8, had two feats of athleticism to escape elimination; first after he was deposited on the guardrail by Rusev (who caught him when Kingston was thrown out of the ring) he jumped back to the ring apron from the guardrail, and later while he was hanging on to the bottom rope with his feet, he fended offJack Swagger by snatching Swagger's boot and hitting him with it.

Rollins'Shield teammates (Dean Ambrose andRoman Reigns) entered at #11 and #15 respectively.Goldust eliminated his brotherCody Rhodes 24 minutes into the match, and was in turn eliminated by Reigns, who had also eliminated Kingston and unannounced entrantKevin Nash, amongst others. Midway through the match with only Punk and the Shield left in the ring,Sheamus returned to WWE television at #17 and momentarily stopped the Shield's dominance.Los Matadores' mascotEl Torito entered at #20, and managed to eliminate Fandango, before being eliminated in turn by Reigns. Pay-per-view commentatorJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield was announced as entrant #24, making it the first time the JBL character had participated in a Royal Rumble. He was eliminated by Reigns while handing his jacket to fellow commentator Michael Cole, whereupon he resumed his commentator role for the rest of the match.

Batista entered at #28 and quickly eliminatedErick Rowan,Ryback, andAlberto Del Rio. The final entrant at #30 wasRey Mysterio, who was eliminated by Rollins. When Ambrose tried to eliminate Reigns, Reigns retaliated by eliminating Ambrose, Rollins andAntonio Cesaro simultaneously, leaving himself, Punk, Sheamus and Batista as the final four. Though already eliminated, Kane returned to ringside and pulled Punk over the top rope to eliminate him, then executed a chokeslam through a broadcast table on Punk. Reigns eliminated Sheamus to set a new record for most eliminations in a Rumble match with 12, but Reigns was then thrown over the top rope by Batista, who won the match.^[25][27][29]

The event sold out the Consol Energy Center with 15,715 people in attendance.^[1] The official buy total for the 2014 Royal Rumble event was 467,000, which was a decrease of 8.8% from the 512,000 of theprevious year's event, but a 5.4% increase from the 443,000 of the2012 event. This contributed to WWE's PPV revenue of $13.8 million for the first quarter of 2014 compared with $15.1 million for the first quarter of 2013.^[2] The2015 Royal Rumble event received 145,000 purchases, a significant drop from the 2014 event, due to the fact that the latter was held prior to the launch of theWWE Network.^[30]

The negative reaction of the fans attending the event in Pittsburgh was so great that it was reported as one of the major news items coming out of the show,^{[25][31][32][33]} and described as the live audience engineering a "takeover" of the final two hours of the show.^[32][34] During the title match between John Cena and Randy Orton, fans booed both men and chanted for Daniel Bryan, amongst other chants such as "this is awful".^[35] The fans continued to chant for Bryan during the Royal Rumble match and so when Rey Mysterio (typically a fan favorite) was revealed as the final entrant (and therefore Bryan's possible participation in the match was ruled out) the fans booed Mysterio, chanted for Bryan and cheered Mysterio's eventual elimination.^[29][35][36] The crowd continued to boo when there were three wrestlers left in the match, but when only Batista and Roman Reigns remained,they cheered for Reigns (a villainous character at the time) over Batista and later booed Batista's victory as the event drew to a close.^[29][35][36] After the show went off the air, Batista (who had been presented on-air as a heroicbabyface character) mocked Bryan and gestured hismiddle finger at the crowd.^[36][37] Aaron Oster ofThe Baltimore Sun wrote Mysterio "received more boos than he's ever had in his WWE career", and in the case of Batista, "besides the fact that a supposed face was getting booed, the boos were stronger than any Rumble winner I can remember, including whenMr. McMahon won in1999".^[31]

Fans took tosocial media to display their displeasure towards the event. TheBBC reported that regarding Bryan's exclusion from the Rumble match, "many people have also expressed anger on social media, with the phrases #RoyalRumble, #WWE and Daniel Bryan all trending on Twitter".^[38][39] TheHerald & Review described the reaction to the event as "WWE's PR nightmare", with the most "liked" comments on WWE's Facebook page within 24 hours of the event including "worst PPV ever", "the sound of WWE dropping the ball" and in reference to theWWE Network, "no Bryan, no buy".^[40] Retired wrestlerMick Foley criticized WWE management on social media, stating, "Does WWE actually hate their own audience? I've never been so disgusted with a PPV".^[38][39]

Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk ofCanoe.ca rated the overall event as 6.0 out of 10. The Wyatt-Bryan bout was rated the highest at a "fantastic" 9.5 out of 10, the Cena-Orton bout, described as a "sloppy affair that won’t go down among the best work from either man" received 4.0 out of 10, while the Lesnar-Big Show encounter received 1.0 out of 10. They described the event as "uneven", and that "the disapproval of the fans at the Consol Energy Center at how the Royal Rumble match went down will be the lasting memory for anyone who watched the show".^[25]

James Caldwell of thePro Wrestling Torch Newsletter rated the Royal Rumble match 2.5 stars out of 5, commenting that "well, that back-fired". He wrote that the "Rumble peaked about three-fourths through, then fell off the table at the end", and described the Rumble winner Batista as "out-of-shape".^[29] Caldwell also rated the Bryan-Wyatt match 4.0 stars out of 5, describing it as "easily Bray's best WWE TV match, great chemistry from both wrestlers" in front of a "hot, invested crowd". Caldwell chose not to rate the Lesnar-Show match, commenting that it was necessarily short due to Show being injured going into the match.^[26] Lastly, Caldwell rated the Orton-Cena title match 2.0 stars out of 5.^[28]

Benjamin Tucker, who attended the event and is also from thePro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, rated the entire event 6.0 out of 10, saying "the show began great but slowly lost steam before ending in a roar of jeers". For the Rumble match, Tucker said that "the first two-thirds especially were exciting, with several wrestlers being spotlighted well", "until lower-level players kept coming out in the final half of the match". Tucker felt that "Roman Reigns was the star of the match, even outclassing Batista. Where Batista stumbled around the ring like... well, an old, retired wrestler, Roman Reigns looked like an absolute monster". For the opening match, Tucker felt that the "deliberate pace didn't hurt the match in the slightest. Instead, it allowed Bray to keep using his character while in a competitive, big match situation". For the rest of the matches, Tucker wrote that "Lesnar looked like a relentless beast", while "Orton and Cena put on their most lifeless performance ever together. There was very little story to the match" and "no creativity at all".^[34]

Thefollowing year's Royal Rumble was similarly marked by an extremenegative audience reaction towards the Rumble match and its winner, which some media outlets described as being even worse than the 2014 event.^[41][42] When Daniel Bryan was eliminated in the first half of the match, the crowd repeatedly chanted his name for the second half of the match while booing other wrestlers making their entrance to the match, including eventual winner Roman Reigns.^[43][44] Reigns, who had been portrayed as a heroic character, was booed after winning the main event, even after he receivedThe Rock's endorsement,^[43] and The Rock was heckled for helping Reigns.^[44] Also, many fans took tosocial media to display their displeasure at Bryan's elimination and the winner of the Rumble match.^[44]

After the Royal Rumble event, CM Punk did not appear and was not mentioned onRaw the next day.^[45][46] Despite being advertised for theSmackDown taping on Tuesday, he also did not appear in front of the live audience.^[45][46] By Wednesday, WWE.com stopped advertising Punk for future events.^[45][46] It was reported by theWrestling Observer that on Monday prior to Raw, Punk hadlegitimately walked out on WWE when he informed Vince McMahon that he was "going home".^[45][46] On February 20, McMahon indicated to investors that Punk was "taking asabbatical".^[47][48] However, in an interview published in late May, Punk indicated that he had retired; he was questioned "How does it feel to be retired at 35?" and replied with "It feels good."^[49] Punk's WWE contract subsequently expired in July 2014, thus making the Royal Rumble his final on-screen appearance for nearly 10 years.^[50]

However, on an episode ofColt Cabana'sArt of Wrestlingpodcast released in November 2014, Punk said that he was suspended for two months after walking out on the company in January and that after the suspension ended, nobody from WWE contacted him. Punk also told that when he reached out to them for unpaid royalties, he was given a run-around by company executives until he was handed his termination papers and was fired by WWE on his wedding day with April Mendez (better known asAJ Lee) in June 2014.^[51] The manner of firing was the last straw for Punk, stating that he would never return to WWE and that following a legal settlement with WWE there would be no further working relationship between them. The settlement included Punk giving WWE permission to sell his remaining merchandise.^[52] Punk subsequently signed a contract to compete in theUFC in 2015.^[53][54] Punk had not appeared on WWE programming since then, though he did have multiple appearances onWWE Backstage, a show broadcast byFox Sports, who had a television deal with WWE.^[55] However, on August 20, 2021, Punk returned to professional wrestling when he signed withAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) duringThe First Dance edition of its weekly programRampage.^[56] After Punk left AEW in August 2023, he returned to WWE that November atSurvivor Series: WarGames.^[57]

The post-RumbleRaw on January 27 began with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (The Authority) addressing the Rumble event and mocking the audience for not getting what they wanted. When Daniel Bryan came out and confronted them about not being inserted into the Rumble match, and then demanded to be inserted into the Elimination Chamber match and refused to leave the ring until they did, he was attacked bythe Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose), but was then saved by John Cena and Sheamus. As a result, Bryan, Cena, and Sheamus later teamed together to take on the Shield in a six-man tag team match in which all three members of the winning team qualified to participate in the Elimination Chamber match (in which Randy Orton would defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship) at theeponymous pay-per-view. During that match,The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan) interfered, causing the Shield to be disqualified and thus Bryan, Cena, and Sheamus qualified for the Chamber match.^[58]Cesaro and a returningChristian also qualified for the Chamber match by defeatingDolph Ziggler andJack Swagger respectively.^[59] For costing them the spots in the Chamber match, the Shield vowed revenge against the Wyatt Family, which set up a match between the groups at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.^[59]

AtElimination Chamber, Randy Orton retained his WWE World Heavyweight Championship by winning the Elimination Chamber match against Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Cesaro, Christian and Sheamus.^[60] During the Elimination Chamber match, the Wyatt Family once again interfered to cause Cena's elimination from the match.^[60] Also at Elimination Chamber, Batista defeated Alberto Del Rio, with the negative audience reaction to Batista continuing, even prompting the audience to cheer Del Rio. Meanwhile, Bray Wyatt was victorious once again with the Wyatt Family defeating the Shield.^[60]

Because of the boisterous negative reaction, Batista responded to the audience on the February 28 episode ofSmackDown, saying he didn't come back to be liked, only to be the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion; he then criticized and mocked the audience for supporting "195 lb wannabes" over him and vowed to destroy each and everyone of the fans' "heroes" on the road to WrestleMania, thus turning into avillain in the process.^[61]

The scheduledWrestleMania XXX main event was Orton versus Batista for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.^[62] However, on the March 10 episode ofRaw, Bryan and multiple fans "occupied" the ring and refused to leave, resulting in an irate Triple H agreeing to Bryan's demand for a match at WrestleMania, with the stipulation that the winner would be inserted into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the event.^[63][64] At WrestleMania, Bryan was added to the match after defeating Triple H in the opening contest of the show, and would ultimately win the triple threat match, forcing Batista to submit and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.^[65] On May 12, Daniel Bryan announced that due to injuries, he would require neck surgery,^[66] which he underwent on May 15.^[67] Bryan was stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by the Authority on June 9 as he was not healthy enough to defend his championship.^[68]

Cody Rhodes and Goldust failed to regain theWWE Tag Team Championship from TheNew Age Outlaws on the post-RumbleRaw, as the match ended in no contest after Brock Lesnar attacked Rhodes and Goldust.^[58] The following week, they received another rematch for the titles in a steel cage match, which the Outlaws won.^[69] The Outlaws' reign ended on the March 3 episode ofRaw, whenThe Usos won the Tag Team Championship.^[70]

Following Elimination Chamber, Wyatt feuded with Cena, with Wyatt wanting to prove that Cena's heroic act was a facade characteristic of "this era of lies" while also trying to turn Cena into a "monster".^[71] Wyatt went on to accept Cena's challenge for a match at WrestleMania XXX,^[63] which Cena won despite interference fromLuke Harper andErick Rowan.^[65] In May atExtreme Rules, Wyatt defeated Cena in a steel cage match, after repeated interference from the rest of The Wyatt Family and a "demonic" child.^[72] Their feud ended atPayback on June 1, where, in aLast Man Standing match, Cena buried Wyatt under multiple equipment cases to win the match.^[73] Cena won the vacated WWE World Heavyweight Championship atMoney in the Bank on June 29.^[74]

On the February 24 episode ofRaw, Brock Lesnar and his managerPaul Heyman voiced their complaints about Lesnar not being in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Instead, the Authority offered Lesnar a contract to face anyone else at WrestleMania. They were interrupted by a returningUndertaker, who confronted Lesnar. While Lesnar signed the contract for a match at WrestleMania with The Undertaker as his opponent, The Undertaker accepted Lesnar's challenge by stabbing Lesnar with a pen andchokeslamming him through a table.^[75] This set up a match where Lesnar would attempt to breakthe Undertaker's 21–0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania.^[76] Lesnar defeated Undertaker after executing three F5s, thus ending the streak.^[65] In August 2014, Lesnar defeated John Cena atSummerSlam, capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the process.^[77]

  –NXT

  –Winner

^ Kane was already eliminated when he returned to eliminate CM Punk later in the match.^[25][27][29]

^ By eliminating 12 men,Roman Reigns broke the record of 11, set byKane inRoyal Rumble 2001.^{[25][27][29][82]}

• Official site

• 2010s in Pittsburgh
• Royal Rumble
• 2014 in Pennsylvania
• Professional wrestling shows in Pittsburgh
• 2014 WWE pay-per-view events
• January 2014 in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2023
• Articles with hCards