WWE 2016 10 2016-01-24 2016-01-24 https://r2.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/thumb/twtqvv1453930033.jpg https://r2.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/poster/tsxvus1452889446.jpg Royal Rumble (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on January 24, 2016, at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. It was the 29th event in the Royal Rumble chronology. This was the fifth Royal Rumble to be held in the state of Florida (1990, 1991, 1995, and 2006) and the first pay-per-view event at Amway Center since it opened in 2010. At the event, Roman Reigns defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble match. The event also marked the first time that a reigning champion has defended his title during the match and the second time (after the 1992 event) that the title is the prize for winning the match. Traditionally, the winner of the 30-man Royal Rumble match is awarded a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. However, as a culmination of his attempts to deprive WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns of the championship (for attacking his son-in-law Triple H and overall disrespecting the McMahon family), WWE owner/chairman/CEO Vince McMahon decided on the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw that Reigns would defend his title in the match. On the December 28 episode of Raw, Big Show was the first wrestler to announce his participation in the Royal Rumble match. On January 1, it was announced on WWE.com that Curtis Axel was added to the match. On the January 4 Raw, Ryback, The Wyatt Family, Dolph Ziggler, and Chris Jericho announced their participation in the match. On the January 11, 2016 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced that Brock Lesnar will 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. On January 13, it was announced on WWE.com that Stardust was added to the match. On the January 14 SmackDown, Sheamus announced his participation in the match. During the January 18 episode of Raw, a rigged lottery determined that Reigns would be the first contestant to enter the match. During the December 2015 TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs event, Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Their rivalry intensified in the following weeks, including a match ending in a double countout for the Intercontinental Championship. On the January 14 episode of SmackDown, Owen's accepted Ambrose's challenge to a Last Man Standing match for the Intercontinental Championship at the Royal Rumble. On the January 7, 2016 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, where he defeated Del Rio to win the United States Championship. Del Rio went on to win the championship back 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 defeated The New Day. The following week on Raw, it was announced that The New Day would defend their tag team titles against The Usos at the Royal Rumble. On January 20, a fatal four-way tag team match between Darren Young & Damien Sandow, The Dudley Boyz, The Ascension, and Mark Henry & 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. 504014