| Royal Rumble | |||
|---|---|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Royal_Rumble_2016.jpg) Promotional poster featuring John Cena | |||
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Date | January 24, 2016 | ||
| City | Orlando, Florida | ||
| Venue | Amway Center | ||
| Attendance | 15,170 | ||
| Buy rate | 91,000[1] (excluding WWE Network views) | ||
| WWE Network event chronology | |||
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| Royal Rumble chronology | |||
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The 2016 Royal Rumble was the 29th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It 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 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.
- ^ Observer Staff (March 2, 2016). "March 7, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: TNA seeking investors, UFC 196 preview, plus tons of news". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
The Rumble is currently estimated at 32,000 domestic buys, a number less than SummerSlam and Night of Champions, as well as another 59,000 buys outside of North America. The 32,000 buys represent a 47 percent drop from the prior year's 61,000 in North America. The international drop was 49 percent, going from 115,000 buys for the 2015 Rumble to 59,000 this year.