Royal Rumble 2015: Roman Reigns triumphs after The Rock returns to set-up Wrestlemania showdown with Brock Lesnar

Reigns won the 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble after Lesnar defeated John Cena and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match

Roman Reigns celebrates with The Rock after winning the Royal Rumble (WWE.com)

Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble thanks to a late intervention from WWE legend and family member The Rock, setting up a Wrestlemania main event match in two months’ time.

Reigns entered the 30-man event as the 16th entry of the hotly-anticipated pay-per-view match, which sees participants eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and both feet touching the floor.

Watch: The Rock returns

Famous returns have become a regular sight at the Rumble, and 2015 didn’t disappoint with Bubba Ray Dudley returning as the third man to make his way down to the ring, while Diamond Dallas Page also made a shock return. The Boogeyman also appeared, lasting approximately 47 seconds before he was eliminated by Bray Wyatt as one of the six men he threw over the top rope – the most of any competitor alongside Rusev.

Both Ryback and Dolph Ziggler featured in the match after getting their jobs back earlier in the week, with the Show Off coming out as the 30th and final man. However, fans in Philadelphia responded negatively to how the main event played out, as they repeatedly chanted Daniel Bryan’s name following his early elimination, and booed when both Ziggler and Dean Ambrose saw their efforts ended early. They even resorted to chanting for Rusev in the hope that he would beat Reigns in the final two.

The Rock delivers a Rock Bottom to the Big Show (WWE.com)

But once the dust settled, it was Reigns left with Kane, Big Show and Rusev when the trio suddenly turned on the former Shield member. Enter The Rock, who had not been seen on a WWE show since the 6 October edition of Raw.

The Rock helped eliminate both the Big Show and Kane, allowing Reigns to take care of Rusev and book his trip to Wrestlemania.

Roman Reigns celebrates his Royal Rumble victory (WWE.com)

He could very well face Brock Lesnar on the grandest stage of them all after he beat John Cena and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Lesnar looked down and out when Rollins defied gravity to leap of the top turnbuckle and deliver a flying elbow to put the reigning champion through the Spanish announcers’ table.

That left Cena and Rollins to battle it out while medics rushed to Lesnar, but he would not be kept down and returned to the ring to deliver an F5 to Rollins to win the match.

Brock Lesnar retains his WWE World Heavyweight Championship (WWE.com)

Earlier in the night, The Usos retained the Tag Team Championship by seeing off the challenge of The Miz and Mizdow, ending their long-winded rivalry that has rolled on for some time.

In the opening match of the night, Cesaro and Tyson Kid defeated The New Day, who had Big E and Kofi Kingston representing them, while The Ascension defeated The New Age Outlaws one of four tag team matches on the night.

The Ascension stand tall over the New Age Outlaws (WWE.com)

Lastly, The Bella Twins defeat Paige and Natalya in the only Divas action of the night.