10 Times WWE Swerved The Fans Just For The Sake Of It

8. Sheamus Wins The Royal Rumble

AJ Styles Dean Ambrose
WWE.com

When Chris Jericho returned to WWE in early 2012, fans weren't sure what to make of him - rather than the loquacious Y2J of old, they were treated to a strange, silent man in a light-up jacket. Before too long, it became clear that Jericho was hiding something - he was getting ready to turn and most likely feud with WWE Champion CM Punk, who had also been calling himself "The Best in the World."

It looked pretty obvious that Jericho was going to win the Royal Rumble, but that wasn't a problem - fans wanted to see him claim the first Rumble victory of his career. Instead, WWE decided to pull a fast one on the fans and have Sheamus eliminate Jericho to win.

Both men ended up challenging for titles at WrestleMania - Sheamus took on Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Title while Jericho, of course, turned heel and faced Punk for the WWE Championship.

Still, Sheamus's victory came in an 18-second WrestleMania opener, and that kind of made the Rumble feel less important.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013