100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever

25. So Nearly The Most Unlikely Winner (2011)

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Edge
WWE

One final Santino Marella mention here, and boy, is it a doozy!

Going into each Royal Rumble, there are always a couple of favourites - if not an outright favourite - to emerge victorious and earn themselves a WrestleMania main event. Safe to say, Santino was never amongst that rarified air.

In the 2011 Rumble, the apparent final four were John Cena, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, and Wade Barrett. Cena and Orton were made men and multiple-time former World Champions, Del Rio was being presented as a big deal and would win his first WWE World Title later that year, and Barrett was fresh off the whole Nexus stuff and had been battling the likes of Cena, Orton, and CM Punk. The point being, these were all talents who didn’t feel out of place in the final four at that point.

The Miz, on commentary, would sneakily eliminate Cena to build towards their WrestleMania XXVII match; Orton would dump Barrett; and Alberto Del Rio would quickly throw out Randal Keith.

As ADR started to celebrate, Boston’s TD Garden lost its mind as Santino Marella appeared in the ring, having been selling a Sheamus Brogue Kick on the outside but having not been eliminated. Could Santino shock the world, eliminate Del Rio, and head to WrestleMania?

He certainly tried.

Unfortunately for the Milan Miracle, Del Rio saw him coming, pulled down the top rope, and Marella’s own momentum caused him to be eliminated.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.