8 Times The Wrong Wrestler Won The Royal Rumble

8. Sheamus (2012)

Sheamus Royal Rumble 2012
WWE.com

Sheamus' Royal Rumble win in 2012 seemed to be designed to confound fans' expectations, and much like his Money in the Bank victory in 2015, it was likely WWE springing a surprise for the sake of a surprise. The positives of Sheamus' win were accidental: his win led to the 18-second debacle at WrestleMania XXVIII, and the beginnings of Daniel Bryan's Yes! Movement.

Serendipity aside, Chris Jericho should have won the 2012 Royal Rumble. Jericho had returned just a few weeks prior, and promised to change the world as we knew it in the process. Of course, such claims in pro wrestling are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but having Jericho come back only to fall at the final stage of the Royal Rumble threw Y2J under the bus somewhat.

Sheamus was the right man in the right place at the right time, although it was a decision that didn't need to be made. The Sheamus/Daniel Bryan story could still have been told, and Jericho/Punk would have been more exciting if the two hadn't already come to blows inside the Elimination Chamber a month prior to WrestleMania.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.