The only Rumble to feature an expanded 40-man field, the intrigue and novelty of that decision was offset by the names that made up those men. Practically every healthy body on the roster entered the match, including impressive performances by John Morrison and CM Punk and less than impressive appearances from Tyson Kidd and Heath Slater. Alberto Del Rio would come out on top, but not before a genuinely memorable finish. Del Rio eliminated Randy Orton to seemingly win the match, but unbeknownst to him Santino Marella was still in the match. Marella set up the Cobra behind Del Rio's back, hit it and the miracle was on. Del Rio reversed the subsequent attempted elimination to pick up the win. For a moment, everyone believed. The extended feel made the match drag and drag, and until the excitement of Marella's involvement there was a genuine feeling of 'when will this end?', something that no wrestling fan should ever feel. Needless to say it is unlikely we'll see another 40-man Rumble any time soon.
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.
