Ranking All 31 WWE Royal Rumble Winners
24. Alberto Del Rio – 2011
WrestleMania
title shot:
Lost to Edge at WrestleMania XXVII
You would think the winner of the biggest Royal Rumble match in history – as WWE likes to bill the only 40-man Rumble ever – would have been treated as a big deal. But for Alberto Del Rio, his victory serves more as a footnote in WWE history.
Del Rio entered at #38 and would win the Rumble after overcoming a last-minute surprise attack from Santino Marella of all people. If you go back in history, Marella is by far the most lackluster runner-up ever, which made Del Rio’s victory pretty anti-climactic. He would go on to lose at WrestleMania to World Heavyweight Champion Edge.
Edge would then retire a week later and his best
friend Christian would defeat Del Rio in a ladder match for the title a month
later. Del Rio’s destiny would have to wait, and the wind would effectively be
taken out of his sails.