Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View From Worst To Best

4. 2011

Royal Rumble
WWE.com

The Good: A first and (to-date) last experimentation with a 40-man Royal Rumble was a riveting success, with ample time afforded to the additional entries and a host of very pleasant surprises. Booker T made commentator Matt Striker "mark out, bro", but Diesel's return created 1994-levels of euphoria for a man putting a hand in a glove and a boot up Rey Mysterio's mask. Edge's World Title clash with Dolph Ziggler was outstanding too, dwarfing its sister match later on the show.

The Bad: Eva Marie's Divas Title win is a reminder of the darker timeline for women's wrestling. Perfectly passable for the time, it's really really shoddy on rewatch and should serve as a useful reminder of how far the division has thankfully come in less than a decade.

The Ugly: For all WWE wanted fans to care about Randy Orton getting back in the Championship picture, they categorically didn't. His title rematch with The Miz bordered on inoffensive but ended up simply bad, particularly considering the cheap run-in finish transparently crafted to create an insta-feud for 'The Viper's WrestleMania stretch.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett