Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble's Biggest Surprise 1988-2022

16. 2012 - From The Booth To The Battle

Royal Rumble 2012 Michael Cole
WWE

The entire 2012 Royal Rumble was low on stars and way, way too high on comedic distractions. This was never more apparent than when all three commentators entered the contest.

There was something cute about Michael Cole expressing disgust with both Booker T and Jerry Lawler's unprofessionalism before doing the exact same thing himself, but three spots and several minutes of Rumble were allocated to a gag rather than some growth. This was indicitave of the damage a monopoly can do, and the worst was yet to come.

Contributor
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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