Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumbles Worst To Best

28. Royal Rumble 2010 - Sheamus Vs. Randy Orton

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

He may have been putting on banger after banger in recent years, but that was far from the case for Sheamus back in 2010.

While he was the WWE Champion here, there was still minimal real interest in seeing Sheamus as a top guy when he took on Randy Orton at the 2010 Royal Rumble.

This was a Sheamus who was fresh off beating John Cena for that title, with a PLE match against Orton a way to further indicate how WWE viewed the Celtic Warrior as a bona fide top talent. Unfortunately, the heel Sheamus had yet to fully click with fans. Added to that, the Viper himself was still pretty much a heel, and fans were more interested in the brewing dissention between Orton's Legacy group at this time, with the cracks starting to show between Randal Keith, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes.

The match itself was adequate, but there was zero connection to the audience. A Rhodes forearm to Sheamus caused a DQ finish, with the WWE Champion a background player here to the stewing issues within Legacy.

Of course, those issues would come to a head later that year at WrestleMania XXVI, where Orton emerged victorious in a triple threat bout against his two protégés.

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