8. Rumble Wins Wasted On Sheamus And Del Rio
In developing the last point further, WWE really missed the opportunity for a worthy Rumble winner in 2011 and 2012. Sheamus won the '12 event and Del Rio the '11 event. I have no qualms with the men as performers, Del Rio is among the very best, I do however dispute their star quality. The company should have had a real star winning the Rumble, which most years they do, they mostly get it right. Sheamus and Del Rio didn't stack up. CM Punk should have won the 2011 event. Fair enough WWE wanted to put an up and comer winning the 2012 event, but Sheamus? Why not Dolph Ziggler, a man with considerable more athleticism and charisma. What happened next with Sheamus and Del Rio's Rumble winning title shot is telling. The Irishman went on to beat Daniel Bryan for the title in an 18 second curtain jerker at Mania 28. Del Rio meanwhile was also the opening match, doing the job to Edge at Mania 27. What was the point? What a waste of the Royal Rumble story to simply have a character go on to have a meaningless opening match at Wrestlemania. The fact that Del Rio was jobbed out in the opener tells us his Rumble win meant nothing, and Sheamus 18 second win made any prestige redundant. For two years in a row it was a waste of the Rumble angle - a missed opportunity.