WWE Royal Rumble: 5 Forgotten Moments from Royal Rumble 2011

We've all discarded the biggest Royal Rumble in history as a flop just because the winner was Alberto Del Rio. Granted, he didn't deserve it, or even if he did, he didn't make much use of it.

I was one among those disappointed with the outcome, but that didn't make the match a dud for me.

I've seen jibes throughout the year tagging the 40-man match as lengthy and boring. It wasn't boring (OK, maybe except just once when Nexus was dominating, throwing out jobbers who come to get thrown out anyway).

Royal Rumble 2012 was an entertaining show overall. What follows is a list of some aspects that aren't the biggest pops of the year (Booker and Diesel), JoMo's Parkour antics or Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler.

5. Divas Fatal Four Way

This wasn't the best divas match of the year. It was just OK. By OK, I mean it wasn't crap—which is the tag that has stuck to diva matches lately. 

The good part about this match was that it involved the best women wrestlers in the match—Michelle McCool, Layla, Eve Torres and Natalya. 

If we had to make a list of diva matches of the year (seems pointless anyway), this would definitely come on the top.

4. Wade Barrett Makes It to the Top 4

This was a pretty significant moment in my eyes. Usually, WWE prefers to have potential main-eventers in the final bunch to keep anticipation at an abnormal high. Near the end of the Rumble, we had three stars in the ring—Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Wade Barrett. 

At this point, Orton seemed like a prime candidate, but the fact that WWE actually considered Wade Barrett worthy of such main-event status early in his career was remarkable. You look at this year's Rumble, and you see that he's a potential winner this time.

Of course, Santino emerged from nowhere, which pushed Barrett from the Top 3 to Top 4.

 

3. Matt Striker's Commentary

For all those who've read my previous articles, you'll know that I'm a fan of Matt Striker's commentary.

The thing about Striker in this PPV was that despite extensive knowledge of moves and tactics, he maintained a kind of boyish curiosity throughout the match. He screamed his lungs out at Booker T's arrival, and literally pleaded to treat his eyes to a Spin-A-Roonie once more. 

While I'm not that big a fan of having tons of people screaming in my ears—we need this from commentators—if there is a big moment (or a "mark-ut moment... this is a mark-ut moment bro!" as Striker rightly said), then we need the commentators to act like it's so.

We need them to be eager to see the Book End and moves like that, instead of saying things like "This is so stupid!" The fans usually start mirroring thoughts along with the announcers,so if Michael Cole keeps harping on how big a nerd Daniel Bryan is, we start seeing him as a nerd and not as freakin' Bryan Danielson.

Also, Striker definitely has humour. He put in cheeky snippets like (for Khali) "This is going to be a huge challenge for Punk. No pun intended," and when Cole says "I'm trying to be cute,"he retorts with "Yeah, keep trying." 

Striker enjoys his job, and that makes him one of the better announcers today. Pity he's not on the team anymore. NXT doesn't count.

 Ironic how the superstar he wet himself for was the one who displaced him from the announcers team.

2. Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk

Matt Striker was quick to remind us that "the Internet loves this match!" before he was snubbed by everyone's favourite Coleminer. 

The Rumble started  with a match that many people hope to see at one of the Wrestlemanias in the future. Obviously, the lack of time didn't allow them to put on a stellar performance, but we got some good wrestling.

The weird part was that the crowd was cheering "Daniel Bryan! CM Punk!" and Punk was getting the louder chants despite being a heel and feuding with Cena at that point.  That was another example of him having grasped ''the brass ring and going absolutely nowhere with it.''

The Universe appreciates and respects professional wrestling, and it was seen that night. Heck, Punk just came out of costing Randy Orton a WWE title and then faced off against U.S. champion Daniel Bryan and still got the crowd behind him. 

1. Hornswoggle's Antics

For all those who claimed that the match got boring in the middle stages, this is where I disagree. Apart from the well-spaced appearances by Diesel and Booker T, we were treated to a Hornswoggle special. 

An alliance with John Cena let him survive so long in the match, and in that span he did a CM Punk, Sheamus and Batista impersonation and performed an Attitude Adjustment, Frog Splash, Five Knuckle Shuffle, Boom Drop, Sweet Shin Music (yes, shin) and a Stone Cold Stunner.

His impatience was amusing too. At one point he went to attain a small nap while lying across the ropes because no superstar could match Mr. Swoggle's power.

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Shalaj Lawania is pretty new to Bleacher Report and that's about it. You can become a fan of his if you like his work or follow him on Twitter (@_Apex_Predator_) if you really can put up with his useless tweets. Annoying tweets or not, do leave a comment for this article!