Irish Eyes Are Smiling as Sheamus Wins the 2012 WWE Royal Rumble

The 2012 Royal Rumble was contested by 29 men and one woman who all wanted a shot to headline WrestleMania 28, but only one could prevail as the winner of the Rumble match.

The 30 contestants included several surprise entrants including Road Dogg, Jim Duggan, The Returning Kharma and all three announcers.

Sheamus was victorious after last eliminating Chris Jericho. The two were left in the ring after another heavy favorite, Randy Orton, was eliminated by Y2J.

The two final men in the match wrestled for several minutes before a victor was named. Both men had plenty of great offense and came close to being eliminated several times.

Orton and Jericho were arguably the two most favored to win the match, but in the end, it was the Celtic Warrior who prevailed. Sheamus had a great Rumble win after having been in the match for quite awhile once it was all over.

He was not the only one who had a great night though as Cody Rhodes eliminated the most people of anyone while Miz lasted over 45 minutes after entering at Number 1.

It was also a bit of a shock to see Big Show enter at number 30 after having list the World Title match earlier in the night when Daniel Bryan escaped the cage to retain his title.

Kharma and Khali both returned, although Khali could just be a one-off appearance. Ricardo Rodriguez also had an entertaining run in the match as he and Foley formed a short lived bond. Seeing him come out to Del Rio's music with a beater car was priceless.

Overall, I am very happy with the result of this match as Sheamus has worked his ass off to get back to the top of WWE after suffering a depush after being elevated too quickly.

If Daniel Bryan is able to retain his title at Elimination Chamber, then I think Bryan vs Shemaus at WrestleMania would be an outstanding match. Both men are very talented but are completely different wrestlers.

What did you think of Sheamus winning the 2012 Royal Rumble?