Royal Rumble 2012 Review: WWE Handles Rumble Surprises to Perfection

WWE must be applauded for the way they handled the 2012 Royal Rumble match.

Not only was the pay-per-view itself a huge success in-ring and storyline-wise, but they handled the Rumble to perfection with its surprises and jaw-dropping and bone-chilling moments.

The entire match was a pure roller coaster of emotions, with fun moments from top to bottom. They refused to rely on big-name entrants. Instead, they brought back performers such as Kharma and Great Khali to pop the crowd while bringing back old-timers like Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Road Dogg Jesse James to spark excitement. 

Instead of relying on monstrous Hall of Famers such as Undertaker, Stone Cold and Triple H to get the crowd hyped, they let Road Dogg and Hacksaw get their moment in the sun. Though many fans knew they were going to be in the Rumble due to obvious tells from WWE programming, and of course, Internet dirt sheets, it was still awesome to see.

Road Dogg especially looked phenomenal. He hit all of his trademark moves and proved he still has what it takes to rock the crowd. The fans and Michael Cole ate it up, which is why WWE must bring him back to RAW immediately. 

It wasn't just these mid-tier returns, but also the shock value of having Jerry "The King" Lawler, Booker T and finally Cole enter the Rumble match. WWE made it a point in 2011 to really put over the commentary team. All three men have become staples on WWE programming, as they are just as part of the show as any of the full-time in-ring wrestlers. By having all three men enter the match at different times, it truly added to the appeal of this year's match that any WWE superstar was eligible.

Though we missed out on seeing Kane, John Cena, Mark Henry and CM Punk in the match, WWE brilliantly played up to their characters throughout the match. 

The Miz and Cody Rhodes proved they are two of the most cunning heels in the game today by lasting for more than 40 minutes of action. Kofi Kingston was brilliant with his remarkable handstand to save himself from being eliminated, which definitely rivals John Morrison's "Spider-Man' extravaganza from last year. 

Though the eliminations seemed to be fast-paced, with R-Truth being forced out much quicker than anybody would have liked, we saw Mick Foley and Santino Marella put on an awesome comedy act in the middle of the ring when they brought out Mr. Socko and the Cobra. This made for such a great moment that WWE must truly consider putting them in a tag team together. The epic comedy would be priceless. 

WWE toyed with our emotions when they had Alberto del Rio's music hit. Nobody expected him to be in the Rumble because he is bothered by a groin injury. Still, we were played to perfection, as del Rio's ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez (who is more over than del Rio is anyway with the crowd), came out mimicking ADR in brilliant fashion. 

The ending of the match was awesome, with big-name entry after big-name entry. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Big Show finished off the Rumble entrants and made it to the final four with Sheamus. This is where things truly took off.

Not only did Orton look awesome by RKO-ing and eliminating Big Show by himself, but we witnessed the second-best final showdown in the history of the Rumble.

It came down to Jericho and Sheamus putting on a hell of a show with back and forth action that nobody wanted to see come to an end. They toyed with us throughout the final showdown as Sheamus teetered on the outside several times and Jericho dangled for dear life from the top rope twice. 

We all expected Jericho to win the match since he just returned to WWE and cut a cryptic promo last week on RAW. Instead of going through with the obvious, Vince McMahon and the booking team threw us one of the craziest curveballs in the history of pro-wrestling. Sheamus Brogue kicked Y2J off the apron to win the match, which caused some people to sleep standing up since they couldn't get their jaw off the floor and into bed. 

This was an excellent way to end a fantastic and shocking pay-per-view and set up a phenomenal 2012. Sheamus is on the way to main event WrestleMania and become one of the biggest superstars in today's wrestling. He needed this win more than Jericho and will benefit beyond our imagination from it. WWE played this year's Rumble from top to bottom to near-perfection because we simply never saw it coming, which is exactly what the WWE is supposed to be about. 

The 2012 Royal Rumble match represents the very reason we love professional wrestling. Well played, WWE, well played.