WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Results: How Cody Rhodes Owned the Event

The main goal of every Royal Rumble participant is to win the match and the guaranteed world title match at WrestleMania that comes along with it. 

But only one of the 30 WWE superstars who enter the match can actually win it, and this year, it was Sheamus who was fortunate enough to be the last man standing. 

Technically, he was the only winner on Sunday night, but that really depends on how you define the term because a number of other stars benefited from their impressive Royal Rumble performances. 

Although Sheamus has the most to show for it, I wouldn’t call him the MVP of the Royal Rumble match. I’d give that distinction to Cody Rhodes. 

Though Rhodes obviously did not win the match and didn’t even make it to the Final Four, in a sense, he owned the event. 

Rhodes entered the Royal Rumble match very early on at No. 4, but he made sure that—even if he wasn’t going to win the match—he was going to shine throughout it. 

Aside from The Miz, who lasted more than 45 minutes, no one lasted longer in the Royal Rumble match than Rhodes, who stayed in the bout for roughly 40 minutes before being the 25th competitor eliminated, thanks to The Big Show. 

Sure, we could criticize Rhodes for not winning the Rumble or making it to the very end of the match, but we can’t criticize him for what was an awesome performance up until his elimination. 

During his grueling, 40-minute stay, Rhodes eliminated more Royal Rumble participants than any other entrant, tossing six of his fellow competitors over the top rope: Santino Marella, Mick Foley, Jerry Lawler, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, The Great Khali and Booker T. 

I guess you could say that he didn’t eliminate any other major superstars and tossed out two comedy figures (Santino and Khali), but it’s interesting to note that he was responsible for the eliminations of four legends (Foley, Lawler, Duggan and Booker T). 

It certainly appears as if Rhodes if following in the footsteps of Randy Orton and turning into the second coming of the “Legend Killer” so to speak, which is a great way to get him over as a hated heel as long as he doesn’t copy Orton step by step. 

Having Rhodes eliminate all those competitors, especially the legends, was a great way to establish him as a legitimate threat on SmackDown and push the guy without having him win the match. 

Rhodes’ MVP performance in the Royal Rumble was a pretty good sign that big things are in store for him, and that those big things are coming sooner rather than later. 

Although Sheamus was the only actual winner this Sunday, Rhodes was certainly no loser.

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