WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Results: Why the Miz Should Have Won

When it was announced on last week's episode of Monday Night Raw that The Miz, due to losing his stipulation match with R-Truth, would be the No. 1 competitor in the Royal Rumble event, rather than predicting doom and gloom for the former WWE Champion, most saw it as a sign that the wrestler was going to go very far in the match, possibly even winning the entire thing. 

And while Miz did put on an impressive performance on the show (he eliminated Alex Riley, R-Truth at last and, at 45 minutes, lasted longer than anyone else), he nonetheless came up short in his quest for WrestleMania glory.

Worst still, at no point during in the match did he come off like a real threat to win the entire thing. Indeed, for most of the time he was simply just there, and lacked any real dominance.

While there is nothing ostensibly wrong with Smackdown star Sheamus becoming the eventual victor (although the fans in the Scottrade Arena didn't appear to being crazy after he kicked Jericho off the apron and onto the floor for the win), I believe that it should have been Miz who emerged victorious from the event instead.

For one thing, Miz's struggling career desperately needed the rehabilitation that comes with a Royal Rumble victory. 

Alas, even since his enjoyable WWE Championship run early last year, Miz has been floundering in the upper mid-card, seemingly unable to regain his title.

After he lost the title to frequent foe John Cena, he had an OK feud with former sidekick Alex Riley, and even put over the up and comer at the Capitol Punishment event (much good it did Riley, though).

The frustrated star, mad at how his career was going (this storyline may have been a shoot) then joined forces with R-Truth, and the two conspiracy theorists had a decent run as a rebel-type group until they ran into problems, and Miz turned on him too. (Poor Miz; the guy just can't keep any friends, can he?)    

It's not so much that he's been wasting his time exactly, but he's certainly not been doing much to advance himself in the company. Despite main eventing last year's WrestleMania, cynical fans still have him as very much a mid-carder, and a win at the Royal Rumble could have restored their faith in him.

There's also the fact that press-friendly Miz is still the best person WWE has right now and, as such, should get a major push. Heck, in the last week alone he traveled all from the US to Abu Dhabi to London then back to the US simply to promote the Royal Rumble event.

Like John Cena before him, the former Real World star has an admirable willingness to take on a hectic schedule that most wrestlers would balk at, and should be rewarded for his dedication to the promotion.

Besides, the company must see the appeal in having an extremely loyal and hard-working top guy who is willing to go anywhere at anytime.

Summarily, Miz winning the Royal Rumble would have been a very smart move on paper, and helped kick start Mizanin's flagging career, as well as freshening up Raw's stale main event scene (a Miz versus CM Punk is an interesting idea, and something the company has never properly followed through with). Alas, for whatever reason, WWE management decided to go in a different direction.

Oh well. There's always next year.