Royal Rumble 2012 Results: Why It Was Right for Sheamus to Win the Rumble

This past Sunday, Sheamus outlasted 29 other superstars to earn his spot at WrestleMania XXVIII.

He did so by winning the prestigious Royal Rumble match, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Having read many opinions on the subject of the winner, one thing has become very clear—people didn’t expect Sheamus to win, nor did they want him to win.

This immediately puts me in the minority, as I think it was the right decision, and I even predicted the Celtic Warrior’s victory.

Sheamus has become extremely popular with the fans and critics and has been called one of the elite stars of the future. He has the correct demeanor in the ring, the skills to put on a good match and a character the crowd is invested in.

He took a backseat throughout 2011, as we saw Christian, Randy Orton, Big Show and Mark Henry hog all the SmackDown spotlight.

The man was even shoved into a meaningless feud with Jinder Mahal, which didn’t make a lot of sense and obviously doesn’t mean a lot to the creative team.

If it did, the two men would definitely have met at the Royal Rumble. Instead, he was eliminated by The Great Khali, a man who had no business being in the match in a nod to a feud that happened ages ago.

When Alberto Del Rio won the Royal Rumble in 2011, it was way too early for him—he had no fan investment and no buildup for me to care if he lost at WrestleMania.

Sheamus, on the other hand, has all these things.

When he entered the Rumble, he looked switched on, and excitement began to build for me as he saved what was becoming a very lackluster Royal Rumble. Fast-forward to the final two, and it was just Chris Jericho and Sheamus left.

I didn’t think Sheamus had a cat in Hell's chance at this point. Jericho and The Great White saved this year’s Rumble by putting on an absolute clinic in the closing 10 minutes.

Many close calls, twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat for the first time in the Rumble match (not the whole PPV, calm down) and they managed to create a suspense that I haven’t felt since watching The Undertaker wrestle Triple H in their epic encounter at WrestleMania XXVII.

Sheamus came out as the victor after catching a code-breaker by Jericho and placing him over the top rope onto the apron. One swift Brogue Kick later, Sheamus was declared the winner.

One major point in favor of this victory would be the fact that Jericho does not need a win if he is to feud with Punk, as has been reported. As we all saw on Raw this past Monday, he has already set the wheels in motion by attacking the WWE Champion.

Sheamus said in a promo that Punk and Bryan have to worry about who he is going to choose to face in Miami, but the fans don’t—we all know he will choose Bryan, especially after Jericho’s attack on Raw.

Jericho has already done a lot in his storied career, so it is about time the WWE took a secure chance on a future elite superstar, unlike taking a risk with Del Rio last year.

Sheamus has a charisma that can take him to the top, as we have already seen—he is a two-time WWE Champion.

He needs that elevation, that spot in the main event of WrestleMania, and he will truly be one of the first superstars in ages (after CM Punk) that the WWE has properly built up to main event status.

Admittedly, it was a shaky start what with the King of the Ring debacle, but I won’t go into that here.

Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett are hot on his heels, and we are looking at a class of superstars that will easily lead the WWE into the future.

Having others win the Royal Rumble would have made no sense, either.

Dolph Ziggler isn’t quite ready yet. He just needs that extra fan support and that extra bit of time to get his character perfect.

I predict he will win the 2013 Royal Rumble. You read it here first.

Wade Barrett is too busy building up for a match with Randy Orton to worry too much about winning the Royal Rumble.

The other candidates have all won it before, so Sheamus was the only logical choice in my opinion.

I have been a fan of the Celtic Warrior since he debuted. I always thought he had that special something, but I have tried to stay as unbiased as possible and simply look at the facts that are presented to me.

I don’t understand the worry and fury over this win. Whether it was a last-minute decision by the WWE or not, it was the right one.

If Jericho had won, I would have been extremely disappointed, though by not winning, “the end of the world as we know it” has fallen a bit flat on its face.

However, as I have mentioned, he still has his feud with Punk.

The predictability would have been through the roof if Jericho had won.

This would have led to disappointment from most who predicted it, despite what many say now.

With Sheamus winning, it added a bit of shock to proceedings for those who didn’t expect or predict it (unlike myself of course), and it was a swerve by the WWE that was executed perfectly.

Now we have several feuds going into WrestleMania that are extremely clear and, if I may, I’d like to do a quick WrestleMania XXVIII card prediction.

The Rock vs. John Cena

The Undertaker vs. Kane

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan (WHC)

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho (WWE)

Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal

A few random matches to fill the card...

Whether Sheamus will face Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXVIII is still to be determined by an Elimination Chamber match, but either way, I hope he wins again.

Sheamus is being severely underrated by many critics on the Internet, and I just thought I’d stick up for the fella (see what I did there?) as I believe the right decision was made over the winner of the Royal Rumble.