WWE Royal Rumble 2011 Results: Complete Match-by-Match Breakdown

A lot of people were on the fence about a 40-Man Royal Rumble Match, and understandably so.  It has been a 30-Man Match for over 20 years, so changing it was a risky move by WWE.  

Did it pay off?  If you saw the Royal Rumble, you would probably say it did, but that's still a matter of personal opinion.  

We saw three Championship Matches, two of which were for World Championships, and of course the main event was the epic 40-Man Over-the-Top-Rope Royal Rumble Match.

As always leave a comment with what you thought of the show, or send me an e-mail at [e-mail].

I also posted a straightforward rundown of all the matches and results at this link.  Note that a new window will open.

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge def. Dolph Ziggler

The first match of the night was Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler for the World Heavyweight Championship.  The stipulation, of course, being that if Edge used the spear, he would loose the World Heavyweight Championship.

The match itself was a solid match.  It won't win any 'Match of the Year' awards, but it was a great way to open the show.  It was nicely paced, and had enough, but not too much, back-and-forth action.  We even saw a sharpshoooter from Edge.  Vickie Guerrero's intervention took away from the match a little bit, but the match kept on going none-the-less. 

After a very nice show opener, and a long match that did not seem dragged out past it's means at all, the referee and Vickie were both knocked out, Edge hit the spear and threw in a Killswtich (Christian's finisher) for good measure and got the three-count.

On a scale of 1-10, this match gets a 9.

WWE Championship: The Miz def. Randy Orton

Next on the card was The Miz vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.

The match was nothing too special, although it certainly was not bad.  There was some intervention from Alex Reilly, but I don't think anyone did not expect to see that take place.

There was a slower pace to the match, but not painfully slow. Looking back, most would say it was a solid match.

That "solid" match was somewhat somewhat ruined when The Nexus came out and distracted the referee.  While this was going on, CM Punk ran in and hit a GTS on Orton, dragged The Miz on top of Orton, and Miz got the three count and retained the WWE Title.

On a scale of 1-10, this match gets a 5.

Dvias Championship: Eve def. Layla, Michelle McCool, and Natalya

Before the match even begins, we get an e-mail, stating that the 2-on-1 Handicap would now be a Fatal Four Way Match for the Divas Championship, with the fourth diva being Eve.

The match wasn't horrible. It was nothing special at all, but it wasn't bad and was more than most of us expect in a divas match. The noticeable tension between Layla and McCool being opponents also added a little depth to the match.

At the same time, Eve pinned Layla and McCool pinned Natalya, the referee counted to three, but the referee did not see McCool's pin and Eve walked away the winner and the new Divas Champion.

On a scale of 1-10, this match gets a 4.5.

Alberto Del Rio Wins The 40-Man Royal Rumble Match

The last match of the night was the huge 40-Man Over-the-Top-Rope Royal Rumble Match. The one match everyone who was watching had been waiting for. As mentioned in the introduction slide, many people were on the fence about changing the Rumble from a 30-Man match to a 40-Man match, and while it is still a matter of personal opinion, I think now most people would say the switch turned out to be a good one.

Everything starts off with some interesting Corre vs. Nexus action, which is cool, but somewhat unnecessary for the biggest match of the year. The anonymous GM send an e-mail to provide some order and sends everyone but CM Punk backstage. Daniel Bryan comes out as the number 2 entrant and the match begins.

John Morrison pulled off one the most amazing Royal Rumble moves ever, he was thrown off the ring apron, grabbed onto the barricade, and then leaped from the barricade to the ring steps and climbed back into the ring, feet never touching the floor.

Mid-way through the match the Nexus cleared house and had their moment in the spotlight, throwing everyone over the top rope. While some may have found this boring, being that a good portion of the match around The Corre and The Nexus, this was no surprise.

Entrant number 21 was none other than Booker T, who was able to hit his Book-End and do a spin-a-roony, but that's all and it did not take very long for Mason Ryan of Nexus to eliminate Booker.

Hornswoggle came out to provide some comic relief, and managed to stay in longer than Booker T, however Hornswoggle had the help of John Cena, who had previously eliminated mostly all of The Nexus. Most would say Hornswoggle overstayed his welcome in the match, though. He was eventually eliminated by Sheamus in a Tadpole Splash gone-wrong.

Dolph Ziggler also made a surprise appearance, after his losing effort to Edge. Ziggler eventually thrown over the top rope by The Big Show.

Number 32 was Kevin Nash, wrestling under his Diesel gimmick. Like Booker, though, Diesel did not last very long.

Randy Orton also was a surprise entrant, and helped Alberto Del Rio to the ring after his entrance which was taking up quite some time.

Entrant number 40, was Kane, and that meant no Christian or Triple H or Chris Jericho or Evan Bourne or Papa Shango.

The Miz ran-in and threw John Cena over the top rope, leaving only Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, and Alberto Del Rio in the ring.

Orton threw Barrett out and Del Rio threw Orton out, seemingly leaving only Del Rio left, but wait...

Santino Marella had only went under the bottom rope, so here comes some more comic relief.  The final two are Santino and Del Rio.  Despite hitting Alberto with a his Cobra finisher, Del Rio threw Santino over the top rope and won the Royal Rumble Match.