WWE News: WWE Reportedly Bringing Back Traditional 30-Man Royal Rumble Format

The 2011 Royal Rumble was labeled as the “biggest Royal Rumble in history” because, for the first time ever, it featured a whopping 40 participants. 

The decision to expand the Rumble had many fans wondering if this was a temporary or permanent thing, and it finally appears as if we have our answer. 

From SEScoops.com: 

St. Louis’ Scottrade Center, which hosts the Rumble, is advertising a “30-man Royal Rumble match” as well as WWE Championship & World Heavyweight title matches for the event. 

Props to the WWE here for making a rare smart decision here. 

I had high hopes for “the biggest Royal Rumble in history” because I thought that the additional 10 spots would mean we’re more likely to see big stars return to the company during the match or that we could see some more legends make a one-off appearance. 

Boy, was I wrong. 

Instead, what we got was more lower and mid-carder works in the match and guys who had already wrestled for world titles earlier in the night—such as Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton—getting yet another shot at becoming the No. 1 contender. 

They say that “bigger means better,” but that obviously wasn’t the case here. 

The 2011 Royal Rumble was a major disappointment in my book, one that actually saw Santino Marella as one of the final two competitors and featured a rather lackluster conclusion when Alberto Del Rio won the match after months of saying that he would do so. 

With news that the Rumble will revert back to the traditional 30-man format, however, I think things are looking up for the WWE as we head into the new year. The company simply doesn’t have enough mid-card and main-event caliber workers to put 40 men in a match and expect it to be any good. 

Stick with 30, and instead of filling the match with guys like JTG and Yoshi Tatsu, make sure it features mostly wrestlers who actually have even a slight chance of winning it.