WWE Royal Rumble: Ranking Every Winner After Lynch, Rollins Wins

Credit: WWE.com

19. Alberto Del Rio

The 2011 Royal Rumble was advertised as the largest ever, featuring 40 entrants, rather than the usual 30. While this was a great idea on paper, as it made room for more storylines, more surprises, and less predictability, the match itself was underwhelming, ironically, due mainly to its length.

The winner was Alberto Del Rio, a relative newcomer to WWE who had debuted around six months earlier. Del Rio entered at Number 38 and eliminated Randy Orton and Santino Marella to be declared the victor. While WWE attempted to frame this as Del Rio having outlasted 39 other men in the longest Royal Rumble ever, the fact that Del Rio spent less than ten total minutes in the match put a damper on that narrative.

At WrestleMania, Del Rio challenged Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, in what would be the final match for “The Rated R Superstar.” From there, Del Rio went on to feud with Christian, who would also manage to stave off his Championship dreams. Unable to capture the World Heavyweight Championship, Del Rio instead turned his focus on the WWE Championship, managing to win the Money in the Bank briefcase and cash in on CM Punk, thus inserting himself into the feud between Punk and John Cena.

Del Rio felt like the third wheel in the feud and, following a loss to Punk at Survivor Series, Del Rio exited the title picture. WWE seemed to want big things for Del Rio, but he never really managed to click with fans, and always felt out of place in the main event scene. As such, his Royal Rumble push, though impressive on paper, falls near the middle of the pack.