6. Sheamus – 2012
Sheamus as World Heavyweight Champion
Sheamus won the 2012 Royal Rumble by last eliminating Chris Jericho, something which made half of the crowd boo (due to people wanting Jericho to win). Sheamus then went on to defeat then-World Champion Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at WrestleMania to win the strap. However, winning the Royal Rumble isn’t necessarily a mistake on the part of WWE, but an alternative would have been better.
Sheamus was a former World Champion and had been built to look strong in the months leading to the Royal Rumble, picking up victories against former-world champions. Daniel Bryan v. Sheamus promotes excitement for me as a WrestleMania match because I didn’t know who the victor would be. I cannot enjoy a wrestling match to its capacity if I can easily predict a winner (or if it goes for 18 seconds). The point of this entry is that Sheamus didn’t need to win this match, but someone else definitely needed to.
ALTERNATIVE WINNER: Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho returned almost a month before the Rumble with much hype, however leading into Wrestlemania I knew he would lose his WWE Championship match to CM Punk. It was ridiculously obvious. Chris Jericho, other than winning a battle Royal to win a title opportunity was treated like an absolute chump, defeating no one of importance, whereas CM Punk was having wars with Daniel Bryan. His match with CM Punk ended up being too predictable for a Wrestlemania Match. If Jericho won the Royal Rumble match, he would have gained some notoriety as a legitimate title contender. Even if he won the rumble match and didn’t wrestle until ‘Mania, he would’ve been such a wild card, I would’ve have been unsure who would walk out of Wrestlemania 28 as WWE Heavyweight Champion. Sadly, that didn’t happen and WWE missed a big opportunity.
