Once again you make good points with everything you have said but there is one person that I still think was the better choice(Not counting punk at the time) Santino! I remember talking about if they really did not have a clear choice winner on who was going to win then Santino would not have been a bad choice only because it would be a WWE moment to remember. The guy who has the quicks elmination winning the biggest rumble ever the way he did would have been cool. Like I said though only if they did not have a clear choice. I think Del Rio fit in that boat. He was built like he could be a main eventer but he did not get the reaction like an up coming maineventer. Look back at when Batista and Benoit came out to the match. They got a huge reaction. I always felt if Del Rio debuted 2 or 3 months before he did he could have gotten a better response with that kind of built.
Also one thing off subject. The Royal Rumble is not about making new starts. It can but its not about that.
2000- The Rock won. He was in the main event of Mania the year before
2001- Stone Cold won. He already main evented 2 Mania's before and won the rumble match 2 times before
2002- HHH won. He was already a world Champion and main evented a Mania before
I could go on and on about Taker, Brock, Cena, Edge, Orton, Vince(lol), Bret Hart but you get my point
