The 40 man Royal Rumble

[BTLion1990]

In recent years, we have seen two things.

1. The winner of the Royal Rumble going on to ''main event'' Wrestlemania.
2. The Runner up also playing a big role in Wrestlemania.

First of all, I remember watching Stone Cold win the Royal Rumble for the first time, (Not the Bret Hart rumble), eliminating The Rock and going on to main event Wrestlemania in a brilliant match against Shawn Michaels. Last year Edge returned winning The Royal Rumble, however, not main eventing, instead that was left to HBK (Final 5 wrestler) and Cena and Batista also feuding at Mania, which detracts how special the Royal Rumble is.

These two points have hindered the winner being special, so do you think that by making a 40 man royal rumble, it has made it more special for Alberto Del Rio, as there were more competitors and it was a first time ever. I feel as though despite the fact he won't be headlining Mania, it is a great bold move, as now Del Rio can have it as a bragging right for years to come, much to the effect of Y2J claiming over being first Undiputed Champion by beating Austin and Rock in the same night, although not to the same degree.

This gives Del Rio an edge not just in recent years where this win will stand out more, but in Rumble history. What do you guys think?

 

[xcalypsox]

Yes I agree this will give him an edge and something he can always use to garner heat no matter who he's against.

Years from now he can still bring it up sayin how he was the first person to ever beat out 39 other superstars to go on to wrestlemania and how it was his destiny to do so.

 

[RMA Morrison]

It gives him credibility once he becomes champ. It won't be at Wrestlemania though, at least in my opinion. World Champ will be Ziggler in a triple threat. No facts, evidence, or reasoning, just gut feel. I have a good gut though (thanks beer) and I feel that it'll be one of them scenarios, like Jericho, where there is more bragging then delivery. I don't hate on Jericho or Del Rio for this, just think their role will to be bragging more so than taking the top spot in WWE.

The End

Good talk

 

[The Big Gunnzbowski]

The 40 Man Rumble was a huge disappointment for me. No SOLID big returns, just "cameos" by stars of yesterday...again. As far as moving towards 'Mania, I see The Rock and Cena on some level and The Miz vs Morrison for sure. It's gonna happen...

 

[Demon Sevyyn Sixxx]

Whereas its certainly an angle that will probably be used by ADR in future destiny sermons, for me its much ado about nothing. Forty dudes in the rumble didn't necessarily make it deeper. There were a lot of throw aways in every rumble, and this one simply featured more. As for Mania, I'm inclined to agree with Morrison... I kinda smell triple threat with Ziggler... despite the Smackdown swerve tonight. Del Rio is good... but I guess I don't understand why he's been so heavily pushed already. He seems kinda overrated to me. PS, I would also like to thank beer... not for the gut, per say, but just for being there, y'know... that's all I got...

 

[TheKliq4Life]

I think that it did serve it's purpose and was successful having 40 men in this Royal Rumble. I thought it was BS having the new Nexus dominate a portion of the "teen" entrances because like Lawler was saying, "this isn't what the rumble is supposed to be about." I wish they capitalized on the pop that Nash got the following episodes of Raw/Smackdown when he returned on for the Rumble (I remain optimistic that this is not the last we have seen of Nash/Diesel) however, without having 40 participants, his return (or Booker T's) wouldn't have been so ecstatic. It added that element of surprise that "anyone" can show up and they did deliver no matter if us Attitude Era mark's are not satisfied that Booker T/Nash are not having a prominent role on WWE TV.

 

[mister_b1LL]

I personally don't think so. No other Royal Rumble winners ever talk about their wins. Seems about the only people that talk about RR winners are the commentators and even then they only say something leading up to the Rumble. Sure Del Rio talking about how it was his destiny to win the Royal Rumble has been gaining a lot of heat, but it just seems it's gonna be all for naught if he loses at Mania. And because of this Del Rio will just forget about the past and talk again about his money. He can't exactly brag without a title...well actually he can but...you know what I mean.

 

[achromat666]

I don't really see that a 40 man rumble has proven to be any more advantageous than the traditional 30. We saw a lot more teaming (Nexus, Corre, Cena and Hornswaggle) and a lot of guys went out way too quickly. Much of the rumble itself was fun to watch, but the number of participants didn't affect that very much.

Del Rio winning was smart and something that not everyone saw coming, and he has plenty of time to push it and ride the momentum to Wrestlemania. I loved the Santino bit because for a split second you thought they were actually him win. It was well executed. The CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for much of the early going was nice, and Morrison was very impressive.

Booker T and Diesel (Kevin Nash) were fun to see, but none of those things necessitates an extra 10 wrestlers in the Rumble. An interesting distraction, but overall pointless.