The two World Title matches would see Daniel Bryan, who a month previously had cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on former friend The Big Show, lined up for a triple threat cage match defence of the World Heavyweight Title opposite both Show and Mark Henry, and CM Punk would be defending the WWE Title against Dolph Ziggler. In the month prior to the Rumble, John Cena had been entered into an uninspiring feud with Kane in order to keep him occupied while waiting for The Rock to arrive for the final ‘Mania build, as such the two were set to face off. One thing that was a positive was that the company was not persevering with the 40-man match that they had put on in 2011 where WWE were once again taught the lesson that bigger isn’t always better. To counter some of the pitfalls of the situation at hand, WWE had added a stipulation to the Rumble match that anybody in WWE could enter- prior to the show it wasn’t entirely obvious how that differentiated this particular Rumble match from any other (especially considering WWE’s penchant for providing surprise entrants to the match in previous years). What’s more, a cursory glance through the field of potential participants for the Rumble exposed just how low on likely winners the match was. Of course, there was still the small matter of two World Title matches to take place, and the rumble match itself which would determine a challenger for one of those belts at ‘Mania, but the Rumble’s abiding value was already being undermined by the coming Cena/Rock contest as it was clear that this year’s winner would not be earning themselves a main event spot at ‘The Showcase of the Immortals’.
In 2012 however, WWE was entering the finishing straight of a 1 year build to the main event of Wrestlemania 28 between John Cena and The Rock and as a consequence, the Rumble would play little, or no part in shaping the match between the two.
WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2012 PRO
Given what is at stake in the main event of the show each year, its status as the most commercially successful gimmick match in pro wrestling and its position in the calendar coming just a couple of months prior to Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble usually has a major part to play in the shaping of the year ahead- whether it be for the better or worse.
It’s not very often that a Royal Rumble event comes across as not being of any real significance when you look back at it.
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