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The 2011 Royal Rumble event saw the one and only time in WWE history that a Royal Rumble match had 40 participants. Whilst the record for the biggest Rumble came much later at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia, that doesn’t count in the eyes of many fans as an official Rumble match, due to it not taking place at the yearly event, and because the winner didn’t receive a WrestleMania match. Aside from the early days, the Rumble has always been between 30 wrestlers, but WWE attempted to try something new in 2011, and it was ultimately a failed experiment.
The 40-Man Royal Rumble Was Billed To Be Huge
WWE hyped up the 2011 Rumble match as one of the most historic, due to it involving more superstars than ever before. The idea going in was that “bigger equals better”, but in execution, that wasn’t the case. There was certainly excitement going in, as a bigger field had the prospect for more surprise entries, more stories being told, and more iron man performances, with it being extra difficult to go the whole way from an early number.
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What makes a great Rumble match isn’t just the concept itself, but it is one where narratives play a heavy role, with multiple stories weaving in and out of the match as time goes on, with big moments and surprises taking place. At the time, WWE had a decent roster, but in terms of filling out a Royal Rumble field of forty competitors, they didn’t have enough big stars to compete, so there was a strong belief that plenty of shock entries would take place. After the event was over, the match was looked back on as a very underwhelming Rumble full of some poor booking and a lack of substance.
There Were Few Surprises And A Lack Of Star Power In The 2011 Royal Rumble Match
Throughout the match, which stretched for well over an hour, there were just two surprises out of the forty participants. WWE legends, Booker T, and Diesel made surprising returns, but these were just brief cameos that didn’t matter much in the long run, despite being fun for a few brief minutes. Aside from that, WWE had to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of their roster, including names who were right at the bottom of the card, and who quite simply had no chance of winning.
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When the likes of the entire New Nexus and the Corre, Chavo Guerrero, Yoshi Tatsu, Tyson Kidd, Chris Masters, Tyler Reks, and several more made their entrances, the crowd became silent, not caring for the superstars. This affected the heat of the match at times, with multiple jobbers who spent most of their time on shows such as Superstars rather than Raw or Smackdown, taking up spots in the Rumble. Big names such as CM Punk, John Cena, and Randy Orton came few and far between, making for a match that lacked star power.
WWE Didn’t Structure The 2011 Rumble Match Effectively
The booking of the match let this down quite a significant amount. Early on, things looked interesting with a war teased between Nexus and The Corre, but that didn’t come to fruition at all within the match. The first portion saw CM Punk try to survive, eventually being backed by his Nexus members, who eventually teamed up and eliminated everyone in the match. This was an interesting move, and it was unique to other Rumble matches, as they threw out every new entrant – that was until John Cena came in.
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Cena cleaned house and once again buried the Nexus, only for Hornswoggle to come out and help Cena in disposing of the likes of CM Punk and others. The match lost a sense of structure at that point, largely due to it being so lengthy and long. WWE clearly gave up after a certain point, and just left it to become a by-the-book Rumble. The lack of star power was evident in the final four, with the heatless Alberto Del Rio beating comedy jobber Santino Marella, a momentum-lacking Wade Barrett, and a bland babyface Randy Orton.
WWE quite simply did not have the depth to pull off this match and didn’t work hard enough to bring in some surprises to make the match more fun, instead of relying on superstars who didn’t even get TV time. There weren’t too many memorable moments, and the booking of the match left a lot to be desired. It wasn't the worst, but it certainly wasn't the best. The ending with Marella was fun, but it led to nothing, with Del Rio being one of the worst choices of Rumble winner of all time. This 40-man concept could have worked, but not in 2011, and certainly not with how it was structured.
