The last time an unsolidified star won the Rumble

[Instant Classic]

I gotta go with Batista. Mysterio and Del Rio may be arguable.

[Professor Chaos]

Del Rio

[thecrusherwi]

An argument could be made for Sheamus. He had already been WWE champion, but they were from two fluke wins, and his reigns meant nothing. He had spend the previous year plus as a total afterthought in the midcard most of the time. His Rumble win finally confirmed that he was a main event mainstay.

[Crimson]

Mysterio I'd put with an asterisk. Dude was already massively over. Eddie's unfortunate passing served as the catalyst for the company finally pushing Mysterio as a main eventer.

Batista I would say was the last time they had an up and comer win and it actually stuck. 2005 was really a lightning in a bottle year with both Batista and Cena on the rise at the exact same time.

Del Rio is the example of it falling flat on it's face. The crowd was mostly dead when he won rumble and he's been floundering over the past 2 years.

[Bo Rida]

Nov 17, 2013 9:08:34 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

An argument could be made for Sheamus. He had already been WWE champion, but they were from two fluke wins, and his reigns meant nothing. He had spend the previous year plus as a total afterthought in the midcard most of the time. His Rumble win finally confirmed that he was a main event mainstay.

I was ready to say Del Rio but now I agree with this, it's easy to let what came later cloud your view.

[Deleted]

I had completely forgot Sheamus won the thing, so I say him.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I kind of want to say Sheamus, though that sounds so strange since he was already WWE Champion before winning it. Sheamus winning it would be like if the Miz wins the next Rumble. True, they had already been WWE Champion, but they had not exactly been booked like someone on the rise prior to the Rumble.

[4real]

Id say Del Rio. It was a risk honestly having him win it and honestly I don't think it really paid off at all. Plus he had only been on the roster 5 months when he won the rumble.

[Amazing Kitsune]

Vince MacMahon. He was a charismatic youngster at the time, but they'd spent the last year or so absolutely BURYING him in his feud with Stone Cold. He was beaten, humiliated, sodomized, and made to urinate on himself...and then all of a sudden he wins one of the biggest matches of the year!? It made no sense.

[nickcave]

Yeah I will agree with Sheamus, no one had him as a favorite to win it going in. Everyone assumed Jericho was going to win the Rumble.

[Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift]

Imagine how history would have been different if Santino eliminated Del Rio.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Nov 17, 2013 17:02:54 GMT -5 Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift said:

Imagine how history would have been different if Santino eliminated Del Rio.

I think WWE would push Del Rio even harder and make him even more AGGRESSIVE just to "compensate" for having him lose to a comedy character.

[Bub (BLM)]

Nov 17, 2013 16:27:37 GMT -5 nickcave said:

Yeah I will agree with Sheamus, no one had him as a favorite to win it going in. Everyone assumed Jericho was going to win the Rumble.

The new WWE video game actually says "Chris Jericho won the Royal Rumble in order to face CM Punk for the WWE Title".

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

Nov 17, 2013 17:02:54 GMT -5 Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift said:

Imagine how history would have been different if Santino eliminated Del Rio.

They should have went with it, at the very least for the fact that "anything can happen in WWE!" It would be this generations "Horowitz wins!"

[Starshine]

Nah, it can't be Sheamus. His win was so obvious considering how strongly he had been booked in 2011. Even with all the Jericho stuff, I had no doubt he'd win.

[TGM]

Del Rio or Sheamus, whichever one came last.

[Jonathan Michaels]

Nov 17, 2013 9:52:02 GMT -5 Crimson said:

Mysterio I'd put with an asterisk. Dude was already massively over. Eddie's unfortunate passing served as the catalyst for the company finally pushing Mysterio as a main eventer.

Batista I would say was the last time they had an up and comer win and it actually stuck. 2005 was really a lightning in a bottle year with both Batista and Cena on the rise at the exact same time.

Del Rio is the example of it falling flat on it's face. The crowd was mostly dead when he won rumble and he's been floundering over the past 2 years.

Of course they were dead, people were bummed Santino didn't win.

That deflated the crowd quite a bit, I almost wonder if Vince was avaliable to call an audible, because he should have after the pop Santino got.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Nov 17, 2013 17:49:36 GMT -5 Starshine said:

Nah, it can't be Sheamus. His win was so obvious considering how strongly he had been booked in 2011. Even with all the Jericho stuff, I had no doubt he'd win.

I didn't see Sheamus winning. He was booked strong, but he was pretty irrelevant (had no feuds going on) and winning pointless matches.

[Starshine]

Nov 17, 2013 19:31:36 GMT -5 CATCH_US IS the Conversation said:

Nov 17, 2013 17:49:36 GMT -5 Starshine said:

Nah, it can't be Sheamus. His win was so obvious considering how strongly he had been booked in 2011. Even with all the Jericho stuff, I had no doubt he'd win.

I didn't see Sheamus winning. He was booked strong, but he was pretty irrelevant (had no feuds going on) and winning pointless matches.

It seemed so obvious that I had him pegged to win around October or so. He was constantly winning, and they were only giving him non-pin losses while also keeping him away from the too belts. It was like a blueprint of how WWE sometimes like to build up to a big main event run.

Also Jericho only ever comes back to put guys over. No way in hell was he ever going to win the Rumble.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

How can Sheamus not fit the bill? 90% of people would have bet their live savings on Jericho winning that year.