Royal Rumble Match 2012

[8.0] "Objectively, this match is a 3/10. But, just sitting back and letting it happen without questioning why, it's fun in a nothing matters kind of way. The Miz of all people is the iron man. All 4 members of The Corre is in the match, even though it wasn't an active stable anymore. All the English commentary team is in it (Booker T, Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole). Primo and Epico were tag champs at the time, and at no point are they in the ring at the same time, and combined lasted a little over 2 minutes. Epico only lasted 11 seconds so that Santino Marella and Mick Foley could have their Cobra vs Mr. Socko spot. Jey Uso, before he and Jimmy were even wearing face paint, is in it. Ricardo Rodriguez is in it and gets an elimination. Del Rio isn't in it. Road Dogg is a surprise entrant. A 3rd of the entrants are either not active in WWE, or not wrestling actively at all. Big Show is at number 30, and all he does is help clear the field for the finish, get eliminated by Orton, who is then eliminated by Jericho, leaving him and Sheamus for the final 2, all done in 2 minutes. Only 6 entrants last more than 10 minutes, and only 2 last longer than 30."

[6.0] "Strong performances from Miz, Rhodes, and Ziggler, who are inexplicably all sacrificed to Big Show, who in turn is unceremoniously thrown out by Orton. And surprisingly, Orton has no say in his hometown either. But that's kind of the story of this match: lots of good ideas, less good consequences, no consistently high-caliber cast. The comedy with Foley and Marella or the three commentators as participants is okay, the Road Dogg is a nice surprise, but as with recent Royal Rumbles, this one also lacks the little stories or the big paybacks. So, overall, this Rumble doesn't seem bad, but somehow it seems mostly ill-conceived. At least the literally pale winner Sheamus, together with Jericho, really makes the most of the one-on-one phase at the end, so that this match is still relatively okay in its presentation."

[2.0] "This rumble is a very underrated contender for one of the worst royal rumble matches, and it's appalling that after WWE Royal Rumble (2011) where they had 40 men in the rumble, went back to its normal 30 men, and made it just as bad. Despite a few surprise entrants like the returning Jericho, first ever royal rumble winner Duggan, Foley in his last WWE match and Kharma (Awesome Kong) in her only WWE in ring performance, and the match's final two with Jericho and Sheamus was great, but that's not enough to salvage this match. All the entrants in this match were all just midcarders and jobbers, Miz and Cody Rhodes weren't that strong as the match's two iron men, the comedy spots from the commentators just weren't funny, Big Show and Ziggler, who both had world title matches earlier on the show was annoying, and Sheamus winning the match instead of Jericho was a bad choice. Overall this is a really bad rumble with weak comedy, and a match that showed just how weak WWE's roster was around that time."

[5.0] "Easily the least star powered Rumble since the mid 90s. Countless jobbers, commentary team members and nostalgia act fillers. I like this kind of stuff, but in much more limited capacity. Santino and Foley face off was cool, but besides that, it was forgettable edition."

[3.0] "Un horrible royal rumble rempli de mid-carder ou de légendes. Si peu de star power pour faire gagner Sheamus qui plus est. C'est vraiment un des plus plus mauvais a mon gout avec tout ce coté comédie."

[6.0] "I think the opening promo from The Miz was good but I don't think a single person genuinely believed that he would last till the end. Overall this is more of a comedic match since it really only had a few potential winners and it not bad when it doesn't really have impact but it isn't a great one"

[7.0] "Although the overall star power in this one is really lacking, it had a lot of fun moments with the highlights for me being Kharmas involvement eliminating Cole, Ricardo Rodriguez's cameo, Foley as always is good fun and of course the final battle between Sheamus and Jericho"

[3.0] "A weak roster and the wrong winner make this Rumble an overall flop in my eyes. Jericho should've won this Rumble as Sheamus just wasn't an exciting Rumble winner. It helps that their final two match was thrilling and exciting. The roster for this match was weak. Outside of Sheamus, Jericho, Orton, Big Show, and Miz, there are no potential winners and even then it was really only a two horse race. This Rumble has an over-abundance of comedy and nostalgia spots which are fun but when overdone highlight just how shallow your roster really is."

"Pretty good rumble. Had a lot in it. Mick Foley looked good for being older at this point. I liked the rumble a lot. Everyone did pretty good."

[6.0] "Nostalgic for this rumble, but that doesn't mean it's great unfortunately. Miz and Rhodes going the distance added a lot especially since both were upper card heels at the time, Rhodes especially did well eliminating most of the legends. The roster wasn't the best at this time so the entries were weak and the amount of surprise entrants was just a bit too much. All the commentators entering was fun though and it was funny seeing them all comment the rest of the match in their wrestling gear. No doubt the best part of this rumble was the ending sprint between Sheamus and Jericho, they had a surprisingly good amount of chemistry that you didn't expect with Jericho's crisp, high-octane offence meshing well with Sheamus' stiff, hard-hitting brawling, both of them coming so close to eliminating the other several times and the momentum shifting between them constantly. I didn't mind Sheamus winning in the end since it kicked off his fantastic 2012, still one of the best years of his career, but Jericho winning would've been nice too since he's never won a rumble, but he ended up with a title shot at Mania himself anyway so it all worked out. Mostly a comedic rumble match with a few spots in between but mostly forgettable sadly. Still though, Sheamus and Jericho's mini-match was absolutely awesome."

[4.0] "An excellent ending couldn't save this weak Rumble. It started well with Miz, then right after Foley came in it pratically died of interest untile Sheamus entrance. There was too much comedy for my taste. The mini-match between Y2J and Sheamus tried to save a boring Rumble, it was full of fake finishes. The match was full of useless midcarders and the ones who were doing good have been eliminated like nothing happened."

[6.0] "honestly just didn't feel much excitement from this match not really any cool returns or surprises other then jericho and then he just doesn't win. I am probably the biggest sheamus fan and to me they just did it to be different and no this is nothing like what they did last night in the 2025 rumble that made sense this does not jericho is a surprise and is the correct winner. Either way jericho gets to mania in the world title match just have him win the rumble tbh. 3.50 stars"

[10.0] "I understand that this is one of the best Royal Rumble matches ever. Cool wrestlers, surprises in the form of legends (Road Dogg, Mick Foley, Booker T, etc.), + Kharma was added to the match. And the winner is the one who should be. Chris Jericho's return to the ring is also a plus. How was he expected. ****1/2"

[4.0] "In the history of the Rumble match, this has to be one of the worst. Certainly not THE worst, as there are plenty worse, but bottom ten, maybe bottom five for sure. As many have pointed out, this match had no star power at all until the very end. They loaded everyone into the last few entrants, and so the stars didn't get to last long. Fortunately, the crowd was extremely hot for the match, and they ate up the comedy segments and legend returns. If this crowd turned on those and started booing, this might have went down as an even worse Rumble than it is already considered. It seemed like fans wanted Jericho much more than Sheamus, and considering the quality of both of their Wrestlemania matches...it's hard to argue that Jericho should have won this one. While there's some fun to be had while watching this match, there's really just no drama, and nothing that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Not flat out terrible, but utterly unremarkable."

[6.0] "To me, this was a fun rumble. It's memorable to me due to all of the announcers getting in the match and I enjoyed the aspect of not knowing who would be next. Kharma entering was fun as well, but still disappointed with her overall run in the company as this was her only match. Having Sheamus as the winner took the wind out of my sails, though the match was fun to watch."

[2.0] "Ok, I have a question. The 2011 Royal Rumble had 40 men and it wasn't bad. My question is how did the WWE make this one of the worst Rumbles of all time with 30 superstars compared to 40 superstars the previous year? The Miz and Cody Rhodes didn't feel like iron men, the surprise returns made WWE's main roster seem thin, and only two people benefitted from this match: Y2J and Sheamus. The end was the only time that I thought that this was a Royal Rumble. This was a bad Royal Rumble. What a waste."

[6.0] "This was a pretty goofy rumble that maybe relied a bit too much on comedy spots (like all three commentators entering the match) and old-timers returning (Mick Foley, Jim Duggan and Road Dogg). The star power was seriously lacking overall, but the mini-match at the end with Sheamus and Chris Jericho was enjoyable. ***"

[7.0] "Well, thankfully they went back to 30 entrants after the 40 last year (which was far too many). This one had plenty of interesting surprise entrances. You could say that they wasted too many entrants on legends and commentators, but I was entertained by the funnier moments. I personally didn't mind Sheamus winning, even though every one else wanted Chris Jericho to win. Overall a good Rumble, though not a super memorable one."

[6.0] "It could've been an easy 7, but I'm lowering it to a 6 for giving the win to Sheamus when it should've been Jericho. Why is it so difficult to book easy things?"

[7.0] "While this Rumble lacked starpower with only a few people who could realistically win it, I found it pretty entertaining and well done all things considered. I'm usually not a fan of having so many novelty / nostalgia type entrants but it was actually entertaining and helped sort of distract me from the fact only maybe 3 guys had a shot of actually winning."

[7.0] "actually a little underrated Rumble enjoyed it more than 2011's Rumble. While it's not an intense Rumble & probably a Peak "PG Era" Rumble Match it's still a fun time. Celebrating 25 years of the Rumble with having Legends like Mick Foley, Jim Duggan & Road Dogg enter also all 3 commentators getting in at separate times was fun. Only Crux is that Jericho should have won. Jericho was a legend of the Company & had earnt to add Royal Rumble Winner to his Resume & would've made his Return more special & set up his Match with Punk at Wrestlemania better. Sheamus definitely had momentum & was a crowd favourite at the time but it just didn't need to be him."

[6.0] "A mediocre Royal Rumble, the start of the Rumble and the End were good but the mid section of this Rumble really dragged on, the comedy elements in this match were good"

[7.0] "This rumble is pretty fun. A significant amount of comedy, including all three announcers entering the match. However, this is heel Cole, so the commentary which otherwise would be fine sucks a little bit. I feel like every rumble should have some comedy in it, and I'm a pretty anti-comedy wrestling fan for the most part. Basically the first third or so is where all this stuff is; it really doesn't detract from anything else. Also of note is Awesome Kong's entry, which is criminally short, and this match has probably the best Kofi recovery of them all. There is middling star power, but most of the time it's good workers in there like Cody and Ziggler so it's not too bad. Randy Orton is the Kane of this match. He levels everyone when he comes in, and he even eliminates big show on his own. The last 10 or 12 minutes are especially good, and it's probably the best final 2 sequence outside of Taker/Shawn. This is a big win for Sheamus, and well deserved. This rumble seems like it has too much of some things or not enough of other things, but none of that really matters when you're watching it because it's fun and exciting."

[8.0] "The most comedy placed into the match out of any Rumble to date. Jericho & Sheamus have a very good finishing stretch here that is maybe second only to the Shawn-Taker one from 2007."

[1.0] "When you have a inadequate roster for booking a good Royal Rumble, the only thing you can do is make every wrestler already fought in other matches enter. If you fill the empty spaces with the three commentators, a legend who can't even run and jobbers you deserve the fail. An awful Royal Rumble, with one of the most stupid comedy I've ever seen in a match and 0 starpower."

[3.0] "When superstars like Primo, Epico, Hunico, Jey Uso, and all 3 commentators enter a match you know you messed up big time. Some nice and fun moments but this was just hard to sit through.. also some of the booking decisions just confuse me to be honest, I mean Jey Uso lasting longer than Wade Barrett? Overall while somewhat entertaining this is one of the worst rumbled of the past decade."

[4.0] "Mick Foley does some comedy with Santino Marella. Other than that this is a pretty forgettable match."

[6.0] "It was a very decent Royal Rumble. The positives: Sheamus winning, the legends (notably Mick Foley and Road Dogg), the audience, Kharma's participation. Negatives: the participants (mainly midcarders and uninteresting wrestlers), Michael Cole (Jerry Lawler and Booker T, I'm fine, they are wrestlers originally, but not Michael Cole), not enough Main Event level wrestlers. [**3/4]"

[5.0] "The worst rumble since 2000. Interchangeable jobbers and mid carders. Only big stars were Show, Orton, Sheamus and Jericho. Don't go back and watch **1/2"

[5.0] "Really boring rumble in an era with a clear lack of star power, the beginning with Jericho, Ziggler, Cody etc... was cool but then during the whole rumble, random and interchangeable wrestler came one after another and that was long and boring. The last 2 minutes with Sheamus winning were cool tho. (**3/4)"

[9.0] "I really liked the beginning. The miz cut a good promo plus I also like how it was Miz and Alex Riley, former mentor and protege turned rivals, starting out. There were lots of good interactions between former allies and other enemies. I thought most men that came in got to look good at the least when they first got in. The surprise entrants were really good. Mick foley and Jim Duggan got huge pops. Having all three announcers was really interesting and fun when they all got announced, Michael Cole was great. Kharma being the third woman in a rumble was really cool, and Road Dogg returning was cool. I loved Ricardo Rodriguez in the match. He dressed like an off brand Alberto Del Rio and drove a junker car. There were nice comedy spots. I liked the face off between Foley and Marella with socko and the cobra. I personally like a lot of the people from this time so I liked whenever they came in. There were lots of big names like The Miz, Ziggler, Rhodes, Barrett, Kingston, Orton, Sheamus, Jericho, Big show and so on. Kofi saving himself by walking on his hands was awesome. Sheamus was really great when he entered and beat down everyone and looked really strong. Rhodes and Miz were good iron men. Jericho's entrance was amazing. The fight between Jericho and Sheamus in the final two was really great with lots of amazing suspense. The last move with Sheamus finally hitting a Brogue kick was great. This was a really excellent royal rumble match"

[8.0] "I like this Rumble. The roster at this time was a weak, but with some good surprises and a good finish between Y2J and Sheamus this Rumble was fun to watch."

[0.0] "This was a horrible Royal Rumble match. It had five returns in it which were cool but didnt do anything for the match. Having Ricardo and the three commentators was a really bad decision. The match got better during the last eight entrances though. I thought having Sheamus win was a good decision as it resulted in a memorable moment at WM that year."

[8.0] "This was a good Rumble, cut from the same mold as the Rumble last year in that there were several fun moments to go along with a lot of standard, Rumble-style action. The difference between this year and year before was the final few minutes. When Orton got eliminated from the match and it came down to Jericho vs. Sheamus, the reaction from me and the guys I was watching with was, “OK, Jericho’s got it. ” Well, my hat is off to those two. What a helluva final few minutes we got out of those two. Sheamus winning was a great moment"

[4.0] "Yet another unremarkable Rumble match (for the 4th [or maybe 5th] year straight). No surprise WWE legend could save it... in fact, they just show how WWE doesn't know what to do to keep Rumble matches entertaining anymore. The final was kinda cool though."

[7.0] "Very interesting Rumble effort this year, there were a LOT of comedy and nostalgia acts involved so be forewarned if you can't take a bit of that spread out in a match, you're not likely to enjoy this as much as others. The second half of the match kicked up the heat though and the final showdown with Jericho and Sheamus was excellent stuff, about as good as you can work a battle royal match. Jericho was supposedly supposed to be the winner here, which would have made sense given his recent return to the company, but they apparently changed it to Sheamus at the last minute to swerve us. It definitely worked as the crowd seemed stunned when Jericho lost. Not one of the best Rumbles or anything and not anywhere as good as the last two year's matches, but a nice combination of fun and hard-hitting action in the finish made this a fairly good and entertaining Rumble this year. ***1/4"

[7.0] "The match was okay, but I think Chris Jericho should have won in order to codify his "End of the World" claims. Although, this match did rise Sheamus into permanent main event status, so either way, the finish paid off somehow."