WWE Royal Rumble 2011
January 30, 2011 – Boston, Massachusetts.
Announcers: Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler & Matt Striker
Theme Song #1: Living in a Dream by Finger Eleven
ROYAL RUMBLE QUICK & DIRTY LINE-UP
Edge defeated Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero (World Heavyweight Title)
The Miz w/Alex Riley defeated Randy Orton (WWE Championship Match)
Eve Torres beat Natalya and Michelle McCool and Layla (Diva’s Title)
Alberto Del Rio won the 24th Annual 40-Man 2011 Royal Rumble Match!
DARK MATCH
R-Truth defeated Curt Hawkins:
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Edge defeated Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero to retain the World Heavyweight championship: Vickie Guerrero came out first and reminded Edge (and everyone else) that the Spear was banned from this match, and if Edge used it he would be disqualified and lose his World Heavyweight title. Late in the match, Edge reversed a Zig-Zag attempt into a cool-looking powerbomb! Edge climbed to the top rope, but Ziggler caught him and set up for a Superplex. Edge blocked it and pushed Ziggler down, then connected with a flying bodyblock – but Ziggler rolled through for a very tense two-count! A few minutes later, Edge got Ziggler into a great submission (modified Sharpshooter) causing Ziggler to desperately crawl to the ropes. Ziggler hit a Zig-Zag but Edge kicked out! Edge recovered and went for a Spear, but quickly realized he can’t use it. Ziggler took advantage of the loss of focus for a moment but Edge took him down with a DDT. Edge got up and confronted Vickie Guerrero, who was screaming at him. Suddenly Kelly Kelly ran down and attacked Vickie (what the heck?). Ziggler nailed Edge with another finisher but Edge miraculously kicked out! Ziggler locked in a sleeper hold on Edge, who twisted around so that he could knock down the referee. Edge dropped and knocked Ziggler off of him. Edge stood up and saw Vickie down on the floor, the referee down in the ring, and Dolph strugging to get to his feet. Edge took advantage and took Ziggler out with an illegal spear and then played dead until the referee woke up. Edge then hit Ziggler with an Unprettier (Christian’s finisher) and scored the 1-2-3 to win the match and retain his championship.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Josh Mathews & WWE champion The Miz & Alex Riley: The Miz said there was a reason he was champion, and a reason why people like Jerry Lawler, Randy Orton & Tom Brady aren’t champions. Alex Riley got to say a few words and said the Miz would retain his title tonight. The Miz said he would stand over Orton tonight and say “I’m the Miz and I’m AWESOME!”
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Mike “The Miz” Mizanin w/Alex Riley defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE championship: It didn’t take long for Alex Riley to start interfering on behalf of the Miz. Orton was in control up until that point, but then the Miz took over control for a few minutes. They went back and forth taking turns controlling the match. Orton connected with a Superplex (which Matt Striker said was made famous by Cowboy Bob Orton!). They started trading kicks and punches, until Miz backdropped Orton over the top rope to the floor, where Alex Riley put the boots to him! Orton made it back in but was thrown back out a minute later. Orton barely beat the 10 count getting back in the ring the second time. Orton started to get fired up and upped his intensity. Orton set up some something big, but he saw Riley out of the corner of his eye and went after him. Orton turned around and was hit with a big neck-breaker! Both men avoided getting hit by the other person’s finisher. Miz stumbled out of the ring, grabbed his belt, and started to walk out – but Orton hid around the corner and gave him a clothesline! Back in the ring, the Miz regained control. Orton got a two-count with a roll-up and then connected with a Hanging DDT! Orton then coiled up and prepared to strike with an RKO. Suddenly the New Nexus (David Otunga & Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty & Mason Ryan) walked down to ringside. Randy Orton was distracted. Alex Riley jumped in, but Orton launched him over the top rope on top of the New Nexus! Orton then connected with an RKO on the Miz! C.M. Punk hit the ring from the opposite side and gave Orton a Go-To-Sleep, then put the Miz on top of Orton for the 1-2-3. The Miz miraculously retains his WWE championship!
BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
Todd Grisham: Todd Grisham read a statement from Cody Rhodes, which said it was supposed to be his night, where he won the Royal Rumble and went on to WrestleMania. Cody said his face was injured by Rey Mysterio, who has not reached out with an apology. Cody asked for everyone to respect his wishes and give him his privacy at this time.
2-on-1 HANDICAP MATCH FOR THE WWE DIVAS TITLE
CANCELED: Before the match, an email came in from the Anonymous RAW General Manager, which was read by Michael “AND I QUOTE” Cole. The G.M. said SmackDown! G.M. Theodore Long was injured so he was in charge and was changing this match. The G.M. said it would now be a fatal fourway for the WWE Diva’s championship… involving EVE TORRES! Everybody thought it was going to be Awesome Kong.
FATAL FOURWAY FOR THE WWE DIVAS TITLE
Eve Torres defeated Natalya Neidhart (c) and Michelle McCool and Layla El to win the WWE Diva’s title: LayCool double-teamed their opponents for a while, but eventually they were left in the ring together not knowing what to do. They looked at each other nervously until Eve & Natalya jumped in and took to the offense. Natalya did a double Sharpshooter on Eve & Layla until Michelle jumped in and kicked her in the face! A few minutes later, Nayalya was going for a move on Layla when Michelle went for another kick – however, she accidentally knocked out Layla! Eve got involved and hit a Moonsault on Layla for a pin while Michelle pinned Natalya at the same time. The referee was watching Eve so she was awarded the Diva’s championship!
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Josh Mathews & WWE United States champion Daniel Bryan & Gail Kim + The Bella Twins: Daniel Bryan talked about the chance of going from NXT rookie to Royal Rumble winner in one year. The Bella Twins came in and apologized for what happened on RAW and gave both Bryan & Gail some flowers. Of course the girls got in a spat and Bryan had to pull them apart. There was a lot of scratching and clawing going on.
VIDEO PACKAGE: They played the “All About the Numbers” Royal Rumble video..
40-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Won by Alberto Del Rio!!!!!!! Last eliminating Santino Marella!: New Nexus leader C.M. Punk entered at #1, but he was quickly surrounded by The Corre (Wade Barrett & Ezekiel Jackson & Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel). Suddenly the New Nexus showed up and engaged in a chaotic brawl with the Corre. An email came in from the RAW General Manager, who ordered everyone except C.M. Punk to return to the locker room. WWE United States champion Daniel Bryan was the official #2 entrant and did battle with C.M. Punk (all ROH fans rejoice). Corre member Justin Gabriel returned as the #3 entrant and went after Punk, but he was eliminated by Bryan. Back to Bryan vs. Punk (woohoo!). Zack Ryder was the #4 entrant, but was quickly dumped by Punk. William Regal was the #5 entrant and quickly got into a battle with Bryan. Ted DiBiase was the #6 entrant trying to redeem himself from his recent bad luck. John Morrison was the #7 entrant. Morrison was pushed out but he landed on the safety barrier and saved himself. He jumped onto the ring steps and climbed back in the ring. This was amazing and legal since you have to touch the floor to be eliminated. William Regal was eliminated off camera. Yoshi Tatsu was entrant #8. Husky Harris was entrant #9 and immediately began to help C.M. Punk. Chavo Guerrero was entrant #10 and did some Eddie Guerrero Three Amigos suplexes on various competitors in the ring. Good tribute to Eddie. Mark Henry was entrant #10 and there was a collective gasp throughout the arena. Mark eliminated Chavo Guerrero and his friend Yoshi Tatsu. SmackDown!’s JTG was the #12 entrant. Nexus member Michael McGillicutty was the #13 entrant and suddenly the New Nexus was looking very strong. McGillicutty eliminated JTG. Ted DiBiase was eliminated by Harris & McGillicutty. Chris Masters was the #14 entrant and almost got rid of Punk. David Otunga was the #15 entrant making the New Nexus even stronger. Bryan was eliminated by Punk & Nexus. Masters was eliminated by Punk & Nexus. Morrison was eliminated by Punk & Nexus. Henry was eliminated by Punk & Nexus. This left the four members of the New Nexus in the match alone. Tyler Reks was the #16 entrant but was quickly eliminated by Punk & Nexus. Vladimir Kozlov was the #17 entrant and sprinted to the ring, only to get destroyed and eliminated by the Nexus. R-Truth was the #18 entrant and got manhandled and eliminated by the Nexus. The Great Khali was the #19 entrant and managed to eliminated Husky Harris! Just by luck, New Nexus enforcer Mason Ryan was the #20 entrant and eliminated the Great Khali! The crowd erupted when Booker T returned to the WWE as the #21 entrant. Booker dinked around and did a spinerooni, resulting in him getting dumped by Mason Ryan! John Cena was entrant #22 and quickly eliminated Mason Ryan, Michael McGillicutty, and David Otunga!! Cena was left in the ring with C.M. Punk, and the arena was thunderous! Hornswoggle was entrant #23, but was kicked unconcious by Punk. Cena picked up Punk and dumped him over the top rope with an Attitude Adjustment. Tyson Kidd was entrant #24 and was given a Mini Attitude Adjustment by Hornswoggle, Kidd was eliminated by John Cena. Corre member Heath Slater was entrant #25 and was given a Tadpole Splash by Hornswoggle. Slater was eliminated by John Cena. Kofi Kingston was entrant #26 and suddenly it became “every man for himself” because they were all good guys. Jack Swagger was entrant #27 and it was good to see the ring filling up again. King Sheamus was entrant #28 and knocked everyone down including Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle did the Sweet Shin Music on Sheamus, who lifted the little guy up on the ropes and kicked him down to the floor! Rey Mysterio was entrant #29 and we were reminded that he is a former Royal Rumble winner. Jack Swagger was eliminated by Mysterio! Corre leader Wade Barrett entered at #30 and had an encounter with John Cena. Dolph Ziggler (who lost to Edge earlier) entered at #31. Big Daddy Cool Diesel (Kevin Nash) was the surprise entrant at #32 and the crowd chanted “let’s go Deisel!”. Drew McIntyre was entrant #33 making a total of eight people in the ring. Alex Riley was entrant #34 and The Miz joined on commentary for the rest of the match. Deisel was eliminated by Wade Barrett (boooo from the crowd). The Big Show was entrant #35 and passed Diesel on his way out in a tense moment. Dolph Ziggler was eliminated by the Big Show. Alex Riley was eliminated by John Cena & Kofi Kingston. Corre member Ezekiel Jackson was entrant #36 and was able to work with Wade Barrett. Drew McIntre was eliminated by the Big Show. The Big Show was eliminated by big Ezekiel. Santino Marella was entrant #37 and managed to last more than 1 second (like last year) but ended up sliding out of the ring under the bottom rope and disappearing. Alberto Del Rio was entrant #38 and was introduced by his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez. Alberto took his time getting to the ring just to tease Rey Mysterio. Randy Orton was entrant #39 and knocked down Alberto as he stood at ringside killing time. Randy Orton eliminated both Kofi Kingston & King Sheamus. Kane was the final entrant at #40 and had the biggest advantage of anybody. Ezekiel was eliminated by Kane in an awkward spot. Kane was eliminated by Rey Mysterio in a cool spot, but Rey was then dumped by Wade Barrett! The final four were John Cena, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, and Wade Barrett. Alex Riley rushed back down and distracted John Cena so that the Miz could jump in and illigally dump Cena over the top rope! Wade Barrett was eliminated by Randy Orton, but then Orton was dumped by Alberto Del Rio to win the 2011 Royal Rumble!! Ricardo Rodriguez announced Alberto Del Rio as the winner… Suddenly Santino Marella, who had slipped out under the bottom rope and never officially eliminated, snuck back into the ring – and the crowd started to buzz. Santino went after Alberto and connected with the Cobra! It looked like Santino was going to win but he was tossed over the top rope by Alberto – who officially became the winner of the 2011 Royal Rumble!! The match went almost 70 minutes.
| ORDER OF ENTRY (RAW) C.M. Punk (RAW) Daniel Bryan (SD!) Justin Gabriel (RAW) Zack Ryder (RAW) William Regal (RAW) Ted DiBiase Jr. w/Maryse (RAW) John Morrison (RAW) Yoshi Tatsu (RAW) Husky Harris (SD!) Chavo Guerrero (RAW) Mark Henry (SD!) JTG (RAW) Michael McGillicutty (SD!) Chris Masters (RAW) David Otunga (SD!) Tyler Reks (RAW) Vladimir Kozlov (RAW) R-Truth (SD!) The Great Khali (RAW) Mason Ryan (Suprise!) Booker T (RAW) John Cena (SD!) Hornswoggle (RAW) Tyson Kidd (SD!) Heath Slater (SD!) Kofi Kingston (SD!) Jack Swagger (RAW) King Sheamus (SD!) Rey Mysterio (SD!) Wade Barrett (SD!) Dolph Ziggler (Surprise!) Diesel (SD!) Drew McIntyre (RAW) Alex Riley (SD!) The Big Show (SD!) Ezekiel Jackson (RAW) Santino Marella (SD!) Alberto Del Rio (RAW) Randy Orton (SD!) Kane |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 |
ORDER OF ELIMINATION Justin Gabriel (by Bryan at #3) Zack Ryder (by Punk at #4) William Regal (by ??? at #7) Chavo Guerrero (by Henry at #11) Yoshi Tatsu (by Henry at #11) JTG (by McGillicutty at #13) Ted DiBiase (by Nexus at #13) Daniel Bryan (by Nexus at #15) Chris Masters (by Nexus at #15) John Morrison (by Nexus at #15) Mark Henry (by Nexus at #15) Tyler Reks (by Nexus at #16) Vladimir Kozlov (by Nexus at #17) R-Truth (by Nexus at #18) Husky Harris (by Khali at #19) The Great Khali (by Ryan at #20) Booker T (by Ryan at #21) Mason Ryan (by Cena at #22) Michael McGillicutty (by Cena at #22) David Otunga (by Cena at #22) C.M. Punk (by Cena at #23) Tyson Kidd (by Cena at #24) Heath Slater (by Cena at #25) Hornswoggle (by Sheamus at #28) Jack Swagger (by Mysterio at #29) Deisel (by Barrett at #34) Dolph Ziggler (by Big Show at #35) Alex Riley (by Cena/Kofi at #35) Drew McIntyre (by Big Show at #36) The Big Show (by Ezekiel at #36) Kofi Kingston (by Orton at #39) King Sheamus (by Orton at #39) Ezekiel Jackson (by Kane at #40) Kane (by Mysterio at #40) Rey Mysterio (by Barrett at #40) John Cena (by Miz illegally at #40) Wade Barrett (by Orton at #40) Randy Orton (by Alberto at #40) Santino Marella (by Alberto at #40) WINNER: Alberto Del Rio!!! |
From Kevin Nash’s Twitter: Absolutely the best night of my wrestling career. It’s so nice to be back in WWE family. Thanks Boston for making me feel so special.
| For those interested, here were the times and number of eliminations from tonight’s 2011 WWE Royal Rumble. For more information, visit The History of WWE at http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com | |
| Time in the Rumble Match CM Punk (35:22) *Ironman* John Cena (33:18) Wade Barrett (22:24) Kofi Kingston (21:05) Daniel Bryan (20:56) Rey Mysterio Jr. (19:08) Sheamus (18:18) Husky Harris (15:59) Michael McGillicutty (15:07) John Morrison (13:22) Santino Marella (12:55) Alberto Del Rio (12:33) *Winner* Ted Dibiase Jr. (12:16) David Otunga (11:57) Hornswoggle (9:39) Randy Orton (8:20) Ezekiel Jackson (7:14) Mark Henry (7:03) Yoshi Tatsu (5:35) Dolph Ziggler (5:02) Jack Swagger (4:51) Drew McIntyre (4:46) Mason Ryan (4:30) William Regal (4:10) The Big Show (3:31) Alex Riley (3:16) Diesel (2:44) Chavo Guerrero Jr. (2:01) Chris Masters (1:57) Kane (1:36) JTG (1:48) The Great Khali (1:16) Booker T (1:08) Justin Gabriel (0:58) Heath Slater (0:57) Tyson Kidd (0:52) Zack Ryder (0:43) Vladimir Kozlov (0:40) Tyler Reks (0:34) R-Truth (0:30) |
Eliminations (assists included) CM Punk (7) *tie* John Cena (7) *tie* Michael McGillicutty (4) Randy Orton (3) Husky Harris (3) Daniel Bryan (2) Mark Henry (2) Rey Mysterio Jr. (2) Wade Barrett (2) Alberto Del Rio (2) Mason Ryan (2) The Big Show (2) David Otunga (2) Ted Dibiase Jr. (1) The Great Khali (1) Sheamus (1) Kofi Kingston (1) Ezekiel Jackson (1) Kane (1) Miz (1) *not an entrant |
