wrestling: royal rumble 2012

Royal Rumble (2012) was the twenty-fifth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. It took place on January 29, 2012 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.^[3]^[4]

As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania (in this instance:WrestleMania XXVIII) for his choice at either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship.

Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the annual 30-competitor Royal Rumble. Sheamus, the twenty-second entrant, won the match by last eliminating Chris Jericho, the twenty-ninth entrant. Two title matches were featured, such as a WWE Championship match with CM Punk defending againstDolph Ziggler, which Punk won to retain the title; also featured was a Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship between the reigning champion Daniel Bryan, Big Show and Mark Henry, which Bryan won to retain the championship.

The event received 443,000 pay-per-view buys, down from 446,000 buys the previous year's event received.^[5]^[6]

Results[edit]

No.	Results^[15]	Stipulations	Times^{[citation needed]}
Pre-show	Yoshi Tatsu defeated Heath Slater ^[16]	Singles match	04:00
1	Daniel Bryan (c) defeated Big Show and Mark Henry by escaping the cage^[11]	Triple threat steel cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship	09:08
2	The Divas of Doom (Beth Phoenix and Natalya) and The Bella Twins (Brie Bellaand Nikki Bella) defeated Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, and Tamina^[17]	Eight-Diva tag team match	05:29
3	John Cena vs. Kane ended in a double countout^[18]	Singles match	10:56
4	Brodus Clay (with Cameron and Naomi) defeated Drew McIntyre^[19]	Singles match	01:05
5	CM Punk (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler^[20]	Singles match for the WWE Championship John Laurinaitis served as the special guest enforcer Jack Swagger and Vickie Guerrero were banned from ringside	14:33
6	Sheamus last eliminated Chris Jericho to win^[12]	30-wrestler Royal Rumble match for the winner's choice of a WWE or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII	54:55
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

^[21]

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by	Time
1	The Miz	25	Big Show	45:39
2	Alex Riley	1	The Miz	01:15
3	R-Truth	2	The Miz	04:57
4	Cody Rhodes	24	Big Show	43:57
5	Justin Gabriel	4	Foley & Rodriguez	06:12
6	Primo	3	Foley	01:57
7	Mick Foley	8	Rhodes	06:34
8	Ricardo Rodriguez	5	Marella	02:19
9	Santino Marella	7	Rhodes	02:31
10	Epico	6	Foley	00:11
11	Kofi Kingston	18	Sheamus	22:52
12	Jerry Lawler	9	Rhodes	00:43
13	Ezekiel Jackson	11	Khali	03:46
14	Jinder Mahal	10	Khali	01:17
15	The Great Khali	14	Ziggler & Rhodes	07:29
16	Hunico	16	Kharma	09:00
17	Booker T	13	Ziggler & Rhodes	04:40
18	Dolph Ziggler	26	Big Show	19:46
19	"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan	12	Rhodes	00:56
20	Michael Cole	15	Lawler & Booker T^[a]	01:23
21	Kharma	17	Ziggler	01:18
22	Sheamus	-	-	22:21
23	Road Dogg	19	Barrett	04:55
24	Jey Uso	20	Orton	07:05
25	Jack Swagger	23	Sheamus & Big Show^[b]	07:59
26	Wade Barrett	21	Orton	03:55
27	David Otunga	22	Jericho	03:15
28	Randy Orton	28	Jericho	05:46
29	Chris Jericho	29	Sheamus	11:34
30	Big Show	27	Orton	01:51