WWE Royal Rumble: Alberto Del Rio Fulfills His "Destiny"

At last night's WWE Royal Rumble, Alberto Del Rio made good on his word and earned the right to fight for either the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship at the biggest WWE show of the year, Wrestlemania.

It was somewhat surprising that Del Rio won, given that WWE so rarely gives a new guy a chance to shine. It seemed like all the momentum was with John Cena going into the event.

This Rumble reminded me of what the event was supposed to be. In the past, by past I mean 2006, the Rumble was designed as a way to take the guy on the roster who was on the rise and had the talent to be one of the biggest stars in the company, all they needed was that big push to get them over with the fans.

Often times WWE would use this event to get those guys over in a big way. Look back at some of the names that have won the Royal Rumble in past years. Guys like Shawn Michaels (1996), Stone Cold Steve Austin (1998), The Rock (2000), Brock Lesnar (2003) and Batista (2005) all got their big break by winning this match.

That's why the idea of John Cena winning this match never made sense. Sure, these days the WWE does a lot of things that make little or no sense, but they know that they need to create a lot of new stars. Cena doesn't need any help at all. He is by far the biggest star in the company and will continue to be protected more than anyone else.

Del Rio winning made perfect business sense. He has been the best part of Smackdown since he debuted last Summer. He had a great feud with Rey Mysterio, his promos are usually always great, his ring work has been really strong and he gets as much heat with the fans as anyone. All that he was missing was that big push to make him a larger-than-life heel character.

It looks like he is getting that push right now. I will say that I am a little worried that Vince McMahon and the writers will screw this up somehow since Del Rio isn't Cena or Orton he probably won't be booked in a strong way, like he is a real threat to the championship. We have seen them do this before with a number of guys.

But that's for future booking, and at least for one night WWE got it right. The right guy won the 2011 Royal Rumble.