Royal Rumble 2011 Dumbest Ass Award: Rey Mysterio

The Royal Rumble match is a 30 man over the top rope battle royal, and it's every man for himself. That invites strategy. It's a tactical war as much as a test of physical strength and endurance. Too often, wrestlers either forget this fact or ignore it completely. They do so by engaging in such ridiculously dumb behavior like outright stopping eliminations from occurring. There are exceptions, of course, like tag teams or factions attempting to work together to give themselves the best chance to win but generally, it's a really stupid idea to stop an elimination.

In each Royal Rumble, there are always wrestlers who stop multiple eliminations. In some cases, a wrestler will stop an elimination that has a monumental effect on the match and is detrimental to his chances of winning in a way he ultimately cannot overcome. I like to refer to such a wrestler as the "Dumbest Ass." Special considerations made for other stupidity.

Here, we'll hand out the award for "Dumbest Ass" in each of the Royal Rumble matches that have taken place so far.

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2011

It was the biggest Royal Rumble in history but nowhere near the dumbest.

Dumbasses

Husky Harris

1. Chris Masters was trying to throw out Daniel Bryan when Harris came up and blasted him. Then Nexus ganged up on Bryan and tossed him. Then they did the same to Masters. So there you go.

Booker T

1. He got in with four members of Nexus in the ring and somehow managed to get the upper hand on them all. So what did he do? Stopped for a Spinaroonie. He was eliminated shortly after.

Rey Mysterio

1. Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett are trying to get John Cena out and Mysterio, who is right next to it, dives at Ziggler's knees. That's weird and dumb.
2. Wade Barrett picks up Kofi Kingston near the ropes and is about to put him over when Mysterio kicks him in the leg. He then moved over to Sheamus. I don't get it.
3. This guy. He manages to eliminate Kane all by himself, which is incredible, considering, but while doing so he went over the top rope and hung out while Kane went out. After Kane was gone, he just stayed where he was looking at Kane. Because he didn't get back in the ring to relative safety, he was eliminated by Wade Barrett.

Diesel

1. Wade Barrett is in the middle of putting Rey Mysterio over the top rope to eliminate him and Diesel attacks Barrett from behind. This is especially strange because Mysterio had just given Diesel the 619 not long before then.
2. After doing that, Diesel and Barrett are battling. Barrett is leaned up against the ropes and Diesel attacks with a big boot. Barrett moves and Diesel ends up going over just enough to straddle the top rope. He acts like he's devastated by this, like he can't move at all, and he just stands there like that. Barrett seizes the opportunity and sends him packing.

Sheamus

1. John Cena was trying to eliminate Drew McIntyre when Sheamus came over stop it. In fairness, the two were working together as a team in this match. Still, it was an elimination stop.

Ezekial Jackson

1. He did the "run at another guy near the ropes with no plan of what to do when I get to him" spot and was eliminated by Kane for it. Kane didn't even propel him out, he just held the rope down.

The Dumbest Ass

Rey Mysterio

He had multiple infractions in this match, two of them just baffling decisions that were dumb but could have been harmless. His third, though, was inexcusable. If you eliminate someone and spend any amount of time just staring at him, even if you're inside the ring when you're doing it, you're just leaving yourself exposed for no good reason. To do this when you've already gone over the top rope is too stupid for words.

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Previous "Dumbest Ass" award winners:

1989: Bad News Brown
1990: Ultimate Warrior
1991: British Bulldog
1992: Hulk Hogan
1993: Randy Savage
1994: Lex Luger
1995: Lex Luger
1996: Diesel
1997: Mil Mascaras
1998: Disciples of Apocalypse
1999: Stone Cold Steve Austin
2000: Big Show
2001: The Rock
2002: Undertaker
2003: Undertaker
2004: Big Show
2005: Rey Mysterio
2006: Big Show
2007: Shawn Michaels
2008: Undertaker
2009: Undertaker
2010: John Cena