The Royal Rumble is the most unpredictable match of the year, and with 30 men and women, in one ring the potential for mistakes to be made at any time are a huge factor. So we did some Royal Rumble homework and found out some of our favorite mistakes, blunders, and botches that have happened over the years.
Taka Michi… No Clue?
Taka Michinoku was one hell of a light heavyweight, who didn’t quite reach anywhere near the potential should have in WWE (due to bad booking, and a lackluster lightweight division)
Taka was instead relegated to matches with bigger guys because nothing makes the big guys look strong like wrestling someone they can spend the whole match rag-dolling, who just happens to be half their size. This went a step too far when Taka took a huge bump in the year 2000 Rumble when his rough landing caused a dislocated shoulder and bloody face.
KO Punk
Who would have known that 2014’s Royal Rumble match would be the last time (to this date) we would see CM Punk in the WWE, worse still who would have known it was possibly his good friend Kofi Kingston that may have pushed him over the edge.
CM Punk was clearly run down, and in no state to be wrestling the schedule he was, couple that with him having a staph infection and it’s a wonder he even made it to the ring. You would think that with all this going on WWE officials would give him a lighter showing for the Rumble, but this wasn’t the case.
Punk entered the Royal Rumble match first and wrestled for almost 50 minutes. After he walked out on WWE he revealed on Colt Cabana’s ‘Art of Wrestling’ podcast that not only did he suffer a concussion from a clothesline from Kingston, but when he told the ringside doctor he was less than helpful.
In his own words, “I motion to Doc. I go, ‘I have a concussion.’ And he was like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ And I just started laughing and I was just like, ‘Doctor, you are one of the most worthless pieces of shit I have ever met in my entire life.”
Randy Savage – Rule Breaker
It’s strange to think of a wrestler who is so meticulous about planning and scripting out his match, to completely forget where he is and intentionally break the most fundamental rule of a match, but that’s exactly what happened in 1992 to ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.
This was during the time Savage and Jake Roberts were in the middle of a heated rivalry, so it made sense for Macho to eliminate Roberts. What didn’t make sense was Savage then taking a dive over the top rope to attack Roberts outside the ring.
With everyone scrambling to find out what to do next, Gorilla Monsoon firstly says he is eliminated, then retracts that and says that he isn’t eliminated because he jumped and wasn’t thrown out. After a few minutes, it was The Undertaker who saved the day, by sliding out the ring to get Savage and everything returned back to normality.
‘Slippery’ Steve Austin
Even the best of them botch sometimes, the year was 1996 and the debut Rumble for one of the biggest names in wrestling, just not with the name you think.
Steve Austin was known as ‘The Ringmaster’ a cool, calm, and collected mechanic in the ring, flanked by ‘The Million Dollar Man’.
Although it was his first Rumble, he was set for a big enough put to see him make it to the final four, but after a slippery back and forth with a heavily baby oiled Fatu this wasn’t to be. Austin found himself sitting on the floor outside the ring, with no idea what to do. The best he could muster was a glance to Shawn Michaels that said ‘I screwed up, I’m out’
HBK’s Crimson Mass
It’s a well-known fact that Shawn Michaels has done it all, and will go above and beyond to entertain the fans. Especially in a Royal Rumble match, Michaels is of course the first man to go coast to coast in a Rumble match. Entering first in 1995 and lasting over 40 minutes to win the whole thing.
But it was in 2008 when ‘Hardcore’ Holly lived up to his extreme moniker, stomped on Michaels’s face, and inadvertently caused some clear damage. A bloodied and broken Michaels continued the match for almost 30 minutes.
You Can’t See… Alex Riley
Way back in 2011, Alex Riley was set to be a main eventer, he looked the part, could talk, and was solid enough in the ring. He was paired with the (then) WWE Champion The Miz, and all looked good for a decent push. What better way to get some heat than to be the guy to put the blockers on John Cena’s Wrestlemania plans?
Riley knew what he had to do, but all went wrong when he took a tumble over the ropes, and instead of working for the crowd he worked himself and ended up on the floor. You could clearly see the panic in the ringside officials and Cena himself, all looking for word of ‘Plan B’ from the back.
It’s interesting to wonder what could have happened, could this of been Riley’s big push going over in a Wrestlemania match against Cena? I guess we will never know…
Two Winner or Two Losers?
In 2005 John Cena and Batista were without a doubt WWE biggest stars, so it would make perfect sense for them to be the final two in the Royal Rumble, but who goes over? Well, the mistake that happened at the ending of this match was so unbelievable that it could have easily come out of a booking meeting.
Batista was originally meant to win the Rumble clean, but accidents happen and both men took a tumble. Amazingly both men hit the floor at exactly the same time, making it all look like a worked angle.
Stalling for time the officials outside couldn’t decide a winner, so Vince McMahon came out and restarted the match, and the correct finish was executed.
Two For One
If a botched finish at the Royal Rumble 2005 and having Vince McMahon come out to fix it wasn’t bad enough, Vince had to do all his decision making sitting on the ring like an angry toddler.
Unfortunately for Vince, while he was getting in the ring he tore both quads so was completely unable to stand in the ring. This wasn’t going to stop Vince from being Vince and began shouting orders with sitting in the ring. Even more amazingly, all the officials in the ring and both Cena and Batista didn’t miss a beat and looked at this as completely normal practice.
Vince would actually make it backstage unaided, which is just insane to even think about walking the length of the ramp and entrance with two torn quads, but this is Vince McMahon.
There are some of out favourite Royal Rumble mistakes, blunders and botches.
Do you know any that happened that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know below.
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