Welcome one and all to the first edition of WTF?! What The Fact! We are starting with some of my favorite Royal Rumble Botches, Blunders and Mistakes.
The Royal Rumble match has so much space for error its not surprising that some of the people involved have a bit of a brain fart and do the wrong thing.
Shawn Michaels Breaks His Face?
2008
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 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
2011
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 the crowd he worked himself and ended up on the floor. You could clearly see the panic in the ring side officials and Cena himself, all looking for word of ‘Plan B’ from the back.
It’s interesting to wonder what could of happened, could this of been Riley’s big push going over in a Wrestlemania match against Cena? I guess we will never know…
‘Slippery’ Steve Austin
1996
Even the best of us 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 push 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’
Taka Michi… No Clue?
2000
Taka Michinoku was one hell of a light heavyweight, who didn’t quite reach anywhere near the potential he should have in WWE (due to bad booking, and a lackluster light weight 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.
(You can even see the blood spray out of his nose and mouth when he face plants the floor)
Rule Breaker Randy Savage
1992
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.
Where Did Bayley Go?
2021
The 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble was started with Grant Slam Women’s Champion Bayley and she was all set to go the distance. At the time her and Bianca Belair were embroiled in a heated feud on Smackdown, so you would think the would be a big spot set for one to eliminate the other, right?
Well, that was the original plan, but Bayley would take a tumble earlier than expected. So early in fact that the production crew and the commentary team wouldn’t even see it happen live and have to watch the replay to react to the shocking elimination.
The plan was for Bayley to stay in longer and the elimination be a lot more exiting, leading the Belair to eventually win the whole thing, and go onto Wrestlemania.
KO Punk
2014
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 happening 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.”
Two Winner? Two Losers?
2005
In 2005 John Cena and Batista were without a doubt WWE’s 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 believable that it could of 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 work.
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 Surgeries
2005
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 being Vince and began shouting orders while 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.
AJ’s Early Shower
2020
Edge would make his triumphant return to WWE in the 2020 Royal Rumble, with his sights firmly set on the main event of Wrestlemania. When he entered the ring Edge would dish out as many Spears as he could muster, before taking a moment to soak in the crowd and being back in the ring.
Unfortunately Edge would accidentally cause AJ Styles to be taken out early when Edge’s Spear would dislocate his shoulder. Edge being the true professional would see that Styles was in pain and clearly hurt, so he eliminated him early to ensure that Styles was protected and safely out the ring.
AJ Styles would later comment on the accident saying “His move, his spear, everything was perfect the way he did it. If there is any blame put on anybody about what I’m dealing with my shoulder, it’s me. 100% me.“
There are some of the best Royal Rumble Botches, Blunders & Mistakes. Did you know them all? Do you know any more? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @SLTDWrestling
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