10 Times Wrestlers Were Eliminated From WWE Royal Rumble By A Teammate

9. MNM/Carlito & Chris Masters - 2006

The 2006 Royal Rumble put forward to such examples of performers eliminating their partners, albeit two wildly differing scenarios. The first came in the shape of Carlito and Chris Masters, two heels in the middle of the card who had been thrown together in the hope of creating some momentum and direction for both. The two went on to unsuccessfully challenge Big Show & Kane for the World Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 22 before going their separate ways.

The partnership between the pair was always loose however, so Masters should not have been surprised when Carlito double-crossed him in the '06 Rumble. Carlito's entire character was that of a sneaky heel, and just a few weeks earlier Mr. Caribbean Cool had rolled up his partner to eliminate the narcissistic Masters from the Elimination Chamber. There was an inevitability to this.

In many ways the opposite of Carlito & Masters, MNM were the World Tag Team Champions at the time of the 2006 Royal Rumble. Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury wore the same gear, were known as tag team wrestlers, and actually worked together for the majority of their time in the Rumble. It was this teamwork that eventually led to their elimination.

The duo attempted to hit Shawn Michaels with the Snapshot, but HBK managed to escape via a well-timed poke in the eye to Nitro, who subsequently charged Michaels but succeeded only in causing his partner to be eliminated. Mercury took a crazy bump to the outside, and was almost immediately joined by Nitro.