10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Disasters

Continuing the trend of elimination mishaps, here we come to Alex Riley’s departure from the 2011 Rumble match.

Having been forced over the top rope by John Cena and Kofi Kingston, Riley lost his footing after landing on the apron and ultimately slipped to a premature elimination. That would have been fine, except for the fact that Riley was supposed to have stuck around a little longer and gone on to eliminate Cena himself.

Instead, an awkward scene ensued with Cena even attempting to grab onto Riley and prevent him from falling to the outside, before spending the next 30 or so seconds crouched in the corner, seemingly trying to work out how on earth he was going to rescue the situation.

Cena would eventually end up hanging around until the final four, before an improvised finish saw Riley return from the back, distracting Cena and allowing the Miz – who wasn’t even in the match – to sneak in and bundle him over the top.

Sure, it wasn’t the original plan, but at least it was a logical piece of damage limitation.