10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Disasters
6. The Commentary Free-For-All - 2012
Amongst the surprise participants the Royal Rumble tends to throw up, the occasional gimmicky inclusion usually goes down just fine. Two, in some cases, is just about acceptable but three just feels like its taking the biscuit – especially when one of those three inclusions is a non-wrestling commentator in the form of Michael Cole.
Creating a piece of Royal Rumble trivia, all three commentators at the 2012 event ended up being surprise entrants in the Rumble match itself. Along with Cole, Jerry Lawler and Booker T also stepped between the ropes, with that latter pair at least having the legitimacy of once being full-time wrestlers.
Cole, on the other hand, very much didn't have that pedigree. And while his cameo mercifully lasted less than 90 seconds before he was eliminated, fittingly, by Lawler and Booker, the whole debacle turned the middle part of the match into something of a joke.
To borrow a phrase from William Regal, it felt like a besmirching of the Royal Rumble name and was, frankly, a waste of valuable spots in the match.