10 Genius Wrestling Decisions Made Up On The Fly
7. The 2005 Royal Rumble Match
The memorable ending to the Royal Rumble main event in 2005 has been widely discussed, scrutinized and analysed for years by fans and journalists. It’s often said anything can happen in World Wrestling Entertainment, and that was no more evident than Batista and John Cena screwing up the finish to the 30-man match.
The plan had always been for Batista to eliminate Cena cleanly and dominantly to boost his status going into his first time headlining WrestleMania against Triple H for the World title. But as know that didn’t exactly happen, with Batista trying to powerbomb Cena but their balance being so off it sent both of them over the ropes and crashing down hard on the ringside floor at the same time.
At first WWE executives scrambled to see if they could find a camera angle that showed Cena’s feet touching the floor first. When they couldn’t locate one, the announcers started hyping the drama of the double elimination as Vince McMahon furiously marched to the ring to restart the match (and legitimately tear both his quads on live TV in the process).
Only adding to the drama and fanfare, Vince off-the-cuff ordered the match to restart, and Batista threw Cena over the tope rope decisively for the win.