10 Royal Rumble Moments WWE Wants You To Forget
Are they saying 'Boo' or 'Boo-tista'?
By the time lights fade to black on the 2017 iteration of the show, WWE will have presented no fewer than 30 Royal Rumble events (at least, on PPV). Spanning across a staggering four decades, the Rumble has become one of the promotion's most cherished ideas. It's impossible to envision the 'Road To WrestleMania' without it.
Yet, even with so much history there are moments that management would likely everyone could just forget about. It's easy to imagine that the Rumble match itself is difficult to book, as WWE's power brokers must find a way to massage the egos of top stars and still find time to fit in their supporting acts.
Things haven't always gone as planned in that regard, and as a result the Royal Rumble has witnessed some seriously shoddy moments. Eliminations that didn't do anything for either wrestler involved in the long run, so-called epic triumphs that just fell flat entirely, and even blown finishes to the historic bout are all classic examples.
All are included here, so let's get stuck in and check out 10 such Rumble moments WWE probably want everyone to let slip from memory...
10. Maven Eliminates The Undertaker (2002)
As the male winner of the first ever series of Tough Enough in 2001, Maven entered 2002 as a hot prospect for the then-WWF. A good-looking kid, Maven clearly also possessed great athletic ability and had serious potential. Still, it was jumping the gun just a little to have him oust The Undertaker from the Royal Rumble.
One of the longest-running stars in company history, 'Taker was a much different character in '02 than he is now. Far from supernatural, he was instead a tough-guy biker heel. The general idea of this elimination was to enhance Maven, although the dropkick that sent Undertaker tumbling over the top rope was booked to look like the veteran had taken his eye off the ball.
Instead of Maven being primed to rocket up the card following the Rumble, it just looked like he had been in the right place at the right time to cause such an upset. In the long run, this did little for the newcomer. Meanwhile, in the short term it made Undertaker look like a bit of a chump.