10 Times WWE Totally BOTCHED The Royal Rumble
9. 2005
The John Cena/Batista double elimination wasn't a particularly bad or hilarious botch.
Quite the opposite in fact. Without knowledge of what was actually supposed to happen, you'd be forgiven for thinking the dazed and confused look on Big Dave and the covered shame of John Cena are part of an exquisitely performed tribute to the equally excellent Royal Rumble 1994 Lex Luger/Bret Hart stereo tumble.
It's a chaotic closing scene but one familiar to older fans and captivating to younger ones - these inseparable megastars-elect on separate successful roads to WrestleMania couldn't even be parted by the Royal Rumble match itself.
At least, that's the way this could have played out had an increasingly erratic Vince McMahon not stormed straight out there to b*llock the living sh*t out of them, blow one quad out attempting to slide into the ring and other trying to walk that off, restart the match and ultimately create one of the strangest conclusions to any pay-per-view in wrestling history.
One rewatch and even the briefest mining of that once-great promoters head could have sold a follow-up pay-per-view of the back of it. Instead, he sold both men short with a lame quick-fire elimination of Cena by Batista, doing substantially more harm to 'The Champ' that the original mistake.