10 Worst WWE Royal Rumble Matches Ever

9. 2005 - The Cena/Batista Botched Finish

The first 45 minutes of the 2005 Royal Rumble are excellent. With Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit as the first two entrants battling it out, then superb workers like Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho getting in the mix, it seemed like this was on course to become one of the best Rumble matches in years, if not ever. One of my favourite Rumble exchanges is when Shawn Michaels eliminates Kurt Angle and The Olympic Gold Medalist runs back in to dump HBK out of the match, setting up their WrestleMania program. It was masterfully done. Sadly, the reason this Rumble match makes it onto the list is the woeful finish where Batista is supposed to hang onto the ropes while John Cena gets eliminated only big Dave didn't hold on and both men fell to the floor at the same time. Credit where it's due, though -Batista and Cena improvised quickly and we momentarily had a revisit of the 1994 double win with Luger and Bret Hart. As if things couldn't get worse than a botched elimination for the guy you want to main event WrestleMania, then out comes Vince McMahon looking FURIOUS that the finish was screwed and, when he tries to get in the ring, tears both his quads and had to shout instructions at everyone from the mat. Atrocious stuff, but absolutely worth a watch on the Network, just to see how bad the finishing sequence and subsequent cover-up is.