10 Wrestlers Who Hated WWE Royal Rumble Spots
9. Management Hated Paul London's Brilliant Bump - 2005
WWE is an incredibly petty company. In a way, it is almost impressive. The world’s largest wrestling promotion seems to have the flakiest of skin, liable to throw a hissy fit at the most ridiculous of events. Heck, the company is not above punishing its own performers for, you know, trying to make the show better.
Paul London was a victim of this, in the aftermath of the 2005 Royal Rumble. One of the few things that anybody remembers from that Rumble (besides from the finish, but let’s not get ahead ourselves) was London’s dramatic elimination at the hands of Snitsky. The junior heavyweight found himself on the apron as Big Gene came hurtling towards him, lariat-a-waiting. The clothesline found his mark, and London essentially performed a shooting star press to the floor. It was magnificent.
According to various reports following the match, WWE brass was mighty unhappy with what it saw as an attempt to stand out. London was punished, doing a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the year before his team with Brian Kendrick was established a year later. Yes, ‘winning the Cruiserweight Championship’ counts as doing a whole lot of nothing in WWE.
To be fair to Snitsky, it wasn’t his fault.