10 Wrestling Mistakes & Botches That Became Storylines

1. The Rock’s Rumble Botch

The Rock won the 2020 Royal Rumble. Good, given he was the most over and popular thing in pro wrestling and entertainment at that point in time. But the finish was marked with controversy, for when Rock threw out Big Show over the ropes for the win it could be seen in replays Rock’s feet touched the ringside floor first. On the night the WWF ignored it, focusing on Rock’s celebration and hyping him going to WrestleMania to fight for the WWF Championship.

Later, on TV, they worked the replays with different camera angles into storyline, with Big Show claiming he was the rightful true winner of the Royal Rumble and was screwed out of the win. This resulted in Rock and Show clashing at No Way Out for the WrestleMania spot. The Rumble botch was unintentional, but the WWF brilliantly worked it into its favour, with it producing multiple TV angles and matches involving Rock and Show.

It was the biggest botch in Royal Rumble history, until the 2005 event when Batista mistakenly eliminated himself as well as John Cena, making Vince McMahon storm out to the ring and tear both his quads in sheer anger.