7 WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations That Were NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Batista (2005)

Batista John Cena Royal Rumble 2005
WWE Network

Lord only knows what was running through Batista's mind when he fell backwards over the ropes with John Cena and landed on the ringside mats slightly before him. He was booked to win the 2005 Rumble, and his confused face said it all as officials scrambled to make sense of the gimmick's latest calamity.

Batista Royal Rumble 2005
WWE Network

As seen above, Batista's right foot touched down before either of Cena's did, and that caused quite the problem for WWE. In the end, an angry Vince McMahon stormed out to fix things and wound up blowing both his quadriceps muscles; the image of a downed Vince barking instructions from the mat has become legendary.

The pair had to restart the match so Batista could win outright, and they were likely given quite the talking to by McMahon after the fact. Botching the kick off to WWE's road towards WrestleMania isn't exactly the best way to get into the boss man's good books.

Oops.

What other Rumble eliminations do you know of that weren't supposed to happen? For more WWE, check out 18 Things You Probably Missed From WWE Raw (Jan 6) and 10 Secret Pasts Of WWE Wrestlers!

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.