8 Things About Wrestling That Just Don’t Make Sense

6. The Royal Rumble Rules Are Full Of Loopholes

The Royal Rumble match is one of the highlights of the WWE calendar every year, with 30-men battling it out in a Battle Royal match to earn a title shot at Wrestlemania. There is one key rule to this match €“ If you are thrown over the top rope and both your feet touch the ground then you are eliminated. Unfortunately this seems to be the ONLY rule in the match which poses a number of questions about the intelligence of the wrestlers involved in the match. Take a typical Royal Rumble match for instance. Wrestlers #1 and #2 get into the ring and the match starts. After a minute the buzzer sounds and out comes Wrestler #3. Now if you€™re Wrestler #3 and your dream is to compete in the main event at Wrestlemania then what incentive is there for you to actually get into the ring so early on in the match? There just isn't any! Or indeed let€™s look at another example of being able to exploit the lack of rules that some wrestlers actually do take advantage of (but not often enough for us not to still question their intelligence). If things get too heated in the ring then why not exit throw the bottom ropes and give yourself time to recover? There is no penalty for doing this and also no limit to the number of times you can leave during the match. The 1999 Royal Rumble is a prime example of this flaw, with Vince McMahon winning the match despite leaving the ring on numerous occasions, even joining the commentary team at one point! The annoying thing about this lack of rules is that it is an easily fixable problem that won€™t change the Royal Rumble match in any way other than to increase its legitimacy. Simply introduce these two simple rules: - A Wrestler who doesn€™t enter the ring before the next participant enters gets eliminated (this rule could even be used to add suspense if a popular babyface is attacked on his way to the ring and has to fight off his attackers to make it into the ring in time). - Wrestlers are eliminated if they exit the ring (without going over the top rope) more than twice and also if they don€™t re-enter the ring within a minute of leaving it. Problem solved!