9 WWE Royal Rumble Tropes That Have Been Perfected

5. False Finish - John Cena & Batista (2005)

Royal Rumble 2005 End
WWE

There have been a number of false finishes in Royal Rumble history. Lex Luger and Bret Hart battled to a disappointing draw in 1994, before Shawn Michaels came back from the dead to eliminate The British Bulldog a year later. Santino Marella almost caused the biggest of all upsets in 2011, but Alberto Del Rio managed to avoid the Cobra and prevail.

The best false finish in Royal Rumble history involved two of the biggest stars of the modern era. John Cena and Batista were in similar positions going into the 2005 Rumble, and both men were likely to challenge for a world title at WrestleMania. That wasn’t in doubt, but it wasn’t clear who was going to win the prestigious Royal Rumble. 'The Animal' got the nod, but not before no small amount of controversy.

If the two tried to recreate this finish, they would fail 99 times out of a hundred. Cena and Batista tumbled over the top rope and both hit the floor at exactly the same time, in a botch that turned out to be the best possible way to end. The drama of the situation was accentuated by Vince McMahon’s subsequent muscle issues, before the match was restarted and Batista won in simple fashion.

This was one of the rare cases of a botched finish adding to a match. It presented Cena and Batista on equal levels, which they undoubtedly were, before both men went on to claim world titles at the Show of Shows.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.