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The Royal Rumble match is dubbed the most exciting contest in all of sports entertainment, by many. The match features a whopping 30 Superstars competing for a shot at the big prize at The Grandest Stage Of Them All, WrestleMania. This makes room for tons of interesting possibilities over the course of 60 minutes or so.
Over the past three decades or so, the Royal Rumble match has seen countless eliminations. The objective of the match is to throw out your opponents till there's no one left but yourself, in the ring. Strangely, there have been a bunch of instances in Royal Rumble history, where Superstars eliminated themselves, thus losing a shot at the top title at WrestleMania. In the following list, we will be taking a look at five WWE Superstars who eliminated themselves from the Royal Rumble match.
#5 Andre The Giant runs out of the ring when Jake Roberts shows up with Damien (Royal Rumble 1989)
The 1989 Royal Rumble match was the first of its kind to have 30 men compete in the ring. At No. 3, Andre The Giant came out and as fans had expected, began wreaking havoc in the squared circle. Soon after, Jake Roberts entered in at No. 7, and the two men began brawling. Immediately after, Jake Roberts was thrown out of the Royal Rumble by Andre, but the former wasn't done here.
Jake Roberts came back inside the ring and forced Andre The Giant to eliminate himself from the Royal Rumble
A short while later, Roberts returned, but he had his snake Damien with him this time around. Roberts threw Damien inside the ring. As soon as Andre noticed the snake in the middle of the ring, he immediately bailed and ran to the back in sheer terror. Roberts got hold of Damien following the elimination, and took it to the back with him. At WrestleMania V, Roberts and Andre The Giant finally settled their score in a singles contest. It was Jake Roberts who emerged victorious in the end, but the victory came via DQ.
#4 Kane gets crazy and wreaks havoc in the Royal Rumble match (Royal Rumble 1999)
By the time Royal Rumble 1999 came around, Kane had established himself as one of the most terrifying entities in all of WWE. He had feuded with some of WWE's top Superstars by that point, including his brother, The Undertaker. Kane entered the Royal Rumble on this night, and made it clear that he meant business. Kane was two years away from creating a record of 11 eliminations in the Royal Rumble match, but he did fine on this night as well.
Kane threw out four Superstars from the Royal Rumble in quick succession
Kane came out to the ring and began eliminating Superstars one after the other. He threw out Road Dogg, Kurrgan, Goldust, and The Godfather from the Royal Rumble, and was the only one left in the ring at that point. Suddenly, a bunch of asylum workers came out to the ring, in an attempt to commit Kane. He wasn't having any of it though, and put down most of the workers as the crowd cheered in unison. Kane then ran after the remaining workers, thus eliminating himself from the Royal Rumble match.
#3 Mick Foley makes a surprise entrance and immediately targets Randy Orton (Royal Rumble 2004)
At Royal Rumble 2004, Mick Foley was nowhere to be seen, forcing Jim Ross to dub him a coward. Randy Orton had been feuding with Foley for a while at that point. When Test was about to enter, the camera panned to the back, where Steve Austin was tending to a fallen Test. Austin immediately told a mystery person to enter the Royal Rumble match in place of Test. As a horrified Orton looked at the entranceway, Mick Foley came out to a big ovation, and entered the Royal Rumble match.
Foley didn't have any intention to win the Royal Rumble
Foley had one goal in his mind on that night, and that was to beat Randy Orton to a pulp. He began brawling with Orton in the ring, and proceeded to eliminate Orton as well as himself from the Royal Rumble, with the help of a flying clothesline. The duo brawled for a while before Orton bailed to the back. This story didn't end at the Royal Rumble, as Foley and Orton were involved in a Handicap match at WrestleMania, which saw Evolution defeating The Rock 'n' Sock Connection.
#2 Santina Marella decides to quit the match before she gets destroyed by Beth Phoenix and Natalya (Royal Rumble 2020)
Santina Marella was the "twin sister" of Santino Marella, and made her first appearance at WrestleMania 25, years before her 2020 Royal Rumble appearance. Fans might remember that Santina Marella had won the Ms. WrestleMania Battle Royal at the event. On this night though, 'she' wasn't as lucky as she was 11 years ago. Santina entered in at No. 29, and soon found herself in the midst of the action. Santina Marella realized that Beth Phoenix and Natalya were both almost ready to pounce on her and throw her out of the Royal Rumble match.
Santina Marella decided to quit the Royal Rumble
As fans watched in amusement, Santina Marella took out the 'Cobra', a sock puppet that was popularized by Santino Marella, back when he was a mainstay on WWE TV. Santina Marella almost hit both Beth Phoenix and Natalya with the Cobra, but then decided against the same.
She then proceeded to hit herself with the Cobra, and threw herself out of the Royal Rumble match, as thousands of fans cheered in response to the amusing bit. Both Natalya and Phoenix failed to win the Royal Rumble in the end. Charlotte Flair was the one who won the Royal Rumble when all was said and done, and punched her ticket to a Women's title match at WrestleMania.
#1 Matt Hardy eliminates himself while throwing Bray Wyatt out of the free-for-all (Royal Rumble 2018)
A long time before his Royal Rumble 2018 appearance, Matt Hardy was busy reinventing himself in IMPACT Wrestling. At the time, WWE fans were excited about the possibility of him returning someday and feuding with Bray Wyatt. A while after Matt Hardy made his WWE return at WrestleMania 33, the company decided to give the fans this feud. Soon after Survivor Series 2017, Hardy became Woken Matt Hardy, and kicked off a feud with Bray Wyatt. The Royal Rumble match saw Bray Wyatt lasting 20+ minutes, until Matt Hardy came out to the ring.
Matt Hardy proceeded to sacrifice himself in order to throw Bray Wyatt out of the Royal Rumble
Matt Hardy entered the Royal Rumble match at No. 19. Hardy and Wyatt both eliminated Rusev, who had been in the Royal Rumble match for 30 minutes at that point. Hardy and Wyatt then put their focus on each other, and kicked off a brawl in the middle of the ring. It ended with Hardy throwing Wyatt out of the Royal Rumble match, and eliminating himself in the process.
