Stone Cold opens up on hilarious WWE Royal Rumble botch

WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently sat down with Bleacher Report and discussed the upcoming Royal Rumble match. The Rattlesnake also opened up on his Royal Rumble 1996 botch.

According to Austin, he was scheduled to be the fourth-to-last wrestler left in the squared circle. Courtesy the botch, he was eliminated from the match way before the actual spot could take place.

I was supposed to be like the fourth-to-last guy left in the ring, a pretty damn good spot and a pretty good shove from the company for a guy coming in. I did a clothesline spot with Fatu and was going to hang onto the top rope and come back in. Well, the thing was, everybody was wearing baby oil in those days, so the ropes and everything was very, very slippery, and I couldn’t grab the top rope, and I ended up on my a** on the floor, eliminated early.

I had to get Shawn Michaels’ attention and let him know I was out. He had to figure out how to fix my mess. I go back to the back, and I’m thinking, ‘OK man, here’s this company taking a chance on me, and I blew it.’

Also read: Former Intercontinental Champion hopes to confront Brock Lesnar in the Royal Rumble

The free-for-all was won by Shawn Michaels, who went on to defeat Bret "The Hitman" Hart for the WWE title at WrestleMania 12. Austin, on the other hand, met Savio Vega at The Show of Shows in a winning effort. His time to shine would come soon though, as the King of the Ring 1996 was almost on the horizon.

About the author

Abhilash Mendhe is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda with nearly five years of experience. He completed his MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management in 2016 and worked with multiple banking institutions, including Tech Mahindra. While he started writing WWE articles for Sportskeeda in 2019 as a hobby, it eventually became a significant part of his professional journey.

Abhilash checks his articles thrice before sending them to the editing team, ensuring his work is highly accurate and reliable.

He has interviewed prominent pro wrestling personalities like Noam Dar, Angry Miz Girl, Brendan Cobbina, and Jesse Lambert. Abhilash is a big fan of AEW star Orange Cassidy, as he believes the former International Champion’s on-screen gimmick of an extremely lazy guy resonates with him.

Given the opportunity to script WWE’s next big storyline, Abhilash would treat fans to the second installment of The Bloodline Civil War. He would book Roman Reigns to re-form The Bloodline with The Usos and Sami Zayn upon his comeback. The angle would see The Tribal Chief-led group go head-to-head with The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu in a blockbuster family feud.

When not reporting on pro wrestling, Abhilash likes to work out, go on walks, read, and explore new eateries.

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Edited by Nishant Jayaram