#2 Batista wins his first Royal Rumble – 30th January 2005
The 2005 Royal Rumble is pretty significant due to the fact that it launched the main event careers of two of the greatest stars in the WWE over the next decade. Both John Cena and Batista were given the mantle to lead the WWE and the duo would win World titles at the ensuing Wrestlemania.
In fact, the final four were Batista, Cena, Edge and Rey Mysterio – four stars who would go on to win the Rumble in the future and become multi-time WWE Champions. But first, one of them had to win the ‘05 Rumble.
The plan was for Batista to win the Rumble by eliminating Cena, but the Animal accidently eliminated himself in addition to Cena. Vince McMahon rushed to the ring and immediately tore his quadriceps – before restarting the match with Batista and Cena as the participants.
Batista made no mistake this time, tossing Cena out of the ring to win the Rumble. He would beat Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania, whereas Cena would win the WWE Championship from JBL.
