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The 2021 Royal Rumble match will take center stage tonight as WWE presents the first Royal Rumble without a live audience. This means that there will be several differences as part of tonight's show, but since the show will still be performed live in the ThunderDome, there are potential for botches.
Over the years there have been several small botches in the annual Royal Rumble matches where many WWE stars have tripped over their opponents or failed to connect with certain moves. Over the course of the past three decades, there have also been some much bigger and more memorable botches as part of the annual Royal Rumble match as well.
Whilst Titus O'Neil's Greatest Royal Rumble botch is one that is still fresh in the minds of the WWE Universe, the former Tag Team Champion won't be featured on the following list, since The Greatest Royal Rumble is not part of the annual Royal Rumble history.
The following list looks at just five of the best botches from the history of The Royal Rumble, and several that the WWE Universe may not have known were botches at the time.
#5. Vince McMahon blows out both his quads at the 2005 Royal Rumble
Vince McMahon was forced to make his way to the ring following the 2005 Royal Rumble match after John Cena and Batista both won the match. The WWE Chairman stomped his way down to the ring but was left sat against the ropes looking quite angry for several minutes, after McMahon tore his quads whilst getting into the ring.
This gave off an iconic image as Cena and Batista remained in the ring and McMahon seemingly shouted at them from his seated position on the floor. It was a tense couple of minutes as referees and officials looks around for some kind of direction from the WWE Chairman before he was helped out of the ring and back out of the arena.
The 2005 Royal Rumble match remains memorable for several reasons, but the image of the WWE Chairman stomping down to the ring when the end of the match went wrong and blowing out both his quads has become iconic in WWE history.
#4. John Cena and Batista both win the 2005 Royal Rumble match
As noted, the 2005 Royal Rumble match definitely didn't go to plan, there is only supposed to be one winner of the annual match and somehow in 2005 Batista and John Cena were both able to land outside the ring on both feet at the exact same time.
WWE made it clear that a superstar isn't eliminated unless both feet touch the floor and even though Bret Hart and Lex Luger were joint winners of The Royal Rumble back in 1994, this wasn't something that WWE was prepared for a decade later.
The referees looked to each other for assistance whilst different ones declared that both Cena and Batista were the winners.
In the end, Vince McMahon was forced to make his way to the ring to restart the match with just the two men, so that a single winner could be determined. Batista and Cena then slugged it out for another few minutes before The Animal was declared the winner when he was able to eliminate John Cena but remain inside the ring himself.
#3. Alex Riley falls out of the ring at the 2011 Royal Rumble
Alex Riley perhaps isn't considered a memorable name from the 2011 Royal Rumble match, but interestingly his botch has become something that he is now best remembered for.
Riley entered The Royal Rumble at number 34, since this was the only Royal Rumble in WWE history to feature 40 WWE stars instead of 30. The star was only able to last two minutes in the match before he was eliminated after being thrown over the top rope by Kofi Kingston and John Cena.
Riley was fighting the duo off on the ring apron, before he seemed as though he slipped off and landed on the floor outside. Kingston's reaction shows that he tries to catch Riley to stop him from falling, which points out that this wasn't in the original script.
According to reports following the show, Riley was supposed to remain in the match for another five minutes, but his fellow WWE stars were able to improvise the rest of the match without him.
#2. Titus O'Neil can't get out of the ring fast enough at The 2015 Royal Rumble
Titus O'Neil is definitely more famous for another iconic botch that came back at the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. O'Neil slipped on his way to the ring and fell underneath it before he was able to actually enter the match.
Three years earlier, O'Neil was part of another interesting Royal Rumble botch after he was sent out to the ring to be eliminated as quickly as possible. O'Neil was set to be eliminated from the match in around one second like Santino Marella and the plan was for Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns to be waiting to throw him back over the ropes as soon as he climbed in.
As Reigns and Ambrose looked to throw Titus back over the top rope, the former Tag Team Champion got stuck on the ropes, which delayed his exit time, meaning that instead of being in the Rumble for just one second, O'Neil's actual time was four seconds.
#1. Stone Cold Steve Austin is accidentally eliminated from the 1996 Royal Rumble match
Stone Cold Steve Austin was ready to make an impact at the 1996 Royal Rumble since this was his first WWE pay-per-view match. The original plan for Austin was for him to be part of the final four in the match, but that didn't work out because of some baby oil.
In an interview back in 2017, Steve Austin revealed that he was set for a huge push in his first year in the company, but this shockingly came to a surprise end when he accidentally eliminated himself from the annual Royal Rumble match.
When Rikishi ran at Austin mid-way through the match and looked to deliver a clothesline, the WWE Hall of Famer used a little too much force and, because he was covered in baby oil, Austin fell over the top rope and was unable to stop himself from landing on the floor.
Luckily, the men in the match were able to improvise to ensure that Steve Austin's botch wasn't as noticeable to the WWE Universe.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
