Failures are part of the struggle. It can happen to anyone at any time. It’s cringe-inducing when a player mid-carding forgets his lines and has to pause and pretend to wait for a silent crowd to settle down. It’s heartbreaking when a routine action goes horribly wrong and results in an unfortunate injury. It’s funny when Dolph Ziggler has to take control of an entire Elimination Chamber match. Sometimes, however, there comes one failure that’s bigger than the rest. Viewers were rewarded with this experience during the 2005 edition Royal Rumble. Not just in one of the biggest shows of the year, but at the climax of the most popular match in all of professional wrestling, Batista and John Cena both flew over the top rope and then, as in a sitcom, everything continued to go wrong. in such a comical way.
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UPDATED: 2025/01/23 5:00 PM EST BY ISHAAN SHARMA
Royal Rumble 2005 was infamous for many reasons. From a sloppy finish to the referees’ confusion as to the true winner, the match resumed with the final two wrestlers, John Cena and Batista, and Vince McMahon suffering a serious injury, all in the span of a few minutes.
It’s been two decades since that pay-per-view, and even though nothing like it has happened again in WWE, fans still talk about how the 2005 Royal Rumble ended. It was certainly a one-of-a-kind experience for all the world – from the wrestlers to the fans who attended the show – involved.
Batista was supposed to win the Royal Rumble the normal way
The Botch pushed Vince McMahon into the ring
- The 2005 Royal Rumble had a controversial ending, with Batista and John Cena eliminating each other at the same time.
- Batista scored six eliminations in the match, while John Cena eliminated three wrestlers.
- Batista was ultimately declared the official winner of the match.
The original ending of the match was very simple. Cena and Batista clash, hit each other a bit, and Batista hits a Batista Bomb and throws Cena over the top rope. Nothing you wouldn’t miss from most other Rumble matches. However, during the Batista Bomb, Big Dave lost his balance. He flew back and fell over the top rope with Cena still above his head. He tried to hook his arm onto the rope, but couldn’t do it in time. Fortunately, none of them were injured, but the timing is truly impeccable. They both hit the ground at the same time. Some say Batista actually struck first, but the fact that he was too close to cause something that wasn’t supposed to happen is crazy.
Fortunately, the brand split actually had some semblance of significance in 2005. The referees were all wearing headphones, so they were instructed to call out with a raised hand from their brand’s respective superstar, Batista for Raw and Cena for SmackDown. In a bit of a stall, Batista threw Cena over the top rope, then Cena returned the favor. This was all because people were desperately looking for Theodore Long and Eric Bischoff, the general managers at the time, but were told they could leave because their work had finished half an hour before. At this point, there was only one man who could make the difficult decision of what to do: Vince McMahon.
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Vince McMahon tore both his quads while entering the ring
Vince McMahon didn’t sell the injury on TV
- Vince McMahon had to make an appearance to save the main event.
- Batista didn’t find out Vince was injured until the next day.
- Vince had previously injured his left quad twice, as he revealed to Pat McAfee in 2022.
Even if Bischoff and Teddy were still there, there wasn’t much they could have done. They should favor their brand representative for storyline purposes, just like referees. It would have just been the same thing. After all the dithering and everyone in the ring just trying to figure out what to do next because their impressive improvisation skills were running out, Vince McMahon came viciously storming into the ring with the fury of God in his eyes. He threw his jacket on the ground, ran towards the ring and slipped into it.
Well, as much as Vince likes to think so, he was never a gifted professional wrestler. This became clear when he slammed his thighs on the apron and tore his quad. Vince, who was supposed to make a final decision, tried to get up but couldn’t get up. The billionaire then sat in the middle of the ring while four referees, John Cena and Dave Batista yelled at him. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, the look of shock and confusion on Vince’s face as the camera filmed him said it all. Vince then made the only decision that would have made sense and resumed the match. Batista quickly hit a Spine Buster and sent Cena over the top rope.
As Vince exited the ring and backstage, he was visibly favoring his uninjured leg, which led to him tearing that quad. As Jim Ross recalledafter the match was over, he and Tazz closed out the show, then went backstage to find Vince on the floor in Gorilla position. Vince started screaming in anger and astronomical pain for everyone to leave him alone and that’s exactly what everyone did.
This was truly one of the most memorable moments of the Royal Rumble match. The fact that this took place right before a big Asian tour and the first ever Raw and SmackDown took place in Japan makes it even better. That wasn’t a bad thing though. The crowd was electric throughout the entire ordeal, Batista and Cena looked like the stars they were going to be, and it proves just how wacky and fun professional wrestling can be. The story of how the 2005 Royal Rumble Match ended will live on for generations, as it should.
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Batista thought WWE would fire him for this mistake
Batista spoke about the Royal Rumble incident with Chris Van Vliet
- Batista signed with WWE in 2000 and worked there until 2010 before leaving.
- Early in his career, Batista was always afraid of losing his job.
- Batista was one of the best babyfaces in WWE in the 2000s.
In September 2024, Batista sat down with Chris Van Vliet to talk about this Royal Rumble match. In 2005, Batista thought he was going to get fired from WWE. Not just because of the failure, as he explained, but also because of the other problems that will arise in this battle royal.
He was late to the show, McMahon was already mad at him, he also missed the finish, then the boss came to the ring. Anyone who has worked with McMahon knows that his unexpected arrival is usually not a good sign.
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Luckily, he didn’t get kicked out and Vince simply came out to restart the match. But the next day, McMahon called Batista to his office and The Animal was nervous again. To his surprise, Vince just laughed at the whole thing because it was so unexpected. Thus, Batista retained his job in WWE and later became the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 21.
