10 Times WWE's Royal Rumble Caused Controversy

WWE's Royal Rumble event is deeply rooted in professional wrestling history, as seen in the beloved "by the numbers" videos the company regales fans with ahead of the match every year. Thirty men and 39 women (unless you're watching the 2011 match with 40 participants from the men's roster) enter the ring at 90 second intervals to the raucous countdown from fans in the arena, all vying for a chance to main event WrestleMania and get a championship shot.

There have been so many historic moments at the Royal Rumble throughout its almost 40 years of existence. From Chyna being the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble and Edge's emotional return in 2020 after being forced to retire years prior, to the gravity-defying stunts of Kofi Kingston to prevent his feet from touching the floor, there are moments that stick out to fans each year from the Rumble match. 

However, there are also moments from the Royal Rumble that are historic for other, more controversial reasons. Fans have rejected the winner of the men's Rumble many times throughout the years. Moments for the winner have been overshadowed, and on two occasions, there have technically been two winners of that year's match. The Royal Rumble may usually be a good time had by all both in the ring and for those watching, but it hasn't come without controversy over the years.

One of the most controversial endings to a Royal Rumble came in 2005, when John Cena and Batista botched the finish so badly it caused Vince McMahon to tear both of his quads, after storming to the ring, enraged. Batista and Cena landed outside of the ring at the same time, though Batista was meant to win the match in normal fashion, with Cena's feet meant to touch the floor. Batista however lost his balance during a Batista Bomb that was meant to eliminate Cena, they both tumbled over the top rope, and the rest is history.

The brand split between "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" came into play, with the referees around the ring raising the hand of their brand's star as the winner. With the on-screen General Managers Eric Bischoff and Teddy Long no longer in the building that night, McMahon was left to make the decision in front of the live audience. He stormed to the ring, slid in, and tore his quad when he bashed his leg on the ring apron. He was left unable to stand in the ring and barked orders at the officials and the wrestlers as he sat on the canvas. McMahon made Batista and Cena continue their battle in the ring, and "The Animal" hit a spine buster and sent Cena over the top for the actual victory. As McMahon struggled to the back, he tore his other quad, furthering the ridiculous, unplanned story that was the finish of the 2005 Royal Rumble.

Cena and Batista's botched finish wasn't the first time that had happened in WWE history, though the first was actually a planned angle rather than a mistake. The two top contenders that year, Bret Hart and Lex Luger, were named co-winners of the match, and both would go on to get a shot at then-WWE Champion Yokozuna in two separate matches at WrestleMania 10. The Royal Rumble match ended when Hart accidentally eliminated himself while trying to push Luger over the top rope.

Luger spoke about the finish on the debut episode of his "Lex Expressed" podcast, and confirmed that he and Hart had rehearsed the controversial finish alongside McMahon. He said they wanted to keep things quick and simple, and just went after each other rather than having a stylized finish. Luger had never gone over the top rope backward, however, and admitted that Hart took care of him throughout the sequence and gave all credit to "The Hitman."

This time, it wasn't McMahon who came to the ring to figure things out, but rather then-WWF President Jack Tunney who declared the stars co-winners. The WrestleMania title shot stipulation wasn't resolved until the following week on "Raw," leaving fans to ponder what exactly "co-winners" meant. Luger faced Yokozuna first at WrestleMania and lost by disqualification. Hart went on to defeat the champion, and Luger was on of the wrestlers to celebrate Hart's title victory in the ring with him.

It's hard to believe now that any victory of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's could cause controversy amongst fans, especially a Royal Rumble win. However, that was the case in 1997 for "The Rattlesnake," when he re-entered the ring after being eliminated and threw out 10 other competitors, including fan-favorite Bret Hart, who had eliminated Austin in the first place. The referees didn't see Hart eliminate Austin, however, as they were tending to Mankind and Terry Funk as they brawled outside the ring, and Austin was declared the winner in a controversial scripted moment that would ignite the iconic feud between the two men.

Instead of either man getting the championship shot at WrestleMania that year, they faced each other in a No-Disqualification submission match where former UFC fighter Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee. The match is one fans may remember as the bout that catapulted Austin into stardom, as it featured the iconic image of him trapped in Hart's Sharp Shooter submission, blood streaming down his face. The 1997 Royal Rumble was Austin's first win out of three, and he'd go on to win the next year's match as well, in non-controversial fashion, to go on to face WWE Champion Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14.

One of the more recent Royal Rumble controversies involved an event that will be held in the future. Reports began to swirl at the beginning of January that the company would be taking the event to Saudi Arabia in 2026, the first time it will be held outside North America. WWE confirmed the news and specified that the Rumble will be held in Riyadh, a location where WWE has visited before, and where the WWE Experience museum-like attraction is located. 

It was reported back in May 2024 that the country was hoping to land major WWE events to enhance the "strategic multiplatform partnership" between the country and the company. WWE is currently in the middle of a 10-year agreement with the Kingdom that lasts through 2028. The agreement initially came under fire after it was announced around the same time journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed. Fans did not respond well to the news that the beloved Rumble would be going to Saudi Arabia, and the announcement was heavily booed, though edited on television, in Los Angeles during "WWE Raw's" Netflix debut.

The first-ever event held in Saudi Arabia was the Greatest Royal Rumble, which featured a 50-man Rumble match, and the event included the likes of John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman, the latter of whom won the Rumble match and received not a title shot, but a championship belt to mark the victory, but has never been seen on WWE programming since.

When the "Yes!" movement started in WWE around 2013, fans were clamoring for Daniel Bryan to get a shot to wear gold around his waist, or at least to see him in a big WrestleMania match. Many thought the Royal Rumble match would be one of the best ways for Bryan to get there, but that year, they were sadly mistaken. In 2014, when the "Yes!" movement was in full gear, Bryan not only didn't win that year's Rumble match, he didn't even compete in the bout. It was a returning Batista who won that year after a four year absence from WWE, to raucous "boos" from the crowd in attendance. Bryan did wrestle on the pay-per-view against Bray Wyatt, but lost when Wyatt hit a Sister Abigail for the pinfall win.

The crowd at Consol Energy Center almost booed Batista out of Pittsburgh when he eliminated Roman Reigns to win the match, despite the returning star having nothing to do with the booking. Rey Mysterio also caught a major chorus of boos when he was revealed to be the final entrant in the match, not Bryan. Fans not only chanted for Bryan throughout the Rumble match, but during John Cena and Randy Orton's title bout, as well.

Fans took to social media in droves after the event, with Bryan's name trending on Twitter and some of the top comments on WWE's Facebook page included "worst PPV ever." Mick Foley even criticized the company on social media, and asked if WWE actually hated their own audience, while expressing his own disgust with the show.

One would think WWE would make amends to its fans (and Daniel Bryan) in the Royal Rumble match following the 2014 disaster, but somehow, 2015 was a repeat of the chaos, if not an even worse outcome for all involved. In 2015, the runner up of the previous year, Roman Reigns, got the victory, at a time where Vince McMahon was doing everything he could with his booking powers to get "The Big Dog" over with the fans as the face of the company. In this attempt, he brought in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Reigns' real-life cousin, in an attempt to help. Johnson appeared to help Reigns score the win in the match, then held up his arm in victory, but looked absolutely bewildered when the fans started to boo them both.

Bryan was at least in the match in 2015, but was eliminated early by Wyatt after entering the match at the No. 10 spot. He was only in the match for around 10 minutes. Perhaps WWE thought Bryan being added to the WrestleMania 30 match in 2014 and winning the WWE Championship from Randy Orton in a triple threat with Batista was enough for fans after the 2014 Rumble backlash, but with Bryan having to relinquish that title due to injury, that wasn't the case. Bryan himself has admitted that he told WWE that his quick elimination that year wouldn't go over well.

The 2015 Rumble controversy wasn't the first time The Rock had been in the midst of chaos when it came to the Rumble match. Back in 2000, he was meant to, and did, win the match, but not without a botched finish that was eventually worked into a real storyline. He entered the match at the 24th spot, clearly the favorite to win that year, and it came down to Rock and Big Show as the final two. The pair battled for awhile in the ring, before Rock used Big Show's momentum to dump him over the top rope. The spot was botched, however, and Rock's feet hit the floor first, though he was holding onto the ropes to get himself back into the ring.

WWE ignored the botch and didn't replay the angle where Rock's feet clearly hit the floor. The company ended up turning the mistake into an angle, however, where Big Show got the footage where the botch could be clearly seen, and showed it to the audience. He announced he was the true winner of the match. The feud went on for weeks, with McMahon family involvement, Big Show getting himself into the WrestleMania match, The Rock earning his own spot back, and Mick Foley also being added. It all ended with the infamous "McMahon In Every Corner" match at WrestleMania 2000.

It's not just Vince McMahon who has been embroiled in Royal Rumble controversies in the past. His son, Shane McMahon, reportedly attempted to make the 2022 match so much about himself that he was quietly let go from the company after the event. WWE brought "Shane O'Mac" back for the 30-man match and he worked as the lead producer for the bout in addition to competing in the match. Following the event, there was reportedly a lot of heat backstage on the younger McMahon, as he ended up rubbing others the wrong way, including his own father. Shane reportedly wanted to enter the match itself in a way that highlighted himself, which didn't go over well with his father, or Brock Lesnar. This all led to the infamous report that Vince said that his son would never get another pop in the company, as long as he was in charge.

Reports also noted at the time that Shane was supposed to originally enter the match at number 29 and Randy Orton would go out at 28. Things ended up getting reversed somehow with Shane's music hitting at number 28, with Orton informing him that he would absolutely not be entering the arena to "Here Comes The Money," leaving Shane to enter a spot early in the match.

Things were reportedly so bad for the younger McMahon after the Rumble match, that plans for him appearing at the next event, Elimination Chamber to set up a feud for WrestleMania that year, were scrapped. 

Perhaps the most controversial instance of a McMahon in the Royal Rumble was Vince McMahon's victory in 1999, which angered the fans in the Attitude Era. During his ongoing rivalry with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, McMahon and his nemesis were meant to enter the match at the number one and two spots. The dastardly boss even had a "bounty" on Austin and planned to reward the wrestler who threw him out of the match. WWF booked the entire match around the two men, though McMahon spent most of the time outside of the ring on commentary. They initially started brawling outside of the ring as the other competitors entered, and fans at home were treated to cuts of their brawl around the arena, rather than the wrestlers in the ring who were left to attempt to make the live crowd care.

The bounty on Austin came into play when The Rock came out to distract him, when he and McMahon were finally back in the ring, and the boss threw out "Stone Cold," winning the Rumble. The company hastily made things right a month later, when Austin defeated McMahon at St. Valentine's Day Massacre to win his WrestleMania title shot, but McMahon winning the Royal Rumble was one of the first times WWF received major fan backlash at a booking decision.

The first-ever Women's Royal Rumble Match took place in 2018, almost 20 years after trailblazer Chyna entered the men's match for the first time in 1999. The women's bout was the main event of the pay-per-view, as it was so historic, but fans were left with a different image to end the night, rather than Asuka's triumphant victory over 29 other stars and returning legends. The hotly-anticipated debut of Ronda Rousey overshadowed Asuka's victory, after the "Rowdy" one's music hit as Asuka stood in the ring, staring down champions Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair.

Rousey came down the ramp all smiles, wearing "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's signature black leather jacket, and got in the ring to point at the WrestleMania sign multiple times, though she wasn't the one to win the match. The champions and Asuka looked on as Rousey continued to play up to the fans, with commentary in shock over her appearance. While fans were initially pleased with Rousey's long-rumored debut, it has since been looked upon as controversial, with Asuka barely getting any credit for winning the historic match. Things went from bad to worse for Asuka at WrestleMania that year, when SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair snapped the winning streak of "The Empress of Tomorrow," and retained her title in front of the New Orleans crowd.