10 Most Shocking WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations

While much of the excitement and anticipation for the Royal Rumble match has to do with speculating on the potential winner and trying to guess the surprise cameos, WWE’s 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royal has the capacity to shock in various ways.

One such way is with an unexpected elimination. In the 25-year-history of the Rumble, WWE fans have witnessed many eliminations that they never saw coming in a million years. Sometimes, the wrestlers themselves didn’t know much about it, either…

These are the 10 Most Shocking WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations.

10. Mick Foley Eliminates Randy Orton (And Himself) - 2004

Mick Foley has had his fair share of memorable moments at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, from his pair of brutal WWE Title matches with The Rock and Triple H to the time he entered one Rumble as all three of his faces: Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love.

Another moment from Foley’s Rumble history that tends to be forgotten about was when he returned, unannounced, in the 2004 match.

The Hardcore Legend wasn’t an official entrant, coming in at number 21 to replace the incapacitated Test. Mrs Foley’s Baby Boy made a beeline for Randy Orton, the cocky Intercontinental Champion who had spat in his face and forced Mick to walk out on an episode of Raw six weeks prior.

Peppering The Legend Killer with stiff shots, Foley then sent the pair of them sailing over the top rope to the floor with a mighty clothesline, where they continued to brawl.

Not only was this a nice surprise, it was also shocking because Orton had been in the match for over 30 minutes by that point, racking up five eliminations in the process.

9. Shawn Michaels Eliminates The British Bulldog - 1995

He may be known as Mr WrestleMania, but Shawn Michaels made quite the habit of stealing the show at the Royal Rumble, too.

He was certainly the man of the moment in the 1995 Rumble, entering at number one and going the distance to win the thing, eliminating eight people along the way. The field was basically three-quarters midcard fodder and the coast-to-coast aspect wasn’t too terribly impressive due to the shorter intervals between entrants, but the finish sure was a doozy.

Number two entrant The British Bulldog – basically the only other participant who looked like he stood a chance of punching his ticket to WrestleMania – thought he had a guaranteed WWE title shot in the bag after putting the Heartbreak Kid over the top rope, only to be dumped out himself while celebrating his would-be triumph.

It turned out only one of Shawn’s feet had hit the floor, allowing him to re-renter the ring and win the match for himself, much to the surprise of Davey Boy Smith and every WWE fan watching live and on television.

8. Shawn Michaels Eliminates Triple H - 2010

Shawn Michaels was a two-time Royal Rumble winner when he attempted to make it a threepeat in 2010.

In what turned out to be the last Rumble appearance of a Hall of Fame career, HBK was determined to win so that he could not only earn a WrestleMania title shot but, more importantly, have a clear path towards then-World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker.

Michaels had become another victim of The Streak at WrestleMania 25 and seemed positively possessed in his pursuit to avenge that loss on the Grandest Stage.

Entering the 2010 Rumble at number 18, the Showstopper got rid of Carlito, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr., John Morrison, and Drew McIntyre in fast fashion, before proving the old mantra that the Royal Rumble really is ‘every man for himself’.

As his D-Generation X (and then WWE World Tag Team Championship) partner Triple H was getting up off the mat, Michaels quickly tuned up the band and hit him with Sweet Chin Music, sending The Game sailing backwards over the top rope.

7. Kane Eliminates Santino Marella - 2009

Kane has quite the history when it comes to the Royal Rumble match and he ought to, because the WWE Hall of Famer has been in 20 of them, which is by some distance more than any other wrestler in history.

His best showing was in 2001, where The Big Red Machine put in one of the great individual Rumble performances from number six, eliminating a then-record 11 men before finishing runner-up to Steve Austin.

It was the closest he got to winning the whole thing, but the future Mayor of Knox County wasn’t done setting records.

In 2009, Kane set a practically unbeatable time for fastest-ever elimination when he clotheslined the luckless Santino Marella out in one single second.

Before that, the holder of the dishonourable distinction was The Warlord, who was Hulked out of the 1989 Rumble in just two seconds.

Not many would have expected the comedic Milan Miracle to win the match or anything, but even fewer would have predicted his incredibly hasty exit either.

6. Goldberg Eliminates Brock Lesnar - 2017

Given the way Goldberg routinely smashed through the opposition in his prime, winning the Royal Rumble must have seemed like a piece of cake when he entered his first one in 2004.

He looked good value for it, too, entering from the coveted number 30 position and duly getting rid of Charlie Haas, Billy Gunn and Nunzio.

However, an interfering Brock Lesnar snuck in and nailed Goldberg with an F5, leaving Da' Man easy pickings for Kurt Angle, who slung him over to end his fleeting flurry.

13 years later, the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion sought vengeance on The Beast Incarnate. Goldberg had improbably returned to WWE at the 2016 Survivor Series, where he trounced Brock in a one-sided squash match main event.

Anyone thinking Lesnar might make things right in the Rumble was in for a rude awakening, because after Brock had tossed Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and, Enzo Amore, Goldberg came out, hit a Spear and then sent Brock backstage for an early shower.

Not only was it shocking to see one of the odds-on favourites get eliminated anyway, but the relative ease with which it was done was unprecedented.

5. Steve Austin Eliminates Bret Hart - 1997

Stone Cold Steve Austin was a man on a mission heading into the 1997 edition of the Royal Rumble, which just so happened to take place in his home state of Texas.

The 1996 King of the Ring winner was hot and would only get hotter on the back of his performance here.

Entering at number five, the Texas Rattlesnake tied the elimination record (with Hulk Hogan’s 1989 effort) by getting rid of 10 men, including Owen Hart, Jake Roberts, Vader and The Undertaker, before finally seeing off Bret Hart to win the match.

Austin eliminating The Hitman wasn’t especially shocking in and of itself, but the manner in which he went about it certainly was. Bret had actually eliminated Austin first. However, the referees were otherwise occupied and missed it, allowing Austin to sneak back in undetected and eject the Excellence of Execution.

Austin ended up not getting a WWE Title match at WrestleMania due to the slapdash officiating and would instead end up settling things with Hart in a Submission Match at the Showcase of the Immortals.

4. Mr. McMahon Eliminates Steve Austin - 1999

The 1999 Royal Rumble was not one for the purists. Very much a product of its era – that’s the Attitude Era, of course – the ’99 Rumble was a storyline-heavy affair that revolved around the day’s hottest feud: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon.

Drawing numbers one and two, the pair had a hot start and then brawled throughout the arena, before Stone Cold encountered the Ministry of Darkness and was laid out.

He managed to return to the fold and, all told, eliminated eight people before it got down to where it all started – Austin vs. McMahon.

The smart money would be on the Bionic Redneck scoring his third Rumble win on the bounce, and that very much looked to be the case after a Stone Cold Stunner. That was evidently the cue for WWE Champion The Rock to make his presence felt, though, as he distracted his arch-rival enough to allow the Genetic Jackhammer to bundle Austin over the top.

Mr. McMahon had won the Royal Rumble with his sole elimination of the contest, after spending much of it either getting a mudhole stomped in him or providing commentary from the announce desk.

3. Sid Justice Eliminates Hulk Hogan - 1992

Having won the 1990 and ’91 Rumbles, Hulk Hogan was the favourite to make it three in a row in ’92, which is the first time the match was contested for the WWE Title.

The odds of the Hulkster walking away with the gold seemed to increase when he entered at number 26. Hogan canned The Undertaker and The Berzerker, before joining forces with Sid Justice to oust The Warlord.

It came down to Hulk, Sid and Ric Flair in the final three and, with Hogan turning his attention to The Nature Boy, Justice crept up behind him (as gracefully as a six-foot-nine, three-hundred-odd pounder can creep up) and threw him over.

But Hulk thought they were friends! How could he do this? Well, just as easily as Hogan could then hold onto Sid’s arm and assist Flair in eliminating him to win the match and the title.

Even though Hulk Hogan had the last laugh, his elimination at the hands of the Master and Ruler of the World was truly shocking at the time.

2. Batista & John Cena Eliminate Each Other - 2005

The 2005 Royal Rumble felt like a real changing of the guard, with many of the old lads missing and the new generation of Ruthless Aggression stars taking centre stage.

Chief among them were John Cena and Batista, two developmental success stories whose popularity had skyrocketed in recent months.

It came down to The Animal and the Doctor of Thuganomics in the end, with the outcome finely balanced. Very finely balanced, as it turned out.

As Big Dave attempted to hoist Big Match John up for a big ol’ powerbomb, their timing was off and their collective weight sent them both careening backwards over the top rope, where they rather luckily hit the ringside mat simultaneously.

This was not the scheduled finish. The bungled spot led to confusion, panic and, soon enough, an apoplectic Vince McMahon marching to the ring to set things right and tear his quads while furiously attempting to get into the ring.

After instructions were relayed to the players involved, Batista managed to win the match as planned.

For a minute there, though, nobody knew what the hell had happened – and the wrestlers, referees and commentators didn’t know what on earth to do.

1. Maven Eliminates The Undertaker - 2002

The winner of the very first season of Tough Enough, Maven was only a handful of matches into his professional wrestling career (and was actually toiling in developmental) when he got the call that he would be entering the 2002 Royal Rumble as a surprise.

The rookie wasn’t in the match long but boy oh boy did he make a lasting impression. Drawing number 11, the only man waiting for him in the ring was The Undertaker, who had come in three places before him and gotten rid of Rikishi, Goldust, Al Snow, Billy Gunn and both Hardy Boys.

Things did not look good for Maven and there were no gasps of disbelief when he ran straight into a big boot.

However, a distraction by Lita and an attempted revenge beatdown by Matt and Jeff gave the greenhorn enough time to recover and hit a distracted Deadman with the one move he knew how to do well – a dropkick – sending him over the top rope.

It was all executed and sold perfectly, giving Maven a career-defining moment and enough cultural capital to one day become a big name on pro wrestling YouTube.