14 Most Embarrassing Moments In Royal Rumble History

Royal Rumble has been the official start of the Road to WrestleMania for over three decades now. Because the pay-per-view sets things up for WWE's grand spectacle, the company puts a ton of focus on the show.

RELATED: 10 Matches That Happened At WrestleMania & The Royal Rumble

But in the promotion's history, Royal Rumble was dull at times because of certain moments that dampened the pay-per-view experience. While WWE would like to pretend some of these moments never happened in the first place, those who have watched multiple Royal Rumble events know that some things can never be forgotten.

* Updated on January 19th, 2021 by Patrick Mocella: When you think about it, there's so much that can go wrong in a Royal Rumble PPV. With so many wrestlers on the card and so many moving variables, things are bound to screw up and leave wrestlers with egg on their faces. The PPV is full of classic moments, legends returning and incredible title matches but it also has a ton of embarrassing moments. The PPV itself is going nowhere as for some it has even surpassed WrestleMania as the most anticipated wrestling event of the year so there will definitely more of these embarrassing moments as the years go on.

14 Mil Mascaras Eliminates Himself (Royal Rumble 1997)

Losing in a Royal Rumble isn't how the majority of wrestlers want the match to go, but most of them will take it with grace. This was not the case with Mil Mascaras.

Although Mascaras is one of the biggest legends in Lucha Libre history, he has a reputation for refusing to lose to a number of performers. Mascaras had a guest appearance in Rumble and allegedly refused to be eliminated from the match. Given that there was no way he was going to win, he instead decided that he would leap onto an opponent who was already eliminated from the match from the top rope, eliminating himself. Not only was this extremely unprofessional, but also made Mascaras look like an idiot.

13 Big Show & Kane Fight Each Other (Royal Rumble 2015)

The 2015 Royal Rumble is known for being the worst in event history. Obviously, Daniel Bryan's awful early elimination from the match was a big reason as to why it's hated. The other major reason was the extremely obvious fact that Roman Reigns (who at the time was at the peak of being hated by fans for all the wrong reasons) was going to win.

RELATED: Kane Is Somehow A WWE Legend Despite Having The Worst StorylinesIn the closing stages of the match the most boring parts of The Authority, Big Show and Kane, were eliminating every fan favorite out of the match including Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose. The whole idea was for the Authority to ensure that Reigns wouldn't win but for some unexplained reason, Show and Kane began to fight each other and this allowed Reigns to send them over the top rope at the same time. From both a kayfabe and booking sense, this was incredibly embarrassing.

12 Maven Eliminates The Undertaker (Royal Rumble 2002)

Unlike other entries on this list, this moment was designed to be embarrassing and it paid off spectacularly.

In the early portion of the 2002 Royal Rumble, Undertaker was on a rampage and eliminating everyone in sight. It seemed like that trend would continue when Tough Enough Season 1 winner Maven entered the ring but thankfully for him, the Hardys would attack The Undertaker and distract him. With The Deadman's back turned, Maven dropkicked the legend over the top rope for the most shocking elimination in Rumble history. Undertaker was deeply embarrassed but he would get his heat back by mauling the rookie and taking him out of the match.

11 John Cena & Hornswoggle Do Bad Comedy (Royal Rumble 2011)

The 2011 Royal Rumble is often considered one of the worst Rumbles ever and there are several good reasons for that. With 40 entrants instead of the standard 30, the match dragged on longer than it should have and was filled with lull periods. Oh also, this match had an extended period where Hornswoggle and John Cena made the WWE roster look like fools.

By 2011, Hornswoggle had ran his course as a character but somehow he and Cena teamed up for a decent length of time and just made entrants who came out look like jokes. It was bad enough that Cena destroyed all the New Nexus earlier in the match but this was just excessive.

10 Mae Young Exposes Her Breasts (Royal Rumble 2000)

Mae Young was 76 years old when she participated in Miss Royal Rumble 2000 Swimsuit Competition. Young said that fans in the Madison Square Garden wanted to see her "puppies." Despite Jerry Lawler's protestations, Mae went on to flash her breasts.

The camera censored the video and then Mark Henry came to the ring and covered her. In reality, though, Young had worn a prosthesis. But looking back in history, this is something WWE would never want anyone to remember in today's era.

9 Vince McMahon Tore His Quads (Royal Rumble 2005)

During the 2005 Royal Rumble match, John Cena and Batista were the final two wrestlers standing in the ring. Both superstars tried to eliminate each other, and both were successful too. Cena and Batista's feet touched the floor at the same time and the referees couldn't decide who was the real winner.

RELATED: 10 Best Royal Rumbles In History, RankedThings were going out of control and Vince McMahon had to come to the ring. But while making his entrance, McMahon tore his quads and injured himself. It was an embarrassing night for Vince as he ordered the match to restart with these two competitors.

8 Titus O'Neil's Hilarious Entrance (Greatest Royal Rumble 2018)

The Greatest Royal Rumble featured a battle royal match. 50 wrestlers took participation in the match but the most memorable moment happened when Titus O'Neil made his way to the ring. His foot slipped and O'Neil slides himself underneath the ring. This incident was so funny that WWE kept replaying it throughout the night.

At the same time, however, it was also pretty embarrassing for a wrestler like Titus to slip under the ring in the most hilarious way possible.

7 Ric Flair Kisses Becky Lynch (Royal Rumble 2016)

Long before Becky Lynch became The Man in WWE, she was in an embarrassing spot with Ric Flair. This happened during Royal Rumble 2016 where Lynch and Charlotte fought.

RELATED: Every Version Of Ric Flair, Ranked From Worst To BestIn the middle of the match, Flair grabbed Lynch and forced himself on her. It was such an embarrassing moment that WWE later had to remove the scene from the Network.

6 The Rock & Roman Reigns Booed By The Fans (Royal Rumble 2015)

WWE had chosen Roman Reigns to outlast 29 other men in the 2015 Royal Rumble match and win the whole thing. But at that time, fans were tired of seeing Reigns in main events and when The Big Dog won the Rumble match, he had all of the world's nuclear heat on him. This happened because the WWE Universe wanted Daniel Bryan to go over.

Even The Rock couldn't pacify the fans because WWE had made the wrong call not once, but twice in a row.

5 Mark Henry Getting Eliminated By Chyna (Royal Rumble 1999)

The 9th Wonder Of The World was once the baddest woman in WWE. Due to the nature of wrestling back then, it wasn't uncommon for female competitors to go head-to-head against male stars.

At Royal Rumble 1999, Chyna became the first-ever female wrestler in WWE history to participate in the Rumble match. Mark Henry was in the ring and he challenged Chyna to come and face him. Not only did Chyna beat Henry, but she also eliminated him from the match. Henry is known as the World's Strongest Man and he would certainly like everyone to forget this incident.

4 The Great Khali Ousted By A Kiss (Royal Rumble 2010)

After Chyna, Beth Phoenix became the second female star to work in the men's Royal Rumble match. The Great Khali was Beth's first target and she eliminated him in a very clever way.

She grabbed Khali and kissed him and ended up getting him eliminated from the match. The Indian wrestler ended up looking like a fool and fans found the moment pretty funny and a little embarrassing at the same time.

3 Santino Marella's One Second Elimination Record (Royal Rumble 2009)

The Warlord previously held the record of the fastest Royal Rumble elimination. In 1989, Warlord entered the match in the #21 position but was eliminated by Hulk Hogan in mere 2 seconds.

But this record was broken in 2009by Santino Marella. He entered as the28th entrant in the match but before he could even properly enter the ring, Kane eliminated the wrestler in one second. He now holds a record that's nearly unbreakable.

2 Randy Savage Jumps Out Of The Ring (Royal Rumble 1992)

Randy Savage was mad at Jake Roberts for crashing his wedding in 1991 and slapping Elizabeth later. When these two came face-to-face during the 1992 Royal Rumble match, Savage couldn't control his anger. He eliminated Roberts and jumped out of the ring to attack his rival.

When Savage returned to the ring, the commentators had to cover up for him. They said that because Randy didn't get eliminated by someone else, he could return and continue the match. But nobody bought it, and it's still one of the most awkward things fans saw in Royal Rumble matches.

1 Paul Heyman Couldn't Unlock The Handcuff (Royal Rumble 2021)

The entry features an incident that almost ruined an otherwise great Royal Rumble match. Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens squared off for the Universal Championship in a Last Man Standing match.

The fight ran for almost 25 minutes and Owens would've technically won the match if the referee hadn't stopped counting when Paul Heyman struggled to unlock the handcuff. It was the most embarrassing moment of the night and it makes sense why WWE didn't acknowledge the botch even once.