The Botched Finish Between John Cena & Batista At WWE Royal Rumble 2005, Explained
Quick Links
Botches are a part of wrestling. They could happen to anyone, and they can happen at anytime. It's cringey when a mid-carder forget his lines, and has to pause and pretend to wait for a silent crowd to settle down. It's heartbreaking when a routine move goes terribly wrong, and results in an unfortunate injury. It's funny when Dolph Ziggler has to take control of an entire Elimination Chamber match. Sometimes, though, a botch comes around that is bigger than the rest of them. Viewers were rewarded with this experience at the 2005 Royal Rumble. Not just in one of the biggest shows of the year, but in the climax of the most popular match in all of professional wrestling, Batista and John Cena both went soaring over the top rope, then like a sitcom, everything just kept going wrong in such a comedic fashion.
RELATED: 10 WWE Botches That Got The Wrestlers Into Trouble
Batista Was Supposed To Win The Royal Rumble In Normal Fashion
The original finish to the match was very simple. Cena and Batista face off, punch each other a bit, Batista would land a Batista Bomb, and throw Cena over the top rope. Nothing you wouldn't miss from most other Rumble matches. During the Batista Bomb, however, Big Dave lost his balance. He went flying backwards and tumbled over the top rope with Cena still over his head. He tried to hook his arm on the rope, but couldn't do so in time. Thankfully, neither of them got hurt, but the timing really is just impeccable. They both hit the floor at the same time. Some say Batista actually did hit first, but the fact that it's too close to call in something that wasn't supposed to happen is crazy
RELATED: Kofi Kingston Details Botched Royal Rumble Spot, Already Working On Next Year's Plans
Thankfully, the brand split actually had some semblance of importance in 2005. The refs were all wearing earpieces, so they were instructed to stall by raising the hand of their brand's respective superstar, Batista for Raw and Cena for SmackDown. In a bit of more stalling, Batista threw Cena over the top rope and then Cena returned the favor. This was all happening because people were desperately looking for Theodore Long and Eric Bischoff, the general managers at the time, but they were told that they could leave, as their work was done a half hour prior. At this point, there's only one man who could make the tough decision on what to do: Vince McMahon.
Vince McMahon Tore Both Of His Quads Getting In The Ring
Even if Bischoff and Teddy were still there, there's not much they could've done. They would have to favor their brand's representative for storyline purposes just like the refs. It would have just been more of the same. After all the stalling and everyone in the ring just trying to figure out what to do next because their impressive improvisation skills were running out, here came Vince McMahon viciously storming down to the ring with the fury of God in his eyes. He threw his jacket on the ground, ran to the ring, and slid in.
Well, as much as Vince likes to think so, he was never a gifted professional wrestler. This became clear when he bashed his thighs on the apron and tore his quad. Vince, who was supposed to make a final decision, tried to get up, but was unable to stand. The billionaire was then sitting down in the middle of the ring while four referees, John Cena, and Dave Batista were screaming at him. They say a picture says a thousand words, well, the shocked and confused look on Vince's face when the camera cut to him said it all. Vince then made the only decision that would've made sense and restarted the match. Batista quickly hit a spine buster and sent Cena over the top rope.
As Vince made his way out of the ring and backstage, he was obviously favoring his uninjured leg, which led to him tearing that quad. As Jim Ross recalled, when the match was over, he and Tazz closed the show, then went backstage to find Vince on the ground in the Gorilla Position. Vince started screaming out of anger and astronomical pain for everyone to leave him alone and that's just what everyone did.
This was truly one of the most memorable Royal Rumble match moments. The fact that it took place immediately before a major Asian tour, and the first ever Raw and SmackDown to take place in Japan, makes it even better. It wasn't a bad thing whatsoever, though. The crowd were electric during this entire ordeal, it made both Batista and Cena look like the stars they were going to be, and it just proves how just wacky and fun professional wrestling can be. The story of the ending of the 2005 Royal Rumble Match will live on for generations as it absolutely should.
