Funny / Royal Rumble

Titus O'Neil making history in the most hilarious way possible.

General/Other

• To start us off, WWE's official Top 10 Fails has a number of the examples below contained therein.

1987- 2000

1991

• Entry #27 was Bushwhacker Luke who, after doing The Bushwhackers' signature Silly Walk to the ring, was grabbed by Earthquake mid-stride and tossed out. This barely slows Luke down, and he simply continues the walk back out of the arena.

1992

• Just prior to interviewing Shawn Michaels before the Rumble match for the WWF Championship, Sean Mooney nearly gets down when The Barbarian gruffly walks past him.

1993

• Randy Savage executes his flying elbow drop on Yokozuna, and goes for the pin, apparently forgetting that it was the Royal Rumble. Yokozuna responds by tossing Savage over the ropes while still lying on the ground.
  Bobby Heenan: Pinfalls don't count!

1994

• Doink the Clown comes out as Diesel and Crush are beating on each other, opting to take the Let's You and Him Fight approach by standing in the other corner laughing at them... until they notice his presence. He then uses a squirting flower to blind them and gain the upper-hand.

1996

• Jake "The Snake" Roberts enters the Rumble with a giant bag. He drops it to unleash a python at least 12 feet long, and everyone else in the ring flees as soon as they see it.

1997

• The third entrant, the fake Razor Ramon, lacks entrance music entirely and is quickly eliminated by Ahmed Johnson.
• When "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is left alone during the Rumble the first time, he sits on a turnbuckle looking bored while looking at a (non-existent) wristwatch and occasionally tossing out entrants. The second time, he repeats the same routine....until he hears Bret Hart's music, upon which he reacts in horror.
• Jerry Lawler's entry into the Royal Rumble match. He was already sitting at the commentator's booth when his music began to play, and the last thing he said to Vince was "It takes a King". He climbed into the ring and was almost immediately knocked out by Bret Hart. He walked back to the commentator's booth and said "to know a King." And for the rest of the Royal Rumble match he forgot he was ever in it.
• Three Superstars eliminate themselves, the most of any Rumble: Ahmed Johnson leaves the ring to attack Farooq, Mil Mascaras jumps to the outside, and Farooq is forced to flee from Ahmed after he interferes with a 2x4.

1998

• Mick Foley competed in the match in all three of his personas. First he entered at #1 as Cactus Jack and was eliminated. Later, he entered at #16 as Mankind and was eliminated again. Finally, he entered at #28 as Dude Love and was eliminated a third time. All the while the commentators were complaining he was cheating.

2000

• Too Cool's infamous mid-Rumble dance, where after all entrants in the ring were eliminated Too Cool decided to dance with Scotty 2 Hotty in particular getting a massive pop for doing the Worm. Unfortunately, Rikishi suddenly turns on his friends with a surprise clothesline and eliminates them soon after. Then he continues dancing soon after.
• Kaientai's repeated interference. One instance led to Gangrel throwing Taka Michinoku out of the ring, causing Taka to land on his face. Jerry Lawler repeatedly requested to watch the replay throughout the rest of the Rumble.^note Though it might be less funny when considering that Taka was very seriously injured by that fall, with reports varying on whether he received a concussion, broke his collarbone, separated his shoulder, or all three.

2001- 2010

2001

• Kane eliminating the Honky Tonk Man immediately after he sang his song— grabbing his guitar and smashing him over the head with it. And then shaking his head slowly.

  Jerry Lawler: [Kane]'s a music hater!

• Al Snow hitting Raven in the balls with a bowling ball.
• Drew Carey enters the Royal Rumble just as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy eliminate each other. Drew celebrates while he's alone in the ring, but then the timer runs out, and Kane makes his entrance. Drew desperately tries to get out of it, first by begging the referees for help, then offering a handshake to Kane, then trying to bribe him. Just as Kane is setting him up for a chokeslam, however, Raven enters, saving him from certain doom by smacking Kane with a pool cue. While Kane's distracted by Raven, Drew quickly climbs over the ropes and eliminates himself.

2002

• "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Triple H were in the ring with the Hurricane and Hurricane got the goozle on both of them, prepping them for a chokeslam. They sold it like he's The Undertaker or Kane for about five seconds before they both looked at each other and realized they're being choked by the freakin' Hurricane. Just as it dawned on the Hurricane that he just grabbed the necks of the two most decorated wrestlers of the Rumble that year, they grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him over the ropes.
• Maven eliminates The Undertaker with a dropkick, due to the timely distraction from the Hardy Boyz. It does not go well with Taker, who beats the shit out of Maven afterwards.
• As he comes out, Maven has a very clear This Is Gonna Suck face as he realizes he has to face Undertaker alone, rubbing at his head. After a brief celebration following the elimination, the face returns when a royally pissed off Taker storms into the ring to trash Maven.

2003

• John Cena entered the Rumble with what is quite possibly his best Heel rap ever, where he manages to rhyme "explain to ya" with "WrestleMania" and the thing ends with the brilliant line,
  "my style is like a swollen penis, you can't beat me."
• Maven, who in the 2002 Rumble became famous for eliminating The Undertaker with a dropkick, tried to repeat the feat in 2003, and failed miserably.
• Matt Hardy (Version 1) avoiding elimination on numerous occasions because of Shannon Moore actively keeping Matt from touching the floor through such tactics as lying on the ground & letting Matt stand on him. It took Brock Lesnar F-5ing Hardy out of the ring onto Moore to eliminate him.

2004

• Chris Benoit and Randy Orton had just eliminated several guys in a row and then collapsed from exhaustion. The announcers mentioned that the next person to come out would have a huge advantage. But that person turned out to be Ernest "The Cat" Miller, who decided to dance to his theme music alongside his ostentatiously-wigged manager, Lamont, instead. Benoit and Orton were not amused, and threw both of them over the top rope, which was made even funnier by Lamont's wig coming off in Benoit's hand in mid-elimination. One recap listed "Lamont's wig eliminated" in the timeline.

2005

• Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair were drawing their numbers to enter the rumble. Flair seemed overjoyed with his number. Eddie pulled Flair in for a congratulatory hug, and swiftly left the room. Only a little later did Flair find out that Eddie had somehow swapped numbers with him during the hug! Later on Flair and Teddy Long were able to track down Eddie, and Teddy Long forced Eddie to give Flair his number back. But, after Eddie had already handed the number over, Teddy was still holding his hand out. Eddie shook his hand, but Teddy still wasn't impressed. "Hand it over, playa." Eddie then sheepishly handed over Flair's wallet. Cue Eddie making a speedy exit, and Flair becoming absolutely enraged. We later found out during the rumble that Eddie had drawn number one, while Flair had drawn number 30.
• Eddie and Chris Benoit began the rumble with an exhibition of mat wrestling, when Tough Enough winner Daniel Puder comes down at #3, grabs a mic and boasts that he'll be the first Tough Enough winner to win the Royal Rumble, to Eddie and Benoit's consternation. As soon as he enters the ring, the two veterans immediately begin laying into him with stiff Whooooooooo! chops, taking turns abusing the rookie. Just as they begin throwing him around, notorious rookie hazer Bob Holly enters next and right away begins laying the chops himself. This eventually devolves into the three taking turns holding Puder's arms behind while the others chop him up. This is made funnier by Eddie's reactions the entire time, and even the famously stoic Benoit starts playing it up. Puder is mercifully eliminated after an Alabama Slam from Holly.^note Considerably less-funny when you stop and think about it a second and realise that what you're actually watching might actually be real-life bullying going on right before your eyes. According to one take, Puder was being publicly punished by three of the biggest backstage enforcers for heat he'd earned in his infamous shoot fight on Tough Enough with Kurt Angle (which, in case you forgot, was all Kurt's fault), with Eddie, Chris and Holly actually beating the shit out of him in front of the entire world to "teach him a lesson". For what little it might be worth, Holly indicates in his autobiography that Puder was being punished for bad behavior following Tough Enough, but even if one believes him magnanamous enough to not try and lie to cast himself in a more positive light, nothing makes more of a mockery of WWE's later anti-bullying campaign than this ugly public scene. WhatCulture Wrestling highlighted it on their '10 Things WWE Want You To Forget About The Royal Rumble' video as being really uncomfortable to watch.
• With eight guys in the ring, four from SmackDown! and four from Raw, they temporarily split up, then a SmackDown! versus Raw fight ensues. When Muhammad Hassan enters the Rumble, however, all the fighting in the ring stops, and all eight superstars immediately gang up on him, setting him up for Rey Mysterio to hit him with a 619, then six of them work together to dump Hassan out of the ring.
• Kurt Angle came in with a full head of steam and just starts suplexing everyone until he got to Shawn Michaels who super kicked him out of the ring. That was Angle's shortest time in the rumble.
• Both John Cena and Batista were the final two of the Rumble, and when Batista seemingly went for a Batista Bomb, Cena's weight caused Batista to tumble over the ropes, causing a double elimination. An amazing angle for sure... had it been planned. What made it even more incredible is that they hit the ground at the same time, so it really was a draw. Knowing they had to stall for time, the Referees around them started playing up the Brand supremacy and have each Raw and Smackdown ref declare their respective representative as the winner, all while Cena and Batista threw each other over the ropes. It got to the point where Vince McMahon came in with a power walk of all power walks, ready to take control of the situation, and then tears both his quads while trying to enter the ring. One of WWE's greatest accidents can be summed up with a photo of Batista, Cena and all the officials looking down on a sitting angry Vince, who is in large amount of pain.
  • The cherry on top is the feed constantly cutting back to a closeup of Vince’s face in a daze as he clearly starts to slowly realize something very bad has happened to his legs.
  • Even crazier, from Edge's perspective, he was told to keep the backstage cleared so Vince can walk by himself to his car to drive at the nearest medical center. Vince is never one to show weakness, especially with two torn quads.
  • Ironically, both competitors ended up being in their branch’s respective title match at Wrestlemania later that year so the botch wouldn’t have effected the title matches at all.

2006

• Triple H was so confident he would get a high number. He and Randy Orton pulled around the same time, and Triple H revealed his number to Randy, then looked at it in shock. Triple H pulled #1. Randy Orton had pulled #30, and wasted no time rubbing it in his face.
• Rey Mysterio, when he went to pull his number, told Mr. McMahon that he was sure Eddie Guerrero would have a hand in which number he would pick. When he made his pick, he laughed, and made it look like Eddie had pulled a prank on him from beyond the grave. Rey pulled #2. Naturally, he would end up winning the whole thing.
• In the match itself, the third man in was Simon Dean. He tried to get in Triple H's good graces by beating the stuffing out of Rey Mysterio. Triple H responds by decking him. He and Rey eliminated Simon Dean together.

2008

• The Miz getting eliminated by Hornswoggle. You're just paying your dues, Miz.
• Shelton Benjamin was eliminated by Shawn Michaels with Sweet Chin Music after 18 seconds in the ring. The funniest part is the announce table was literally in the middle of praising him and saying how well he would do when it happened.
• Jimmy Snuka enters at #18. You know who enters after him? Roddy Piper. In the words of good ol' JR, it was as if "time stood still" as the two confronted one another while every other wrestler in the Rumble watches from the sides in disbelief. CM Punk can visibly be seen Corpsing as this happens.
  • As the fighting resumes, John Morrison points and talks to Punk as if to say "Can you believe this?" right before kicking Punk in the stomach.

2009

• Santino Marella. Full stop. His entry and elimination allows The Warlord to breathe a sigh of relief, as he did a huge favor for him by being the quickest superstar to be eliminated. Courtesy of Kane who ends up laughing afterwards, while Santino ends up screaming in shock. Funnier that most of the Superstars in the ring stop in confusion regarding his elimination in disbelief or amazement.
• A more accidentally funny moment: upon Randy Orton winning the Rumble, he began doing the newly-established tradition of dramatically pointing to the WrestleMania logo, signalling for it to explode in a shower of pyro... only for nothing to happen. After a few long, awkward beats of him trying to signal for the pyro to go off, the ref informed Orton that he was supposed to be standing on the turnbuckle before pointing to make for the best camera angle, and only when he did did the fireworks finally go off. His quietly furious expression during all of it says it all.

2011- 2020

2011

• Again with Santino Marella, who at this point had averaged about 15 seconds in two Rumble matches, would get knocked out by Sheamus within 20 seconds of his appearance and would have the fortune to fall under the bottom rope. This became a Brick Joke when later on, Alberto Del Rio would be celebrating his apparent victory only to turn around and get hit with The Cobra! Unfortunately for Santino, he would take a few seconds too long to celebrate, and would instead go home as the runner up when Del Rio reversed his elimination attempt.
• The New Nexus led by CM Punk. He's very happy after having four members including himself. He's acting all and mighty with a nice troll face until Khali's music hits in. What he does next? Hide behind his fellow members. CM Punk is still scared due to facing Khali in past Royal Rumble matches starting from the first time Khali enters the Royal Rumble in 2007.

2012

• Ricardo Rodriguez, mostly known for being Alberto Del Rio's ring announcer, enters the Royal Rumble. He even parodies Alberto Del Rio's ring entrance, except in his case, he's driving a car that's more destined for the scrapyard than the fancy rides Alberto Del Rio is known for. He actually does fairly well, even getting credit for an elimination thanks to an assist by Mick Foley! However, once Santino Marella enters the rumble, he goes after Ricardo, and after being put through some embarrassing moves, Ricardo is given a wedgie by Santino and is eliminated.
• After the elimination of Ricardo Rodriguez, Mick Foley and Santino Marella have a standoff and decide to take out their respective 'weapons' and go at it. It's more funnier that once Epico enters the ring and interrupts their battle, he gets Santino's Cobra and eliminated by Foley's Mr. Socko in just 11 seconds. Mr. Socko and the Cobra then lock up, but Randy Orton and The Miz interrupt and eliminate Mick Foley and Santino Marella before a winner can be determined.
• All three members of the announce team enter the Rumble. Jerry "The King" Lawler goes first, but is eliminated rather quickly. Booker T is next, and does fairly well, but he is also eliminated. Then Michael Cole, who had been complaining about the other two entering the Royal Rumble, enters as well. He stays clear of everyone else and celebrates like he's already going to WrestleMania, but when Kharma enters, his face drops like a stone. He's shoved down by Kharma, and scrambles over the ropes to put some distance between himself and her. Mercifully for him, Booker T and Jerry Lawler pull him off the apron and eliminate him.
• Before the Big Show enters the ring, he helps Sheamus eliminate Jack Swagger. Swagger complains and shoves him and Big Show responds by punching him out cold.

2013

• The Godfather's cameo in the Rumble. He came out with two of his hoes, removed his coat, sunglasses and hat, entered, and 5 seconds later, was eliminated by Ziggler. All while his music still played! Then, his reaction, which was merely a shrug, take the ladies by the arms and walk back again. All while his music still played!
• Team Hell No's elimination. After Team Hell No eliminates Khali, Daniel Bryan eliminates his own partner Kane. Knowing it's the rumble, Kane is still in shock while looking at his partner. But it was short-lived for Daniel as he was sent out of the ring by Antonio Cesaro but Kane catches Daniel Bryan. Daniel tells Kane to put him back but he refuses as both Kane and Daniel keep yelling "NO!" And "YES!". After that Daniel was trying to go back in the ring but Kane decides to drop him down instead, eliminating him.

2014

• This extended version of the commercial for the Royal Rumble is full of hilarious moments.
• El Torito entering and almost immediately setting his sights on CM Punk, who just looks dumbfounded at this sight before turning to Dean Ambrose - one of three guys sent to make sure he doesn't win - and asking him something along the lines of "Tell me I'm not the only one who sees this, right?". Ambrose - who seems to be equally confused - just shrugs.
• JBL is introduced at #24, whereupon he stands up from his spot at the announce table, climbs into the ring, hands his coat to Michael Cole... and is promptly eliminated by Roman Reigns, whereupon he resumes his spot at the table and continues on commentary as if nothing had happened.
• The crowd hating on the Cena/Orton match chanting "Daniel Bryan", "Randy Savage" and "We Want Divas". And the Royal Rumble match itself, after the crowd realized that Daniel Bryan wasn't going to participate in it.
• Zeb Colter had signs during the entrances of his allies.
  • For Jack Swagger: Every 90 seconds another one crosses the border. (Entrances were officially every 90 seconds this year)
  • For Cesaro: You could time it, but THEY stole your watch.

2015

• Once again the crowd hating on Daniel Bryan's elimination during the Royal Rumble match. Dean Ambrose's and Dolph Ziggler's eliminations didn't help, either. Note that if you hear the crowd chanting "CM Punk" (despite his departure from the company one year ago, mind you) or just getting booed, you know this is coming. And then there was a riot after the show. Why? The fans were demanding the Royal Rumble match continue because Curtis Axel, of all people, had never been eliminated. They really didn't want Roman Reigns to win. Given that the 2015 Rumble took place in smark-heavy Philadelphia, hardly any of this should be surprising.
  • WWE has a cruel sense of humor sometimes. As soon as Daniel Bryan is eliminated, the next entrance is Goldust, how does he enters as usual? With the titantron playing "Shattered Dreams Production".
• Normally Kofi Kingston has loads of crazy moves that save him from being eliminated. What is this year's safe move? As Adam Rose is about to fall backwards from the apron into the arms of the 'Rosebuds' as Rose makes his entrance, Kofi goes flying over the top rope into the waiting arms of the completely oblivious Rosebuds as Rose looks on confused before yelling at the Rosebuds. As the Rosebuds carry Kofi around the ring, Rose is pulled into the ring & thrown back over the top rope, 2 seconds after the Rosebuds put Kofi on the apron. Only then do the Rosebuds realise their error, as JBL accurately calls them idiots.

2016

• R-Truth's Wrong Genre Savvy moment of thinking he was in a Ladder Match. He runs to the ring, pulls out a ladder from underneath it, tosses it in, sets it up, climbs it... and then realizes there's nothing there waiting for him. The ref and the other wrestlers are watching stunned before Kane gets him down and promptly tosses him out.
• The New Day were a treat the entire night. Not only did Xavier Woods get a new trombone, but a fan in the audience, who was sitting in plain view of the hard-cam, had a sign with a giant Horn of the Unicorn card on it, saying he increased New Day's attack power by 700 pts. Unfortunately, it wasn't LittleKuriboh.
• Speaking of The New Day, Kofi Kingston again avoided elimination, this time by getting caught by Big E, then getting carried around the ring on his shoulders. However, Kofi would be eliminated by getting dropkicked off the apron by Chris Jericho while trying to get back in the ring.
• How Kevin Owens eliminated the debuting AJ Styles in the titular match: after dropping Styles out with a random superkick, Owens picked Styles up and then threw him over the top rope, while screaming to him: "WELCOME TO THE WWE!!!"
• From the Last Man Standing match between Owens and Dean Ambrose, both competitors had a bit of fun by trolling Michael Cole. Owens gets tossed over the announce table thanks to a suicide dive and lands on Cole. As he tries to get up, he starts to pie Cole in the face with his hands as Ambrose takes a seat on the table and starts playing around with Cole's iPhone.
• Also from the the same match:
  Fan: [while Owens is setting up tables] Happy Thanksgiving!
  Owens: Thanksgiving is in November, moron!

2017

• During the WWE Championship match, someone held up a sign with Applejack dressed as AJ Styles, reading "AJ is best pony".
• During the Rumble itself, Jack Gallagher comes out with his umbrella, William III, which he used on opponents until being downed by Chris Jericho. Jericho takes the opportunity to gloat, giving Gallagher enough time to get William between his legs for an attack. Double points for when he then opened the umbrella, leaving it spinning in Jericho's hands.
• Chris Jericho, who'd entered at number 2, promptly slipped beneath the ropes when he heard Braun Strowman's music start up, spending most of his Rumble appearance on the outside of the ring from then on.
• Brock Lesnar comes in at number 26, demolishing everyone in the ring. The timer counts down, with the only known entrants (of 4 slots remaining) are Goldberg and The Undertaker. Whose music plays? Enzo Amore.
• When Cesaro came out, he gave a Giant Swing to practically everyone that approached him, eventually reaching his tag-team partner, Sheamus, and hesitating long enough for someone else to kick him.
• Dean Ambrose convinces James Ellsworth to team up and take on Braun Strowman... only to ditch Ellsworth at the last minute and let the bigger man toss him clean out of the ring. Clearly Dean still hasn't forgiven James for costing him the WWE Championship at TLC.

2018

• In a Call-Back to an infamous KFC ad starring Dolph Ziggler and The Miz, WWE presents to you, the KFC "Colonel Rumble"! Nine Colonels, one winner, absolutely no dignity! And the eventual winner? None other than the Nature Boy Ric Flair of course!
• Heath Slater getting battered by everyone on his way to the ring after being taken down by a raging Baron Corbin on the ramp, culminating in Big E stuffing his mouth with pancakes, getting thrown by Sami Zayn and then finally being thrown in to the ring by Sheamus - who is subsequently eliminated by Slater himself in mere seconds. To add insult to injury, it happened on Sheamus' birthday.
• Midway through the match, Jinder Mahal enters and subsequently eliminates Xavier Woods and Big E. He was about to eliminate the last member of The New Day, but Xavier laid down on the ground as Kofi was tossed over just to make sure only one of Kofi's feet was touching the ground. Big E then aided Kofi some more by having him step on a plate of pancakes before he and Xavier helped launch Kofi back into the ring and allowed him to eliminate Mahal. How do Big E and Xavier Woods get back at Jinder for eliminating them after his elimination? Pelt him with pancakes.
• John Cena enters at #20, where everyone inside the ring was waiting for him. Ass whooping to Cena ensues.
• And then who shows up at #21? The Hurricane. Who upon entering apparently never learned his lesson from 2002 and attempts to chokeslam one of the most decorated entrants of that year's rumble. Much like 16 years ago, it went about as well as you'd expect.
• Vickie Guerrero in the Women's Rumble entered at #16, and basically did nothing but scream her signature "EXCUSE ME!!!!!!" at everyone including Sasha Banks, Michelle McCool, Becky Lynch and Ruby Riott who were busy trying to eliminate each other. Unfortunately, she realized that the four women were all staring at her suspiciously, realized what was about to happen and tried to escape the ring under the ropes. Obviously the four women caught her and tossed her out of the ring. You could see the smile on the women's faces when Vickie was eliminated. Vickie later took out her frustration on Carmella, who was the next entry, when she taunted Vickie for her elimination, by hitting Carmella with her own briefcase. Some snarky fans even considered that belting Carmella with the briefcase counted as a Heel–Face Turn for Vickie.

Greatest Royal Rumble

• Mike Kanellis was eliminated very quickly by Mark Henry. After the show, he was still in disbelief of being eliminated so much... he ends up realizing he might have broken Santino's record in shortest time. He spends the period between post-GRR and Raw being anxious about breaking the record... until he found out he was actually eliminated in less than 2.49 seconds instead of 1 like Santino. That he is relieved is in Understatement.
• Titus O'Neil enters the Rumble match, but just as he was about to enter the ring, his head landed under the ring in a hilarious way. Replays show that he tripped his way to the ring. The entire announce team broke out into hysterical laughter, including Corey Graves, who tried his best to resist laughing.
  • Within minutes, the gif of the moment◊ became the most watched wrestling item online and many praised it as the single best moment of the entire show, so far as to consider it a meme.
  • Extra funny, meta-wise: "WOKEN" Matt Hardy took to Twitter to greet O'Neil on his birthday with the said scene tagged in, in true WOKEN fashion:
    "Woken" Matt: Happy Day of Birth to the VESSEL of the TREMENDOUS @TitusONeilWWE...
    
    Don’t be fooled-Brother Michael^*one of O'Neil's actual real names was attempting to SLIDE into the Jeddah WORMHOLE PORTAL which leads directly to The Hardy Compound..
    
    #BROKEN Matt would love to meet #TATTERED Titus...
  • Titus's fall was such an Epic Fail that ESPN's Sports Center featured the moment as their #1 Not Top Play for the week of May 4, 2018. Even their anchors couldn't contain their laughter!

2019

• Zelina Vega hiding under the ring after not having been eliminated and turning out to have unexpected company: Hornswoggle, who chased her back into the ring, only for her to be eliminated by Rhea Ripley. However Hornswoggle keeps chasing her all the way into the back. Rhea Ripley's expression says it all regarding the whole thing.
• Maria Kanellis and Alicia Fox's brief alliance. Especially when Maria double-crosses Foxy by...stomping her captain's hat. Foxy drops to the mat kicking and screaming like a toddler at Wal-Mart who didn't get her toy, even though the hat was unharmed.
  • Speaking of Alicia Fox, the wacky hyperactive dance she did on making her entrance immediately became one of the most memorable spots in the Rumble (especially with Corey Graves' snarking at it). Then Reddit got their hands on it and it went memetic.
    Corey Graves: Alicia aspiring to become a walking Fortnite skin.
• When Johnny Gargano went for a splash on Samoa Joe in the men's Royal Rumble match, Joe did his signature "stand up to his feet and just casually walk away" from Gargano. Naturally, Gargano missed it.
• In a great Continuity Nod, Titus O'Neil very carefully approaches the ring when his number comes up, making sure to avoid an embarrassing flub like the one he had at the Greatest Royal Rumble. However, he ends up going under the ring yet again, although this time, it's to chase Curt Hawkins, who was already under the ring.

2020

• Tossed out of the ring, it looks like Mandy Rose has been eliminated by Sonya Deville... until it turns out she landed on Otis lying on the ring floor to get back into it! Minutes later, Sonya attempted to eliminate Mandy again, Otis being on standby to catch her again, only for Bianca Belair to swoop in and shove Sonya over the ropes, tumbling into Mandy and Otis and resulting in both of their eliminations.
• #29 turns out to be... SANTINA! Yes, Santino Marella returning in his alter ego, complete with the the recycled Billy and Chuck theme from "her" first run, with Beth Phoenix just glaring at him, no doubt remembering when she was eliminated by Santina back in Wrestlemania 25 in the Miss Wrestlemania Battle Royal match. He finds himself between her and Natayla, breaking out the Cobra... then thinks better of it to just toss himself over the top rope.
• When Shelton Benjamin came in the Rumble, he and Brock Lesnar greeted each other with huge smiles on their faces, referencing that he's good friends with Lesnar, and even trained with him. He came in hugging Lesnar like old friends, and Lesnar played along, but The Beast took no pity in eliminating him.
• MVP returning at the Rumble was an awesome moment, but it also led to a funny moment when Lesnar starts dancing to MVP's theme song. The commentators' reactions said it all:

  Corey Graves: Lesnar … is dancing. The WWE Champion … is dancing.
  Booker T: (laughs off)

• After Drew McIntyre shockingly eliminates Lesnar, Paul Heyman's frozen, open-mouthed look of shock was utterly priceless.
• Edge and Randy Orton's interactions in the Rumble match itself told a whole story.
  • When Orton first bumped into Edge, his former tag team partner, Orton made a bunch of gestures, including gesturing at his abs, seemingly expressing amazement at how Edge got into shape, and another gesture with his thumbs as if saying, "We should really text each other one of these days."
  • Orton at one point slowly headed towards Edge as if ready to hit an RKO. When Edge turned around to glare at him, Orton just gave a shrug as if saying "Hey, what do you expect?" with Edge nodding back as if agreeing "yeah, I'd do the same thing."
  • When Edge eliminated Orton, the commentators saw it as Randy being rightfully upset and come to the conclusion saying that Randy really should have known better from someone known as the "Ultimate Opportunist".

2021-...

2021

• Billie Kay and Peyton Royce briefly reunite and are about to do their "ICONIC" pose...until Billie sees Ruby Riott (who she'd been trying to suck up to for weeks) glaring and seems unsure of going through with it, which only results in Ruby and Peyton being pissed off.
  • Billie in general is a laugh riot throughout her appearance. First, she refuses to get into the ring, handing out her resume to the commentators; then she tries to team up with the entering superstars to little success (Shotzi Blackheart shoots her with her tank, Shayna Baszler punches the resume and chokes her out, Toni Storm gives her a dirty look) until she teams up with none other than Jillian Hall... who betrays her shortly afterward!
• Having landed on her back but feet not hitting the floor, Naomi is seemingly stuck. Her solution? Grab Bianca Belair's infamously long ponytail and use it to haul herself back up on the apron! Made more hilarious when, after Belair realizes this, she and Naomi spend a few minutes pounding each other...before realizing they're both barely holding onto the bottom rope by their feet so agree to work together to get back into the ring. Then they go back to hitting each other.
• Alicia Fox actually makes a return in the Rumble (even doing her crazy dance like she did two years before!), only for R-Truth to get involved, running away from people who were after his 24/7 Championship. Fox takes advantage of this and pins R-Truth to win it, making her the first to win a title during a Royal Rumble. Sure, she got eliminated shortly after, and R-Truth won it back as well, but still, history.
• When Alexa Bliss enters, everyone realizes what it could mean and attempt to beat her up. This only fuels her into her "Fiend"-like powers, complete with the lights and screens of the arena flickering… but Rhea Ripley was not taking any chances and wisely dumps her out while she still could. As an avid Dragon Ball fan, Ripley being the one to stop this is all the more fitting.
• Once again, the Hurricane enters the Rumble and once again immediately bites off more than he can chew by trying to chokeslam both Big E and Bobby Lashley. History repeats itself once again as he's once more sent flying to his elimination.
• During the Rumble, AJ Styles' Bodyguard, Omos, kept getting involved, eliminating competitors and saving Styles from elimination. Come one Braun Strowman, after failing to eliminate Styles because of Omos, wised up and teases throwing him to the side of the ring where Omos was before simply tossing Styles off to another side of the ring where Omos wasn't, eliminating him and pissing Omos off.
• Sheamus and Cesaro briefly reunite, doing their trademark fist bump from their days in The Bar... until Cesaro attacks and puts Sheamus in the Giant Swing. "We're not friends now!"

2022

• Sonya Deville comes out with her jacket on...and walks over to the commentary table, noting that as long as jacket is on "I'm still an official."
• Ivory returns, dressed in her old Right to Censor outfit with music, walking down the aisle and into the ring while delivering a promo on the mic berating the "impure" women around her. Rhea Ripley pulls her up onto her shoulders and drops her over the top rope...and Ivory is still talking on the mic the entire time!

2023

• Pat McAfee returning to commentating is a cross between Awesome, Heartwarming, and this. Awesome and Heartwarming because Michael Cole's reaction was completely genuine and Pat didn't tell him he was returning, and hilarious for Corey muttering how his year is already ruined.
• The Men's Rumble starts with GUNTHER and Sheamus as the first two entrants. These two had a rivalry through much of the fall culminating in a critically acclaimed and incredibly stiff match in Wales that past October. Naturally, they pick up where they left off - beating the utter crap out of each other. The Miz (also known for his incredibly stiff offense) draws number 3. He quickly realizes what he's about to step into and understandably takes a very long time to get into the ring. When he's inevitably chased into the ring by Sheamus he runs right into a massive chop by GUNTHER.
  • Speaking of Sheamus, when Johnny Gargano grabs Miz and is about to deliver Sheamus' famous Beats of the Bodhran, Sheamus looks more offended than anything, causing Gargano to wisely hand over Miz to Sheamus to let him do it. They then team up to get Miz out of the ring.
• After being told they can't call Sheamus and Drew McIntyre the "Banger Bros" due to a legal issue, Pat McAfee proceeds to call them every variation of the name that he can think of over the course of their time in the Rumble.
• Logan Paul makes his return to WWE, entering the Men's Rumble at 29. He's promptly beaten down by Ricochet, Seth Rollins, Austin Theory and Dominik Mysterio... until Rollins realizes that Dom is trying to join in, at which point he starts attacking the younger Mysterio instead.
• Chelsea Green makes a return, coming to the ring, boasting and bragging...and lasts literally five seconds before Rhea Ripley throws her out. The end result? Chelsea Green fuming all the way backstage.
• Nia Jax returns to WWE… and the production team immediately botches her entrance by hitting her music literally as the 10 second countdown starts.
• After hitting a Riptide on the returning Nia Jax, Ripley calls out, "get her out!" Every woman in the ring instantly gangs up and works together to throw Jax over the tope rope.

2024

• Poor Chelsea Green takes heaps of abuse during her time in the Rumble, often inadvertently at the hands of her tag team partner Piper Niven. She finds herself constantly crushed in the corner by Niven and Nia Jax and after collapsing onto the mat, both ladies end up splashing her. It gets to the point where Cole is begging Piper to eliminate Chelsea to spare her from any more suffering.
  • Chelsea is finally eliminated by Becky Lynch, who makes a mocking wave before peeling Chelsea's fingers off the top rope to knock her out.
• Valhalla is #24 only for R-Truth to run out, enter the ring, look confused at the women and gets thrown out by Nia Jax, which all distracts Valhalla so she's dumped by Nia in five seconds.
  • The backstage interaction between Adam Pearce and Truth that followed is just as hilarious:
    R-Truth: You told me last night, what did you say?
    Adam Pearce: What do you mean, "what did I say last night?!" I didn't say "go out there in the women's Royal Rumble!"
    R-Truth: And what happened to your hair?
    Adam Pearce: (looks out towards the back) That was Nick.
    R-Truth: Mysterio?^ExplanationTruth assumes that Dominik is actually two people: Tom and Nick
    Adam Pearce: (walks off) I need a drink....
    R-Truth: (follows Pearce) It's too early for that!
  • Prior to R-Truth's appearance, Cole is instantly gushing about Valhalla's antlers.
• While Jade Cargill's debut (where she single-handedly dumps Nia out of the Rumble when in previous ones it took several women to take her out) is an epic moment, Becky Lynch's reaction to said moment quickly brings it back to funny.
• Truth does come out to the men's Rumble (at #24 of course) where he stands on the ring apron and reaches out to Dominik Mysterio (currently in a headlock by Gunther) to be "tagged in." And Dominik actually makes the hot tag!
• Pat McAfee makes another surprise appearance to call the Rumble...but this time, he actually gets chosen to be in the Rumble itself as he's sitting at the commentary desk. It's clearly an unexpected surprise for Pat, and to make matters worse Omos and Bron Breaker are in the ring waiting for him. Pat nervously enters...and then eliminates himself without even doing a single move. Cole trolling Pat about him winning the Rumble and congratulating him about not beating Cole's record at the Rumble after his self-elimination makes it more amusing.
• Horrible allegations aside, the fact that Brock Lesnar was meant to be in this match and was to be eliminated by, of all people, Dominik Mysterio, is an incredible thought to be had, especially since it was meant to build for a match at the next PLE, in which we would all witness the murder and funeral of the poor boy as well.

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