Top 10 Royal Rumble Matches Of All-Time

#9: Royal Rumble Match 2005

The #10 match between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt opened the 2014 show which saw Batista win the Rumble match, which turned out to be a major debacle and pathetic booking by WWE creative.  The 2005 Royal Rumble match was a completely different story.

Batista picked up his first Rumble win and it wasn’t without controversy as he and (at that time an extremely over) John Cena simultaneously toppled over the top rope without a decisive winner.  This brought Vince McMahon to the ring.  That’s where the fun began.  Vince boss-walked his way angrily to the ring, dove under the bottom rope, and tore both of his quads.  He restarted the match from a seated position and was then helped back to the dressing room for medical attention.  Batista went on to spine bust Cena and cleanly eliminate.  From there he went to Wrestlemania where he defeated Triple for the World Heavyweight Championship while Cena took the WWE title from JBL at the same event.

The match also featured standout performances from Eddie Guerrero (28 minutes), Chris Benoit (47 minutes), Edge (40 minutes), Rey Misterio (38 minutes), and Chris Jericho (28 minutes).  It also ignited the feud between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels which culminated in one of the very best Wrestlemania matches in history just a few months later.

Solid action, great booking, and a tremendous rumble highlighted this show which featured some of the brightest future stars in the business.