 What's good, Josh, your boy Ross back again with another video. So we're going to check out ten biggest WWE Royal Rumble controversies, man. This should be a very good one, man. We're right around the corner from this year's Royal Rumble. So anything Royal Rumble related video wise, you know, I'm going to check it out in the spirit of the Royal Rumble season being right here. So we're going to check this out. This should be a good one. We know the Royal Rumble has definitely been laced and covered in controversy over the past few years. And we're going to check some of these out. Appreciate all the love and support you guys have been showing on the channel. And we're almost at 70K. And thank you guys so much for that. Let's get right into this bad boy. Considering how high the stakes are, how many people are typically involved, and how high profile the event itself is, it's no surprise that there have been one or two Royal Rumble-related controversies over the years. These can either be kayfabe like a dodgy winner, or real like a backstage bust-up, or unscripted in ring-drubbing. We may watch the Rumble for the surprise entrance and shock eliminations, but there is often much more going on beneath the surface. I'm Adam Pacisi from Cultaholic Wrestling, and these are the ten most shocking WWE Royal Rumble controversies. Join us. Maven showed in the 2002 Rumble what can happen when a tough enough winner upsets the apple cart after he was left beaten and bloodied following his awesome elimination of the Undertaker. Three years later, another tough enough winner incurred the wrath of a locker room enforcer, though the beating Daniel Puder received from Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Hardcore Holly was mostly unscripted. Puder, who had risen to fame after almost breaking Kurt Angle's arm and an impromptu shoot fight on SmackDown not too long before this, had supposedly annoyed Holly and some other members of the locker room with his arrogant attitude. Fed to the wolves, the former MMA fighter was at the mercy of three surly veterans who didn't take too kindly to rookies, and left the ring first man eliminated in the match with a chest that closely resembled hamburger meats. You know what they say? Revenge is a dish best served live on a worldwide pay-per-view. Obviously in today's world, with WWE being so corporate and apparently committed to spreading an anti-bullying message, this type of thing don't fly. Rock touches first There have been some contentious eliminations and disputed match finishes during the Royal Rumble's long and illustrious history. Think about Bret Hart and Lex Luger hitting the floor simultaneously in 1994, Shawn Michaels exploiting the both feet must touch rule the year after, or Steve Austin sneaking back in to win illegally in 1997. The finish of the 2000 Rumble wasn't supposed to be such a lightning rod, but it became that after the fact. In it, Big Show attempted to dump the rock over the top, only for the Brahma Bull to hold on and use the big nasty bastard's momentum against him, sending him over instead. Replay showed, however, that the rocks feet had actually touched the floor first, something that was acknowledged the next night on Raw. By rights, Big Paul should have booked his place in the main event of WrestleMania on the night. WWE tried to remedy the situation by booking show against Rock at the next pay-per-view, no way out, with Rock's mania main event on the line. Yeah, I don't think it was supposed to happen that way, and it ended up happening that way. So they had to call it audible. Obviously, I think their intentions was to have the rock obviously win, but I don't think they were supposed to, you know, we got cameras right there. It's kind of hard to overlook that, so they have to kind of switch up the storyline. In Brock, the 2020 Royal Rumble match was a great piece of business for Brock Lesnar. Though the reigning WWE champion didn't go the distance as promised, he still entered at number one, eliminated 13 people over the course of 26 electrifying minutes and set up a WrestleMania date with Drew McIntyre in the most effective way possible. The Beast incarnate must have felt pretty good afterwards, but earlier in the night, he had to set someone straight backstage. According to Matt Riddle, who made his main roster in-ring debut in the Rumble, Brock confronted him and told the King of Bros in no uncertain terms that a match between the two of them would never, ever happen. It was described as an intense encounter by those who witnessed it. To be fair, the former UFC heavyweight champion had a right to be annoyed, since Riddle, himself a former UFC star, had been lobbying for the match without Lesnar's blessing and had even intimated that he would likely be the one to eventually retire the next big thing. I think that I, a close personal friend of Brock's, has more chance than you, bro. I know he did have like some backstage tension with him, I had seen reports of that, but I didn't know he had came out right before that Rumble, said nah bro, we're not having the match, you can't eat that shit up, so. 7. Hogan the Heal The 1992 Royal Rumble match is considered to this day to be one of the best, if not the best ever. Featuring an enviable amount of star power, the continuation and starting of new feuds, and a tour de force performance from eventual winner Ric Flair, there was something for everyone to enjoy in this one, which was the first time a Rumble was contested over the WWE title. Well, everyone but that orange egomaniac Hulk Hogan that is. The Hulkster, who had won back to back rumbles in 1990 and 1991, couldn't let the nature boy have his moment without sticking his nose in things and making it all about him. After being totally, fairly, legally eliminated by Sid Justice, Hogan refused to accept that he was out of the match and held on to the arm of the master and ruler of the world. This distraction allowed Slick Ric to sneak up behind him and dump him over for the win. It was pathetic behavior from Hogan, completely unnecessary and petulant stuff, and added an unneeded bit of controversy to Flair's incredible achievements. 6. Game Time That sounds about right. If there's anybody that knows about backstage politicking, it's Hulk Hogan himself, bro. That's facts. You may have heard this before, but Triple H wasn't exactly the most popular WWE star with either fans or his co-workers in the early 2000s. Accused of using his backstage pull and close relationship with the McMans to stay on top while simultaneously holding others back, this period is commonly referred to as the game's reign of terror. Those working the Royal Rumble 2004 undercard certainly weren't happy with Hunter's perceived preferential treatments. The four bouts that went on before Tripp's world heavyweight title Last Man's standing match with Shawn Michaels lasted less time combined than the cerebral assassin's defense. That included a world tag team title table match, a cruiserweight title match, a grudge match between Los Guerreroes and Smackdown's WWE title match. According to Bob Holly, his year in the making match with Brock Lesnar was cut in half as he was waiting to make his entrance in the gorilla position, with the seven minutes that were shaved off going directly to the game and HBK. What makes this hoarding of time even more egregious is that as good as the world heavyweight title bout was, it went to a draw. It went to a draw, eliciting groans from the audience. 5. An Unwelcome Return Under different circumstances, the January 2014 inring return of Batista would have been caused for celebration. The animal had left WWE in the spring of 2010 and was coming back as a would-be movie star. His role has dragged the destroyer in the forthcoming release of Guardians of the Galaxy, certain to launch him into the stratosphere. Entering the Royal Rumble at number 28 and eliminating four people on route to winning the thing, Big Dave's big moment was as well received as a big stiff kick in the gonads. Fans in Pittsburgh that night wanted burgeoning cult hero Daniel Bryan to enter and win the Rumble, but D. Bryan wasn't even booked in the match. He'd lost to Bray Wyatt in the show's opener. Poor Rey Mysterio entering at number 30 bore the brunt of their wrath when they realised that their favourite wasn't going to be involved before they completely reigned on Batista's parade. The WWE Universe simply wouldn't accept a Batista vs Randy Orton WrestleMania main event either, but rather persisted with their calls for Bryan's inclusion and ultimately changed the course of the events. Before the genetic quad-terror Of course, Batista knew what it was like to win the Royal Rumble, having won his first nine years prior. That big victory came just as the animal was starting to really get over, setting him up for a WrestleMania showdown with Evolution leader Triple H and his first World Heavyweight title win. Truth be told, Big Dave was lucky that that one actually happened, since he and John Cena managed to bungle things so massively that an irate Vince McMahon departed the gorilla position so that he could furiously bark orders in person. Batista and Cena had taken an unplanned tumble over the top rope as Batista went to hit the Batista bomb, though they miraculously managed to hit at the exact same time. The referee stalled for time before the genetic jackhammer finally emerged, which is when the hilarity properly ensued. As he slid into the ring, old Vince bashed his leg on the edge of it and tore his quad. This provided us with the bizarre image of the apoplectic chairman directing traffic while sat on his arse. Incredibly, Vince managed to tear the other quad backstage after, because he tried to walk independently after refusing assistance. Obviously. Number three, when it rains, it pours. They say those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. They also say, screw you in your history, pal. We're the market leaders in sports entertainment and we can do what we like, so shut up. Well, WWE say that anyway, and they proved how committed they are to following through with the plan, TM, despite evidence suggesting that it's not a good idea at the 2015 Royal Rumble. A year after misreading the room and booking Hollywood Batista to win the rumble, WWE once again rejected fans' calls to have Daniel Bryan emerge victorious and instead had Roman Reigns triumph on the night. The Philadelphia faithful booed the big dog out of the building and launched loud chants of BS and CM Punk while hashtag cancel WWE Network trend worldwide in the events aftermath. Even a face-saving run-in and post-win endorsement from The Rock couldn't salvage things. If The Rock can't save you in a segment from getting booed, he is the people's champ and he got booed by association with the people that just let you know. That let you know there was, it wasn't his time. It wasn't his time, man. As fans even heckled the great one who looked as miffed as anyone at the situation unfolding. It was a bad night at the office for WWE and especially Reigns, whose march to main event Superstardom was off to the rockiest of starts. No pun intended. Not like most girls. WWE may have given their female performers their own rumble, but that didn't stop one member of the fairest sex from showing up in the men's version. Following in the footsteps of China, Beth Phoenix and Karma, Nia Jax entered the 2019 men's rumble, beating up No. 30 Entrant R-Truth as he made his entrance. The irresistible force cleaned house and eliminated an unsure Ali before eating a Dolph Ziggler Superkick, a 619 and an RKO prior to being eliminated by Rey Mysterio. While a woman competing in the men's rumble wasn't exactly taboo breaking, the way in which she was ganged up on had some questioning whether WWE should be promoting inter-gender violence, something they had been cautious to avoid since going PG. Yeah, that was the thing. I know they do it on the independent scenes, but it was just seeing them hit their finisher on her was actually quite surprising, but at the end of the day it's like, yo, you want to be treated equally, you enter in the men's royal rumble, guess what? You're going to have to catch these work like every other man. In a decade prior, evidently at least one of WWE's sponsors wasn't keen on the idea, since their complaints helped Nick's a planned Jax vs. Ambrose feud and a match that began on the post-rumble episode of Raw. Now that Jax no longer works for WWE and the lunatic fringes in AEW, it can finally happen. Book it, TK. Beyond the Pale While the finish of the rock and Mick Foley's WWE title iQuit match at the 99 Royal Royal was designed to create controversy, it wasn't so much the actual finish itself, but rather how they got there that had people talking afterwards. In the run-up to the ending, which saw an audio recording of Foley saying the words iQuit play over the arena's PA system, in lieu of him actually uttering the words himself, the hardcore legend took a truly sickening beating at the hands of the people's champion. Foley took 10 brutal unprotected chair shots to the head while his hands were handcuffed behind him. It was an incredible spectacle done by Foley out of selflessness and in an attempt to put on a great match and elevate the rock end of his feud with Steve Austin. But it was too much. As later seen in the documentary Beyond the Mat, Foley's wife and children were sat at ringside and had a front row view for the barbaric beatdown. Bro, Foley is a God, a God among men in the sense of what he's willing to do to make sure he provides the fans at home, the fans in attendance with a great time, bro. I don't want to see anyone else do that because that is super dangerous. And the thing is, I believe there were support, you know, there were supports coming out or I believe he even said it, like the rock was, you know, really concerned, but he was telling them, lay into me, don't hold back, lay in and you can tell the rock was laying in those chair shots, those unprotected chair shots. He was laying them in, bro, with no mercy. Oh my God. Oh, I'm glad we don't see spots like that because this head trauma is a real thing and should be taken very seriously. But comment down below. Let me know what was the most controversial royal rumble moment you guys ever witnessed or ever experienced for me. Obviously, it's the Roman Reigns getting booed to another dimension with the rock over here trying to co-sign them. I had never seen someone get that much nuclear heat with the rock standing next to him. I never, I didn't think that was even possible. So watching that live, watching people say, screw the WWE, cancel the network, that was very controversial at the time, man, but appreciate all love and support. Bro, too. Sandy Kay, appreciate y'all kicking me. See y'all next week. Peace.