The 2005 Royal Rumble is best remembered for its controversial and mistake-filled ending. As you may recall, Batista was booked to last eliminate John Cena and win his very first Royal Rumble match.
But the two men botched the ending,which you can see below:
Former WWE producer Bruce Prichard appeared on the Wrestling Inc. Podcast and explained the reactions backstage, and how they were able to improvise the ending. At first, the officials were trying to look for a camera angle to prove that Cena had fallen first, so they could crown Batista the winner (as planned).
But when replay showed that both men hit the ground at the exact same time, things went hectic backstage, according to Prichard:
"The initial reaction was, 'F**k!' The second reaction was, 'Let's take a look at it and see if, hopefully, Cena hit first. We looked at it and every angle, there was no angle that you can even argue that Cena hit first, they hit precisely at the same time... You couldn't have planned this better, they landed at the same time so Vince just went out and decided, 'Start it over, g*damnit, just get them out of there!'"
RELATED: BOLD PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2018 ROYAL RUMBLE
As Vince McMahon entered the ring to "restart" the match, he legitimately tore both his quadriceps. McMahon awkwardly sat down in the middle of the ring and told the officials to start over. Batista would then finally eliminate Cena, headlining WrestleMania 21 and eventually defeating Triple H to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.
It was bit of a disaster for the WWE, but at least Cena won and all planned storylines were able to resume. Had Batista landed before Cena, that would have certainly created more problems.
As for Cena, he would challenge JBL for the WWE Championship - and would go on to win it at WrestleMania 21. Both Batista and Cena would go on to become two of the most prominent names of the Ruthless Aggression Era, so it's safe to say everyone was happy after the 2005 Royal Rumble.
Except Vince and his torn quads, we presume.