5 Best No. 28 Entries in the Royal Rumble

# 1 Batista (2005) - Winner - 5 Eliminations

In 2005, Batista, then a part of the Evolution stable alongside Triple H and Ric Flair, having previously kicked Randy Orton out of the group. Due to the brand split, Batista had his choice of whether or not he would pursue Triple H's World Heavyweight title or move to Smackdown and face John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE title.

During the Royal Rumble match, Batista came in as entry 28 and would quickly make his presence felt. The Animal would eliminate Gene Snitsky, Chris Jericho, and Christian on his way to the final three against John Cena and the iron man of the Rumble, Edge. John Cena and Batista would team up to eliminate Edge leaving the two of them as the final two.

At the end of the match, Batista looked to deliver a Batista Bomb on Cena, he stumbled back into the ropes and the two men fell over the top and to the floor. While Smackdown referees on the outside declared John Cena the winner, Raw officials declared Batista the winner. This brought WWE CEO Vince McMahon to the ring who ordered the match restarted with the final 2. Batista would then hit Cena with a spine buster and throw him over the top rope to win.

Despite Triple H's best efforts to convince Batista to use his Royal Rumble victory to challenge JBL for his WWE title, the Animal would turn on Triple H, instead choosing to face the Game at Wrestlemania for the Heavyweight title.