5 most controversial moments in Royal Rumble history

#2 Royal Rumble 2000: Did The Rock deserve to win?

The Rock won the 2000 Royal Rumble match

The 2000 Royal Rumble was special since besides being held at the famous Madison Square Garden, it was the first WWF pay-per-view event to air on terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. On January 10, 2000, The Rock announced his participation in the match and a week later guaranteed victory.

Also, The Big Show, not to be left out, declared his intention to win the match and be in the main event of Wrestlemania. It was clear that the two men to watch for at the Rumble match were Rock and Big Show.

On January 23, 2000, the event was live at Madison Square Garden. The final four participants in the Royal Rumble match were The Rock, The Big Show, Kane, and X-Pac. X-Pac eliminated Kane before being eliminated by Big Show leaving behind the final two participants, The Rock and Big Show.

The Big Show had The Rock on his shoulder and attempted to toss him over the top rope, but The Rock hung onto the rope and pulled The Big Show over. However, in the true sense, Rock's feet actually touched the ground first and thus Big Show was technically the winner. Everyone wanted The Rock to win the match since he was in the midst of one of the biggest babyface runs of all time.

The spot was used in storylines as Big Show produced evidence to indicate that he was the true winner. Perhaps this botch explained why The Rock did not get his one on one championship match at Wrestlemania that year. The WWE would instead go with a fatal four way including The Rock, Big Show, Triple H and Mick Foley.