5 WWE Royal Rumble unscripted moments you might not know about

#2 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's accidental elimination - WWE Royal Rumble 1996

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin accidentally fell out of the ring

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is arguably one of the greatest competitors in Royal Rumble history. He has won the match three times, a record that still stands in WWE today. However, his first appearance in the Royal Rumble match was something he'd rather forget.

In 1996, before he adopted the "Stone Cold" moniker, Austin was known as The Ringmaster. He was a heelish wrestler who allied himself with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase's Million Dollar Corporation.

During his WWE Royal Rumble match debut that year, Austin was accidentally eliminated from the match despite being scheduled to be the fourth-to-last competitor left in the ring. During an interaction with Bleacher Report, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed:

"I was supposed to be like the fourth-to-last guy left in the ring, a pretty damn good spot and a pretty good shove from the company for a guy coming in. I did a clothesline spot with Fatu and was going to hang onto the top rope and come back in. Well, the thing was, everybody was wearing baby oil in those days, so the ropes and everything was very, very slippery, and I couldn’t grab the top rope, and I ended up on my a** on the floor, eliminated early."

Even though he botched his first Rumble appearance, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin went on to win two consecutive Royal Rumble matches in 1997 and 1998 and another one in 2001.