The Phenom gets eleminated by Maven at Royal Rumble 2002 (Ringside News)
Maven did the shocking thing to eliminate The Undertaker at the 2002 Royal Rumble
The Undertaker is one of the greatest ever in WWE history and has dominated the company roster for decades. But at the 2002 Royal Rumble, something amusing happened to The Phenom, which shocked the fans and shocked the Deadman as well.
Maven, the winner of Tough Enough in 2001, did the unthinkable and eliminated The Undertaker at The 2002 Royal Rumble. He made the headlines by removing Taker with a dropkick, and it became one of the shocking upsets in WWE history.
The Deadman was entirely in control of the match as he eliminated The Hardy Boyz. Maven entered the Royal Rumble at no.11 and straightway got a kick from ‘The Deadman’. However, the interference from the Hardy Boyz and WWE Hall of Famer Lita bought some time for Maven to strike.
As per the original plans, Maven wasn’t supposed to eliminate him. But instead, he attacked Taker, which resulted in The Deadman’s elimination.
He recently opened up about the incident in an interview in an episode on WWE’s The Bump to discuss the moment that defined his career.
“I got the call literally the day before. The day before, they called and said, ‘You’re going to Atlanta.’ That’s where the Rumble was. I flew out the next day, no clue what would happen. At that point, I’m not an idiot, I knew I was probably in the Rumble, but I knew I would probably come out, get a quick pop Tough Enough was going to get and then I would be thrown out and got rid of as soon as possible.” (H/t Itrwrestling)
However, when Maven did arrive in Atlanta, he was given the surprising news that he would be eliminated from The Undertaker.
“When I got there, and they called me to the ring, there was Shane and ‘Taker. They called me to the ring, and at the time, I’m terrified. I’m the rookie, young, in my 20s, and here I was with Shane McMahon and with Undertaker, scared to death. Then he tells me, ‘Maven, you’re going to go out there and eliminate [Undertaker].’ I thought he was completely joking. I thought it was the rib of the century.”
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