Jonathan Coachman recalls how veteran Superstar's backstage attack almost denied him Royal Rumble entry
Former WWE commentator Jonathan Coachman recently spoke about his appearance at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
During a Q&A session on the AdFreeShows Patreon page, The Coach revealed the backstage details of his first Royal Rumble match. He recalled how the Superstars went through the spots for the match and left the room once they were eliminated. He stated that he joked around with Hardcore as the latter was out of the Royal Rumble match before the former could enter.
He added how the act enraged Hardcore as he delivered a dropkick to Coachman's thigh, almost putting him out of action from the Rumble match.
"So we're sitting there, and so they go through like the first eight or ten guys, right. So they said, ‘If you've been eliminated, you can leave the room.’ Well at that point, Hardcore Holly in the Royal Rumble had been eliminated. I hadn't even come in yet. So I turned to Hardcore and I said, ‘Yeah, Hardcore. Step.’ He gets up and he dropkicks me with his toe into the side of my thigh at full speed. I almost couldn't go into the Royal Rumble that night. I could barely walk. It hurt that bad, I swear to God. I was able to get through it," Jonathan Coachman said (H/T- Fightful).
The Coach, however, did a great job as he entered the match at #21 and lasted for almost 14 minutes before being dumped off the rope by Ric Flair. The match was eventually won by Batista.
January 30th 2005, Royal Rumble. Batista eliminated John Cena to win the Royal Rumble. @DaveBautista #WWENetwork #WWE http://t.co/PM15l6m7Sv
It also involved the infamous botched ending between Cena and Batista, which led to Vince McMahon storming the ring and tearing his quads.
2005 royal rumble https://t.co/GfHWSEewdZ
"I knew that at any point he could kill me" - Jonathan Coachman
Earlier in the same interview, Jonathan Coachman said that he was friends with Hardcore Holly but was wary that he could kill him at any point and called him "one of the scariest human beings on planet earth".
"How they go about the Royal Rumble is you go into a room and they have somebody who goes through the match and who's going to be eliminated and win. I'll never forget that Hardcore Holly, who might be one of the scariest human beings on planet Earth, was sitting right next to me and good or bad, we had struck up a friendship. He liked me and we got along, but I also knew that at any point that he could kill me," Jonathan Coachman said.
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