Royal Rumble (2009)

Background

Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines played out on Raw, SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi – World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension and which culminated in a wrestling match or in a series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees were assigned to a television program of the same name.

The prime match scripted into Royal Rumble 2009, the annual Royal Rumble match, has featured at every Royal Rumble event since its inception. The match featured 30 male wrestlers from WWE's three brands; WWE officially announced 23 participants. The match ends when one wrestler remains in the ring after the elimination of all the 29 other wrestlers. (Participants eliminate opponents by tossing them over the top ring-rope and making both their feet touch the floor.) The winner earned an opportunity to challenge for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WWE's April WrestleMania XXV pay-per-view.

On the December 29, 2008 episode of Raw, John "Bradshaw" Layfield earned a World Heavyweight Championship match against John Cena after winning a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match against Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels.

Another rivalry from the Raw brand came with Melina challenging Beth Phoenix for her WWE Women's Championship in a singles match. Melina won the opportunity to face Phoenix on the December 29, 2008. episode of Raw by winning a battle royal, a match similar to the Royal Rumble, though with fewer competitors.

At WWE's previous pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Jeff Hardy defeated WWE Champion Edge and Triple H in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Title. On the January 2, 2009, episode of SmackDown, authority figure Vickie Guerrero announced that Edge would face Hardy for the title at the Royal Rumble.

The ECW brand's main rivalry, that between Jack Swagger and Matt Hardy, had the two feuding over the ECW Championship. On the January 13, 2009, episode of ECW on Syfy, Swagger defeated Hardy to capture the ECW Championship. On the January 16 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, WWE announced that Swagger would defend the ECW title against Hardy in a rematch at the Royal Rumble.

Preliminary matches

The first match of the evening saw Jack Swagger defend the ECW Championship against Matt Hardy. The match started with both wrestlers countering each other's moves until Swagger injured Hardy's left shoulder and then targeted it for the rest of the match. Swagger ultimately defeated Hardy by pinning him after slamming him to the mat with a gutwrench powerbomb. Swagger thus retained the ECW title.

The second match involved the WWE Women's Championship, where Beth Phoenix defended her title against Melina. The match ended when Phoenix attempted the Glam Slam on Melina, but Melina countered into a roll-up pin, to win the Women's Championship.

Main event matches

The third match on the card pitted John Cena against JBL for the World Heavyweight Championship. JBL's employee Shawn Michaels accompanied him to the ring and first got involved in the match when the referee became incapacitated; he came into the ring and performed his Sweet Chin Music finisher both on JBL and Cena. He then left ringside, leaving JBL's arm on top of Cena. Cena however managed to get a shoulder up and performed an Attitude Adjustment to retain his World Championship.

The fourth match on the card involved the WWE Championship, as Jeff Hardy defended his title against Edge. Before the match began Vickie Guerrero came out and announced it as a No Disqualification match. Edge then revealed that Chavo Guerrero would be in his corner. During the match Hardy brought a ladder out and set it up near the Spanish announce table. When Chavo tried to interfere, Hardy put him on the table and jumped off the ladder, connecting with Chavo and breaking the table. Hardy then had the match won when he performed the Swanton on Edge after kicking Vickie off the apron when she tried to interfere. When Hardy went for the pin, Vickie stopped referee Scott Armstrong from making a three count. Jeff's brother Matt then made his way to the ring, placing a chair under Edge's face. Grabbing another chair, Matt at first appeared to be setting Edge up for his own version of Edge's con-chair-to maneuver. He instead hit Jeff in the head with the chair, allowing Edge to then pin Jeff and become the new WWE Champion.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler came out to call the main event. The main event consisted of the Royal Rumble match. Rey Mysterio and John Morrison started the Rumble. The final six participants left in the match were The Big Show, The Undertaker, Triple H and The Legacy (Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase and Randy Orton). While the Undertaker and Big Show brawled on the outside apron (both went over the top rope, but had not hit the floor), Orton eliminated Big Show with an RKO, causing him to fall off the apron. Big Show eliminated The Undertaker shortly thereafter when he pulled his opponent off the apron by his leg. Despite being at a disadvantage against the Legacy, Triple H eliminated both DiBiase and Rhodes. With Triple H by the ropes, Orton quickly clotheslined him from behind to send him over the top rope and become the winner of the Royal Rumble match.

Aftermath

On the January 26 episode of Raw, The Legacy came out with two lawyers and a therapist. Randy Orton then revealed that he suffers from IED, which causes him to experience violent outbursts when provoked, losing all control of his emotions and actions. According to Orton and his lawyers, Orton had told Stephanie McMahon that if fired, he would not only take DiBiase and Rhodes with him but the whole locker room, as he would bring in a lawsuit against the company.

The Raw brand started the qualifying matches for the brand's upcoming Elimination Chamber match at WWE's next pay-per-view event, No Way Out. Three of the qualifying matches saw Kofi Kingston defeat Kane, Rey Mysterio defeat William Regal and Chris Jericho defeat CM Punk to qualify. In a fourth qualification match, Shawn Michaels failed to win a match against John Cena that would have made JBL eligible to participate in the Elimination Chamber.

The ECW Championship feud between Jack Swagger and Matt Hardy had officially finished when ECW's on-air authority figure Theodore Long announced on the January 27 episode of ECW that Hardy had requested a move to the SmackDown brand. Swagger had other problems as his ECW title belt was stolen by Hornswoggle. When Hornswoggle's storyline father, Finlay, urged Hornswoggle to give the title back to Swagger, Swagger shoved Hornswoggle to the ground, which caused Finlay to knock down Swagger with his own championship belt.

On the January 30 episode of SmackDown, Matt Hardy proclaimed that he had no remorse about smashing his brother Jeff in the head at the Royal Rumble and costing him the WWE Championship. He then told the universe that he no longer considered Jeff a partner or a sibling. There were three Elimination Chamber qualifiers for No Way Out. The first match being The Undertaker versus Mark Henry, which Undertaker won via submission with the Hell's Gate. The second qualifier match was The Big Show defeating Festus with a K.O. Punch. The last qualifier was a triple threat match featuring Triple H, The Great Khali and Vladimir Kozlov. Triple H won the match after he delivered a Pedigree to Khali to pick up the victory.

Reception

The event was well received by critics. The Sun noted the high quality of the matches, the surprising results, Matt Hardy's heel turn, and a superior-quality Royal Rumble match. Randy Orton's victory was also well praised as it set up an intriguing story for WrestleMania XXV; however, the win was also seen as obvious and predictable. The Sun ended its review with a high 9-out-of-10 score.

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

Red ██ "Raw" indicates a Raw wrestler, blue ██ "SD" indicates a SmackDown wrestler, purple ██ "ECW" indicates an ECW wrestler, and beige ██ "Legend" indicates a special guest entrant.