WWE Royal Rumble 2009
WWE Royal Rumble 2009
| 25 January 2009 (USA)
WWE Royal Rumble 2009 Trailers

The 22nd annual Royal Rumble with the winner receiving a title shot at WrestleMania XXV. Also, WWE Title (No DQ Match): Edge vs. Jeff Hardy, World Heavyweight Title: John Cena vs. John ' Bradshaw' Layfield, ECW Title: Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy, & WWE Women's Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Melina

Reviews
Cortechba Overrated
Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
jts0405 Match 1: Jack Swagger (c) vs Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship - A pretty great opening match. Swagger has all the tools to be a pretty good main eventer for the ECW brand. Hardy really was on the top of his game as well in this one. This was the second time the ECW title was defended at Royal Rumble and frankly it was better than the Bobby Lashley vs Test title match at Royal Rumble 2007. In the end Swagger hits his gut-wrench power bomb to retain the title. He has a bright future on ECW.Match 2: Beth Phoenix (c) vs Melina - This was pretty good for a Women's title match. They built Melina like she had Beth's number after several wins on Raw and in the end she truly did have her number. Santino as always was just at ringside for comic relief. The wrestling was very good and truly better than some of the other pay per view battles that these two have had. In the end Melina catches Beth into a roll up to become a four time Women's Champion.Match 3: John Cena (c) vs JBL (w/Shawn Michaels) for the World Heavyweight Championship - JBL secured the No. 1 Contender position by winning a Four Way Elimination match contesting himself, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and his employee Shawn Michaels. At Armageddon JBL informed us that Shawn Michaels was working for him, which to me was probably just a cheap way to get him into Wrestlemania easily. The match was pretty basic, nothing really spectacular from Cena or JBL. Michaels hit JBL with a superkick, making you think he was turning face once again. But following that he superkicked Cena as well and laid JBL on top of him. Michaels exited, pretty much leaving everyone to believe that JBL would become champion, but at two Cena kicked out and came back all fired up. After an Attitude Adjustment Cena covered JBL for the three and retained the title. Predictable pay per view title match.Match 4: Jeff Hardy (c) vs Edge (w/Chavo Guerrero) in a No Disqualification Match for the WWE Championship - Jeff Hardy really road a wave of momentum after winning the WWE Championship from Edge at Armageddon. He earned two big main event wins on SmackDown, then his career turned horrible. He was in a hit and run accident and had a pyrotechnics accident occur once he returned. The stipulation for this one was turned to NoDQ, which really helped it out a lot. The whole theme for the night was basically brining someone out with you, JBL brought out Shawn Michaels with him, Beth Phoenix brought out Santino with her and wouldn't you know it that Edge brought out Chavo Guerrero with him. Chavo was taken care of early with a nice dive off a ladder through the announce table by Hardy. Jeff really took control of the match and this match really proved as a match of the night candidate. In the end Matt Hardy came out looking to be helping his brother, but instead clocking him with a chair and enabling Edge to win the WWE Championship again. I feel bad for Jeff that after all that work he got only a month long title reign, but the Hardy/Hardy feud will totally be interesting.Match 5: The Royal Rumble Match - We start off with some pretty good highflyers, Rey Mysterio and John Morrison. Then some other dominant competitors like The Great Khali and Vladimir Kozlov enter. All in all Randy Orton and his Legacy (Rhodes & DiBiase) took control of the entire match. Triple H also stayed in with them throughout the entire 58 minutes of the match. Great surprises from this one, like Rob Van Dam showing up to compete. Even though a lot of great wrestlers got eliminated, the finish was all to predictable. Triple H fought off both Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, but then Orton comes from behind and eliminates him for the Rumble win. Kind of predictable being that Orton was completely hated by the lockeroom earlier in the night.All in all a decent show, 9/10
bruce428 WWE got off to a great start this year with a above average PPV, with shocking moments appearing in all 3 main event matches and one in particular that I did not see coming and I don't think anyone else did also occurred during the WWE championship Match.Jack Swagger vs Matt Hardy (ECW Championship) A Great start to the show Jack Swagger shows he really has it in him and I believe if he keeps it up he will make a very big impact in the future. Matt Hardy is the fan favorite of course, great match Swagger wins with the Falling gutwrench powerbomb finisher. Great way to kick off the show.Beth Phoenix vs Melina (Woman's Championship) A great 1 on 1 match, Beth dominates with her power like we all know she would throughout the match and in one particular spot Beth bends Melina's leg so far over that she hits her in the head with her own leg repeatedly. Melina gets the win on a quick pin and surprises the Glamizon. New Woman's Champion Melina.John Cena vs JBL with HBK (World Heavyweight championship) OK I have no problem with this match at all the only thing I don't like is I despise JBL, not as a person but as a wrestler and feel he should never have any more number one contender matches. HBK makes his presence felt super kicking both JBL and Cena while the referee is down and puts JBL on top of Cena. Cena kicks out of course and quickly delivers a F-U to pick up the win. The only down point of the PPV was right here. Average match at best.Jeff Hardy vs Edge with Chavo Guerrero (WWE Championship) Before the match can begin Vickie Guerrero comes out and declares that the match is a no DQ match and what a treat that is. This match is just amazing to sum it up it steals the show in every way and blows Raw's championship match out of the water. At one point Jeff gets a ladder and jumps on Chavo through the Raw announce table. Jeff counters a spear into a twist of fate then delivers the Swanton Bomb but Vickie breaks up the pin by pulling the Referee. Then Matt Hardy comes out and both Hardy's get chairs, then out of nowhere Matt Hardy nails Jeff with a hard chair shot to the head. Edge covers Jeff for the win in one of the most shocking moments ever. New WWE Champion Edge.The Royal Rumble Match One of the best Rumble matches in years and beats last years Crap Rumble by a long shot. Most of the competitors last more then 30 minutes which is amazing. Not to mention RVD comes back and makes a surprise entry. Undertaker, Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, were all big names in this match. Randy Orton who entered at number 7 or 8 wins the match last eliminating Triple H from behind after Triple H eliminated Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase. Finally a heel has won the Royal Rumble match.Overall Great PPV to start off the year and looking forward to No Way Out which will feature 2 elimination chamber championship matches this year.