For the 2006 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship or SmackDown!

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988.

It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four".

The feud started at New Year's Revolution when Cena won an Elimination Chamber match also involving 5 other superstars to retain the WWE title.

[10] Immediately after the match, however, Vince McMahon came out and stated that Edge was cashing in his Money in the Bank contract that he won at WrestleMania 21.

Raw superstar Kurt Angle won the battle royal last eliminating Mark Henry and winning the vacant title[16][17] thus also starting a rivalry between the two.

The next week, Henry defeated Rey Mysterio to become the Number One Contender to Angle's title.

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Finlay defeated Brian Kendrick in a match that aired on Heat.

Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio, Paul London, and Raw superstar Gregory Helms joined the match to challenge Kash for the Cruiserweight Championship.

A memorable spot from this match was Paul London executing a shooting star press onto all of the challengers.

Helms threw Noble out of the ring and then pinned Funaki after a shining wizard to win the Cruiserweight title.

[4][20] In the third match, The Boogeyman faced John "Bradshaw" Layfield (with his valet Jillian Hall).

Finally, JBL had Boogeyman measured and went for the Clothesline from Hell but he missed the move and was sent crashing shoulder first into the post.

8 while Big Show's World Tag Team Championship partner at the time, Kane drew No.

As retaliation, Triple H assaulted Mysterio and threw him into the steel steps, before rolling him back into the ring for Orton to eliminate.

[22] [4] Mysterio broke the record for lasting the longest in a Royal Rumble match, 1:02:12.

Finally, Mysterio was the second person to win from the #2 slot, the first being Vince McMahon in the 1999 Royal Rumble.

[12] Cena entered the ring on a large steel catwalk-like scaffold that had been lowered from the ceiling.

Cena had the match in control in the beginning but later on he was forced to retreat to the floor on multiple occasions.

Edge remained in control and set Cena on the top rope but was subsequently pushed down.

He went for a Five Knuckle Shuffle but was distracted when Lita jumped on the apron to draw Cena's attention.

Cena took advantage of the situation and quickly executed an FU on Edge and then put him into an STFU.

[23][4][24] The main event was between Kurt Angle and Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Undertaker made his return to WWE television, in his first appearance since Armageddon, entering on a horse-drawn chariot.

[25][4] Chris Benoit and Booker T continued their feud over the WWE United States Championship.

[27] At No Way Out, Angle successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against The Undertaker,[28] but lost the title to Mysterio at WrestleMania.

[29][30] In February, the Road to WrestleMania tournament was arranged to determine a new number one contender to John Cena's WWE Championship.

RVD performed a Five Star Frog Splash on Big Show, but when he made the pin, Triple H pulled the referee.

Triple H took advantage and performed a Pedigree on RVD to win the tournament and become the number one contender to the WWE Championship.

[32] In mid-2006, WWE launched a third brand dubbed ECW, which featured wrestlers from the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, as well as newer talent.