This event also marked the first appearance of Rob Van Dam in WWE since One Night Stand in June 2007.

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

JBL earned his championship match against Cena after winning a fatal four-way elimination match—a standard match in which the last remaining competitor who has not been eliminated is declared the winner—on the December 29, 2008, episode of Raw by defeating Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels.

[9] Another rivalry from the Raw brand came with Melina challenging Beth Phoenix for her WWE Women's Championship in a singles match.

[9] The main rivalry from the SmackDown brand incorporated into the Royal Rumble featured Jeff Hardy and Edge, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship.

On the January 2, 2009, episode of SmackDown, on-air authority figure Vickie Guerrero announced that Edge would face Hardy for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble.

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.

The first match of the evening saw Jack Swagger defend the ECW Championship against Matt Hardy.

Swagger ultimately defeated Hardy by pinning him after slamming him to the mat with a gutwrench powerbomb.

[11] The second match involved the WWE Women's Championship, where Beth Phoenix defended her title against Melina.

Cena however managed to get a shoulder up and performed an Attitude Adjustment to retain his World Heavyweight Championship.

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.

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).

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.

[18] 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.