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

Featuring current and former wrestlers from the ECW brand, the first round of the competition consisted of eight singles matches.

[9] The following week, Jack Swagger returned in a losing effort to Yoshi Tatsu, while Vance Archer advanced with a victory over Goldust.

[10] On the December 29 episode, Matt Hardy and Evan Bourne defeated Finlay and Mike Knox, respectively, to qualify.

[12] Ezekiel Jackson won the "Homecoming Finale", last eliminating Kane, to earn the right to face Christian at the Royal Rumble.

[13] On the January 4 episode of Raw, a fatal four-way match was held to determine the number one contender for WWE United States Championship featuring Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), Mark Henry, Carlito, and Jack Swagger.

MVP emerged victorious by pinning Swagger and earned a match against The Miz for the championship.

It was announced on December 31, 2009, on the company's official website that The Undertaker would be defending the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble; the means of determining the challenger was stated to be via the "Beat the Clock Sprint", a series of matches that sees whoever wins their match in the fastest time would be declared the number-one contender.

The sprint, held on the January 1, 2010, episode of SmackDown, consisted of four matches involving CM Punk, Kane, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Matt Hardy, and Batista.

[16] The main event for Raw was determined on the January 11 episode with guest host Mike Tyson announcing the winner of a triple threat match later that night between John Cena, Kofi Kingston, and Randy Orton would advance to face Sheamus at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship.

[17] Since November of the previous year, WWE Women's Champion Michelle McCool had been relentlessly insulting Mickie James over a perceived weight issue.

[20] The event opened with Christian defending the ECW Championship against Ezekiel Jackson (accompanied by William Regal).

[21] Next, The Miz defended the WWE United States Championship against Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), a match that Theodore Long booked in a backstage segment.

After eliminating both men, Punk began talking on the microphone, boasting of his intention to win, carrying this on for all of his time in the match.

Beth Phoenix then entered at #6, becoming only the second female to participate in an all-male Royal Rumble, after Chyna did so in 1999.

Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (#14) was attacked by The Miz during his ring entrance and taken backstage by medical personnel without entering the match.

The other half of D-Generation X, Shawn Michaels, entered at #18 and he and Triple H eliminated all the other competitors in the match, leaving themselves.

A notable moment in the match came when R-Truth (#25) eliminated Big Show (#22) and Mark Henry (#23) at the same time.

Chris Jericho entered the ring at #28 and was soon joined by entrant #29, Edge, who was making his return following a six-month hiatus due to injury.

After all four competitors traded moves on each other, Batista eliminated Michaels, who tried to rejoin the match but was stopped, resulting in him superkicking a referee before walking to the back frustrated.

[28] As a result of winning the 2010 Royal Rumble match, Edge earned the opportunity to wrestle for a world championship of his choosing at WrestleMania XXVI.

After Chris Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker in an Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber,[25] Edge announced that he would wrestle Jericho, whom Edge had shared the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships with at the time of his injury, for the title.

[28] The rivalry ended after Edge defeated Jericho in a Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules.

On the February 1 episode of Raw, Cena rescued Bret Hart from an assault by Batista and Vince McMahon.