The 2010 Royal Rumble was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

(PPV)

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWE). It was the 23rd annual

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after, and centered on, the Royal Rumble match, a modified Battle royal (professional wre ...

and took place on January 31, 2010, at the

Philips Arena State Farm Arena is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It also served as home to the Atlanta Thrasher ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. As has been customary since 1993, the

Royal Rumble match The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic battle royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the ...

winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2010 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's

WWE Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown bran ...

, SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship, or the

ECW Championship The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW ...

WrestleMania XXVI WrestleMania XXVI was a 2010 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 26th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 28, ...

—this was the last Royal Rumble in which the ECW Championship was an option as the ECW brand was disbanded in February, also deactivating the title, thus also being WWE's last PPV to include the ECW brand. Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

. The main event was the 2010 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from all three brands. SmackDown's

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

, the twenty-ninth entrant, won the match by last eliminating Raw's

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

, the nineteenth entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was for the WWE Championship between reigning champion

Sheamus Stephen Farrelly (born 28 January 1978) is an Irish Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand under the ring name Sheamus. Prior to joining WWE, he wrestled on th ...

and

Randy Orton Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He has been signed to WWE since 2000, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. Orton is widely regarded as one of t ...

, which Sheamus won by disqualification. The primary match on the SmackDown brand was between

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name the Undertaker, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway ...

and

Rey Mysterio Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Widely regarded as both one of the greatest '' luch ...

for the World Heavyweight Championship, which The Undertaker won to retain the championship. The featured match on the ECW brand was between

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and Ezekiel Jackson for the ECW Championship, which Christian won to retain.

Production

Background

The

is an annual

(PPV) produced every January by

(WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania,

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind th ...

, and

Survivor Series Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving ( ...

, dubbed the "Big Four". The

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

of the event is based on the

, a modified

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2010 event was the 23rd Royal Rumble and was scheduled to be held on January 31, 2010, at the

. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2010, the winner could choose to challenge for either Raw's

, SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship, or the

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, '' Raw'', '' SmackDown'', and '' ECW''. On the December 15, 2009, episode of ''ECW'',

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Tiffany announced that the ECW brand would host a competition called the "ECW Homecoming", where the winner would face

for the ECW Championship at the Royal Rumble. Featuring current and former wrestlers from the ECW brand, the first round of the competition consisted of eight singles matches. The winners would then qualify to the "Homecoming Finale" on the January 12, 2010, episode, where they would fight in an eight-man

that will determine the competition winner. The first two qualifying matches were featured later that night with Ezekiel Jackson defeating

Vladimir Kozlov Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius (born April 27, 1969) better known by his ring name Vladimir Kozlov, is a Ukrainian-American actor and Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he won the WWE Raw Ta ...

and Kane defeating

Zack Ryder Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is a freelancer who competes on the independent circuit as well as making in ring appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), All Elite Wrestling (AEW) ...

. The following week,

Jack Swagger Donald Jacob Hager Jr. (born March 24, 1982) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He currently performs on the independent circ ...

returned in a losing effort to

Yoshi Tatsu is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Yoshi Tatsu. Yamamoto started his professional wrestling career under his real name in October 2002 with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he remaine ...

, while Vance Archer advanced with a victory over

Goldust Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes, with a nickname of "The Natural" and is a member of The Sons of ...

. On the December 29 episode,

Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he a former List of TNA World Tag Team Champions, three time TNA Wor ...

and Evan Bourne defeated Finlay and

Mike Knox Michael Shawn Hettinga (born July 17, 1978) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known under the ring name Mike Knox. He is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) where he is one half of the NWA World Tag Te ...

, respectively, to qualify. The two remaining qualifying matches were held on the January 5, 2010, episode of and saw

Shelton Benjamin Shelton James Benjamin (born July 9, 1975) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Hurt Syndicate and is one-half of the AEW World Tag Team Champ ...

defeating Chavo Guerrero Jr. and

CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand. Regarded as ...

defeating

Mark Henry Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Henry is a two-time Olympian (1992 and 19 ...

to qualify. On the January 12 episode, Jackson won the "Homecoming Finale", last eliminating Kane, to earn the right to face Christian at the Royal Rumble. 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 The WWE United States Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#Location-specific championships, championship promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defend ...

featuring

Montel Vontavious Porter Hassan Hamid Assad (born Alvin Antonio Burke Jr.; October 28, 1973), better known by his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Manager (professional wrestling), manager, and sub ...

(MVP), Mark Henry, Carlito, and Jack Swagger. MVP emerged victorious by pinning Swagger and earned a match against

The Miz Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name The Miz. Mizanin first gained fame a ...

for the championship. It was announced on December 31, 2009, on the company's official website that

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 Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

Dolph Ziggler Nicholas Theodore Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under his real name, stylized as Nic Nemeth, where he is one-half of the TNA World Tag ...

R-Truth Ronnie Aaron Killings (born January 19, 1972) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under his real name, stylized as Ron Killings and R-Truth. Killings worked for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) ...

, Matt Hardy, and

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...

. The wrestler who won his match in the quickest time would earn the championship match. Punk defeated Hardy in his match, setting the time at 7:20. The next match featured Kane and Ziggler; both failed to beat the time limit and the match ended in a draw. Mysterio defeated his former rival Jericho one second faster than Punk's time, with 7:19. The final match was Batista versus R-Truth; the match resulted in another time-limit draw, due in part to interference from Mysterio. Despite Mysterio's fastest time, on-screen consultant

Vickie Guerrero Vickie Lynn Benson (formerly Guerrero, née Lara;Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 53. born April 16, 1968), better known as Vickie Guerrero, is an American former professional wrestling personality ...

overruled the result, announcing a match the following week between Mysterio and Batista, who had disputably won his match. The match between the two on the January 8 episode of ''SmackDown'' was declared a no contest following both men being incapacitated. A rematch between the two was held the following week, this time as a

Steel Cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

. Mysterio won the match, earning the right to face The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. The main event for ''Raw'' was determined on the January 11 episode with

guest host A guest host (or guest presenter in the United Kingdom) is a host, usually of a talk show, that hosts the program in lieu of the regular host if they fall ill, have another project or commitment, or are unable to host for some other reason. Guest ...

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...

announcing the winner of a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

later that night between

Kofi Kingston Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-born American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Kofi ...

, and

would advance to face

at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship. Orton ultimately won with the help of Legacy, who took out Cena and Kingston for him. Since November of the previous year,

WWE Women's Champion The WWE Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defe ...

Michelle McCool Michelle Leigh Calaway ( McCool; born January 25, 1980) is an American retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she is a two-time WWE Women's Champion, as well as the first WWE Divas Champion. She is a WW ...

had been relentlessly insulting

Mickie James Mickie Laree James (born August 31, 1979) Additional January 6, 2017. is an American Country music, country singer and Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE. She is also signed to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) as Cre ...

over a perceived weight issue. The two had a match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, which saw McCool win, continuing the torment. James confronted McCool on the January 15 episode of ''SmackDown'' during a mocking

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

about James, leading to the champion assaulting her. It was also confirmed that day that McCool would defend her title again at the Royal Rumble against James.

Event

Dark match

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a

dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

took place in which

Gail Kim Gail Kim-Irvine (born February 20, 1977) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenures in TNA Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In TNA, she was the inaugural and record setting seven-tim ...

Kelly Kelly Barbara Jean Blank Coba (née Blank; January 15, 1987), known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her ring name Kelly Kelly, is an American model and former professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE under a legends contract. Blank has a ...

, Eve Torres, and

The Bella Twins The Bella Twins are an American former professional wrestling tag team that performed in WWE and consisted of identical twin sisters Nikki Bella and Brie Bella. Each of the Bella Twins are former WWE Divas Champions. Brie was the first twin in ...

(

Nikki Bella Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace (born November 21, 1983), also known by the stage names Nikki Bella and Nikki Garcia, is an American television personality and professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE. She is the host of the game show, '' B ...

and

Brie Bella Brianna Monique Danielson (born November 21, 1983), also known as Brie Bella and Brie Garcia, is an American television personality and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE. In 2007, Garcia signed with WWE and ...

) defeated Maryse, Katie Lea Burchill,

Jillian Hall Jillian Hall (born September 6, 1980) is a retired American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in WWE. After debuting in 1998, Hall worked on the independent circuit under the name Macaela Mercedes. ...

Alicia Fox Victoria Elizabeth Crawford (born June 30, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where she performs under her real name as the on-screen Deputy Director of Authority, and also performs ...

, and Natalya in a 10-Diva tag team match.

Preliminary matches

The event opened with Christian defending the ECW Championship against Ezekiel Jackson (accompanied by

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for ...

). Regal attempted to interfere but the referee noticed, ejecting Regal from ringside. Christian executed the Killswitch on Jackson to retain the title. Next, The Miz defended the WWE United States Championship against Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), a match that

Theodore Long Theodore Robert Rufus Long (born September 15, 1947) is an American former professional wrestling Referee (professional wrestling), referee, Manager (professional wrestling), manager and Authority figure (professional wrestling), authority figur ...

booked in a backstage segment. After MVP chased Miz into the ring, Miz pinned him with a small package to retain the title. Rhodes stunned

After that, Sheamus defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Sheamus dominated most of the match, targeting Orton's left arm. Sheamus attempted Pale Justice on Orton but Orton countered the move with a Rope Hung DDT. Orton pinned Sheamus but Sheamus touched the bottom rope, voiding the pinfall. Orton attempted a punt on Sheamus but Sheamus countered and targeted Orton's left arm.

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (born June 30, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As of April 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. He is also known for co-fou ...

interfered and attacked Sheamus, meaning Sheamus retained the title by disqualification. After the match, Orton confronted and attacked Rhodes.

Ted DiBiase Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (; born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, and color commentator. He is signed to WWE as of 2024, where he works in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship succ ...

came out but was also attacked by Orton. Sheamus attacked Orton with a Brogue Kick and celebrated his victory. Next, Michelle McCool defended the WWE Women's Championship against Mickie James. McCool was accompanied by

Layla "Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, '' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (1970). Its contrasting movemen ...

. Before the match began, McCool taunted James by calling her "Piggy James" and Layla wore a fat suit to mock James. As the match started, "Piggy James" Layla tried to attack the genuine James but McCool accidentally executed a

Big Boot Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big'', a 2023 Taiwanese children's film starring Van Fan and Chie Tanaka * '' Big!'', a Discover ...

on Layla. James took advantage and executed a Mickie DDT to win the title. In the penultimate match, The Undertaker defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rey Mysterio. After countering a Last Ride, Mysterio executed two 619s on Undertaker. Mysterio attempted a West Coast Pop but Undertaker caught Mysterio and executed a Last Ride to retain the title.

Main event

The

was the Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania XXVI.

(#1) and Evan Bourne (#2) were quickly eliminated by CM Punk (#3). 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. Punk quickly eliminated JTG (#4), before being stopped by

The Great Khali Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972), better known by his ring name The Great Khali, is an Indian-born American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter, and actor. He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he be ...

(#5).

Beth Phoenix Elizabeth Copeland ( Kociański; born November 24, 1980), better known as Beth Phoenix, is an American retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she is a former WWE Divas Champion and a three-time WWE Women's ...

then entered at #6, becoming only the second female to participate in an all-male Royal Rumble, after

Chyna Chyna (born Joan Marie Laurer; December 27, 1969 – April 17, 2016), also known as Joanie Laurer, was an American professional wrestler, fitness model, bodybuilder, actress, adult actress, and television personality. Chyna first rose to pr ...

did so in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. Phoenix eliminated Khali by pulling him over the top rope while kissing him but was eliminated by Punk immediately afterwards.

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

entered at #8 and eliminated Punk. Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (#14) was attacked by The Miz during his ring entrance and taken backstage by medical personnel without entering the match. Miz then entered at #16 but MVP returned to the match and eliminated both himself and Miz. The other half of

D-Generation X D-Generation X (DX), is an American professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Stable, stable, and later a tag team, who consisted of various members mostly Generation X wrestlers, most notably Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Ch ...

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

, entered at #18 and he and Triple H eliminated all the other competitors in the match, leaving themselves. Michaels and Triple H were immediately joined by John Cena (#19). After double-teaming Cena, Michaels performed a Sweet Chin Music on Triple H to eliminate him. A notable moment in the match came when R-Truth (#25) eliminated

Big Show Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under his real name of Paul Wight. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) f ...

(#22) and Mark Henry (#23) at the same time. Chris Jericho entered the ring at #28 and was soon joined by entrant #29,

, who was making his return following a six-month hiatus due to injury. Edge performed

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

s on Jericho, Michaels, and Cena before eliminating Jericho. Dave Batista entered at #30 as the final entrant. This brought the final four down to Michaels, Cena, Edge, and Batista. 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. Edge after wins the royal rumble

After a quick back and forth, Cena eliminated Batista, bringing the final two down to himself and Edge. Cena countered a spear attempt from Edge and went to eliminate him, but Edge instead eliminated Cena to win the match. In doing so, Edge would gain the new record of spending the least amount of time in the rumble match before winning it. He was in the match for 7 minutes and 37 seconds, besting the previous record set by Cena by 51 seconds (Cena's record had been set two years earlier after also returning from injury in the Rumble match as a late entry - in Cena's case, #30). This record lasted for 12 years until it was broken by

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler and professional American football player. As a ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Reception

The Royal Rumble received generally positive reviews from critics. The event earned 462,000 pay-per-view buys, an increase of 12,000 on the 2009 Royal Rumble.

Aftermath

After failing to win the Royal Rumble match and losing an

Elimination Chamber The Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling elimination-based match held in the WWE. The match was created by Triple H, and introduced by Eric Bischoff in November 2002. It features a large chain-linked circular steel structure which ...

qualifying match to Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels cost The Undertaker the World Heavyweight Championship against Chris Jericho in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match at

. As a result, Michaels challenged Undertaker to a rematch of their

WrestleMania XXV WrestleMania 25, also promoted as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, was a 2009 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the ...

match at

. Undertaker agreed on the term that if Michaels lost, he would retire from professional wrestling. A stipulation was added that the match would be contested under no disqualifications and no countouts. At WrestleMania, Undertaker defeated Michaels to extend his WrestleMania winning streak to 18–0 and Michaels was forced to retire. 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, 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. At WrestleMania, Jericho defeated Edge to retain the title. After the match, Edge would be frustrated, spearing Chris Jericho through the barricade in the process at ringside. The rivalry ended after Edge defeated Jericho in a Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules. John Cena eliminated Batista from the Royal Rumble match, which started a conflict between Batista and Cena. On the February 1 episode of ''Raw'', Cena rescued

Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...

from an assault by Batista and

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

. After the show ended, Cena tried to help Hart but was attacked by Batista. At Elimination Chamber, Cena won the WWE Championship from Sheamus in an Elimination Chamber match. After the match, McMahon ordered Cena to defend the title against Batista. Batista defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship. At WrestleMania XXVI, Cena defeated Batista to regain the WWE Championship. Cena would retain the title against Batista in a

Last Man Standing match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

at Extreme Rules and in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit, which forced Batista to quit WWE. After the Royal Rumble, Christian and Ezekiel Jackson continued to feud over the ECW Championship. On February 2, however, WWE Chairman

announced that ''ECW'' would be going off the air and would air its final episode on February 16. On the final episode of ''ECW'', Jackson, with the help of

, defeated Christian in an Extreme Rules match to become the final ECW Champion. Afterwards, the ECW brand was discontinued, subsequently retiring the championship. This would in turn be the last Royal Rumble in which three titles were an option for the Royal Rumble winner (with the one-time exception of

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Results

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

: – Raw : – SmackDown : – ECW : – Winner * ¹ – MVP was attacked by The Miz during his entrance, but later entered the match shortly after Miz's entry and eliminated both himself and Miz from the match.

References

External links

Official website

Official microsite
{{WWEPPV, Royal Rumble

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2010 in Atlanta Professional wrestling shows in Atlanta 2010 WWE pay-per-view events January 2010 in the United States