Welcome to our live coverage of WWE’s 2009 Royal Rumble from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Its the show which should give us an idea of where WWE are heading creatively for WrestleMania 25 on April 5, 2009 at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas and as always, we’re looking for your feedback on tonight’s show.

You can drop me a line on the email address below or alternatively, you can contact us via MySpace at www.myspace.com/ifight365.

If you’ve not already done so you can check out our Royal Rumble preview by clicking here, while Michael Campbell has an awesome look at 30 top Royal Rumble matches which you can read by clicking here. Our weekly Roundtable piece this week also looks at the Rumble and you can read that by clicking here.

We’ve also got a spoiler on a big name backstage at tonight’s show at this link.

The PPV goes live at 8pm EST/1am UK time and we’ll be updating this page regularly throughout the show as well as posting any newsworthy notes prior to the PPV going live. Be sure to refresh this page regularly!We’ll probably have more on this tomorrow, but my understanding is that WWE and Mickey Rourke have held talks about The Wrestler star being at WrestleMania 25 in April in some capacity and that WWE could even announce his appearance in the near future.

Update: Minutes after I posted the above, it turns out Rourke himself has said he’s heading to WrestleMania. More on that here.

Its time for the 2009 Royal Rumble!

After a cool opening video showing moments from Rumble matches from over the years, we see Orton punting Vince from Raw last week.

The show opens at ringside with Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler telling us the McMahon family are keeping Vince’s condition under wraps. Cole has his serious voice on. They says Orton will be punished and could even be fired. Sure.

Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy for the ECW title opens the show. The match gets the big match introductions. Big pop for Matt and some decent heat for Swagger. Matt dominated early with some good (excellent by his standard) punches. Swagger bailed to the outside to regroup before returning to the ring and taking Matt down. Swagger is going to have a hell of a career in the WWE I think and doesn’t look at all out of place.

Hardy made a comeback with a dropkick and a bulldog before going to the top rope only for Swagger to push him off to the outside. They went back and forth with the story being that Hardy had his arm injured. Hardy went for a Twist of Fate but Swagger countered with a suplex and a double-arm DDT. Hardy hit a moonsault for a two count. He went for the Side Effect but Swagger countered and hit Hardy with a powerbomb for the three count. Winner and still ECW champion: Jack Swagger. Good opener.

Hardy was shown after the match sat on the ring steps looking dejected before we cut to footage of Randy Orton arriving at the building, being stared at by wrestlers and staff.

Beth Phoenix vs. Melina for the Women’s Title is up next. Santino is at ringside with Beth. Early chants for him with no attention being paid to the match, which starts slow. Melina with a headscissors into an armbar which was pretty cool. Beth picks Melina up using her arm and tosses her aside. Melina then climbed on Beth’s shoulders, only for Beth to toss her backwards. Melina was a split second away from landing on her head. Beth then locked in the most awesome hold ever, putting Melina in a one-legged Boston Crab and bending her leg right back so she was hitting Melina’s head with her own foot. Awesome. Melina countered a gorilla press and got a near fall as she made her comeback and rolled Beth up for the pin. Winner and new Women’s Champion: Melina. Pretty standard Divas match. Zero heat though for most of it.

After a video package showing the history between JBL and Shawn Michaels, we see the two backstage. JBL says if he wins the title tonight, Michaels will get his money and never have to work for him again. He adds that if he wins the title, Michaels can go into the Rumble and if he wins that, it’ll be JBL vs. Michaels for the title at WrestleMania. JBL leaves, Michaels collects his thoughts. He turns back around, and The Undertaker is there. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

John Cena vs. JBL (w/Shawn Michaels) for the World Heavyweight Title is up next. I’d expect both main title matches to be getting some decent time as the first two matches were out of the way inside the opening 30 minutes. Huge reaction to Cena although some boos in there, even against Bradshaw. JBL dominated early before going to the outside to regroup and have a word in Michaels’ ear. Cena hit a bulldog and a neckbreaker for a near fall but JBL went back outside the ring and regained the advantage after Cena nearly ran into Michaels, who just stared at him. JBL wore Cena down for several minutes as Michaels just looked on. Cena blocked a superplex and came off the top with a legdrop then made his comeback. JBL blocked an FU attempt with an elbow.

Cena countered a Clothesline from Hell and put JBL in the STF. JBL reached out for Michaels to help give him the rope the Michaels was hesitant. JBL tossed Cena to the outside next to Michaels, who stared him. JBL hit the Clothesline from Hell but Cena kicked out on two. JBL stared at Michaels . Cena went for the FU but JBL countered. He went to hit a big boot but Cena ducked and JBL laid out the referee. Michaels came into the ring with both JBL and Cena laid out. He set up for the superkick and nailed…JBL! Huge pop for that. Cena smiles and nods in approval before he eats a superkick as well. An even bigger pop for that. Michaels drapes JBL over Cena which the crowd don’t like, then he walks to the back. A second referee comes out but Cena kicks out on two. Both slowly gets back to their feet. Cena hits the FU and gets the pinfall. Winner and still World Heavyweight Champion: John Cena. Solid match.

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge for the WWE Title is up next. A lengthy video package recapping events from Jeff being attacked at Survivor Series right through to the Rumble is shown. Jeff, looking like Vampiro with face paint on, makes his way to the ring but is interrupted by Vickie Guerrero, who announces that the match is now a no DQ match. The crowd like that. Vickie introduces Edge.

Jeff took the match to Edge early. Chavo is at ringside. Jeff tried to bring a chair into play but Edge punched out Jeff and stopped that from happening. Jeff hit a cross body off the apron to Edge on the outside before they went back to the ring where Edge regained control and caught Jeff going for a springboard with a kick to the head.

Edge continued to stay in control of the match and hit a spear in the corner. Jeff fought back and went to the top rope but in midair was hit with a dropkick by Edge. Edge went to the outside for a couple of chairs. He climbed on the ring apron but Hardy speared him to the outside then dived over the top on to Edge. Hardy then hit a Twist of Fate on the ring apron. He then cleared an announce table and brought out a ladder from under the ring. He laid Edge on the table, then climbed the ladder, only for Chavo to climb up the other side. Edge escaped from the table so Hardy took out Chavo instead and laid him on the table. Jeff went back up the ladder and dived off on to Chavo, sending them both through the table but he slightly slipped from the ladder and didn’t hit the spot clean.

Back in the ring and Hardy hit Edge with a cross body off the top rope before Edge responded with a boot to the face. Hardy hit Whisper in the Wind as the pace picked up after Edge had removed a turnbuckle pad. Edge blocked a Twist of Fate and hit a DDT for a two count. Hardy rolled up Jeff for a two count. Jeff hit a facebuster then went to hit his dropkick in the corner spot but Edge countered and sent Jeff into the exposed turnbuckle. Edge set up for a spear but as he charged at Hardy, Hardy countered into a Twist of Fate. Real good spot. Jeff went up top but Vickie Guerrero interfered. Jeff kicked her away and hit the Swanton on Edge. He slowly went to make the cover but Vickie pulled the referee out of the ring. Matt Hardy then came to ringside with a chair and tossed Vickie into the ring. Matt gave Jeff the chair then grabbed one of his own. They went to double team Edge but Matt then turned on his brother and laid Jeff out with a chairshot to the head. That’s the alternative to Christian being the attacker that I talked about in the preview and had been discussed in recent weeks. Edge then made the cover as Matt watched on. Winner and new WWE champion: Edge.

Post-match, they made a huge deal of it. Matt walked to the back, followed by Vickie and Edge as Jeff was laid out in the ring. He slowly came round and was helped to the back by referees. My first thoughts are a Jeff vs. Matt feud will do great business, despite their previous singles feud being a flop. It’ll be interesting to see how they get around the history between Matt and Edge at TV this week although the angle tonight was done so the two didn’t appear to be aligned.

It was announced that both the WWE and World Heavyweight titles will be defended in Elimination Chamber matches at No Way Out.

Backstage, Todd Grisham interviewed Randy Orton. Orton said he’s in the Rumble tonight unless he hears otherwise. Chris Jericho interrupts and tells him that whether or not he wins the Rumble, he believes the McMahons will fire him tomorrow night on Raw.

The 30-man Royal Rumble Match with the winner receiving a title shot at WrestleMania 25. We’ll update regularly throughout this match to let you know of the order of entry and elimination along with other notes. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are back together to call the match. Justin Roberts is doing ring introductions. I want The Fink! #1 is Rey Mysterio. #2 is John Morrison. They teased some early eliminations before Carlito came in at #3. #4 was MVP. Good crowd reaction for him as he laid out all three in the ring. #5 was The Great Khali. Jerry Lawler called it a short 90 seconds between the last two entrances, which was no lie as it seemed more like 40 or 50 seconds. Carlito attempting a backcracker on Khali was hilarious. #6 was Vladimir Kozlov, who went at it with Khali and eliminated him straight away. Khali made it pretty obvious by preparing for the elimination by almost climbing out of the ring himself. Kozlov then quickly took out MVP and Carlito.

#7 was Triple H. Big pop. It seems the site is running slow, so please bear with us and keep trying if its slow loading for you during this Rumble match. Triple H eliminated Kozlov with relative ease before Randy Orton came in at #8. Orton and Trips went at it. Mysterio hit Morrison with a 619. #9 is JTG. #10 is Ted DiBiase. #11 is Chris Jericho. He went straight for Randy Orton then Triple H. #12 is Mike Knox, who went for Rey Mysterio immediately. #13 is The Miz. Orton hit an RKO on Morrison then Miz then JTG. Trips then hit a pedigree on Orton before he dumped out both Miz and Morrison. #14 is Finlay. Trips dumped out Mysterio but he used Miz and Morrison’s bodies as stepping stones to stay in the match.

#15 is Cody Rhodes. Rhodes and DiBiase gathered with Orton and they triple teamed Triple H. Mysterio hit a springboard but was hit in mid-air with an RKO. Cool spot. #16 is The Undertaker. Huge pop. He laid out everybody in the ring before eliminating JTG and hitting snake eyes on Rhodes. #17 is Goldust. I’d forgetten he was still even with the company. Goldust and Rhodes stared each other down which got no reaction. Goldust slapped him before Cody was backdropped onto the ring apron but managed to stay in the match. Orton hit Goldust with an RKO then called Cody over. Cody picked him up and eliminated his brother. #18 is CM Punk.

Punk cleared house. Trips went for a Pedigree but ate a Go To Sleep instead. #19 is Mark Henry. The ring is really filling up right now. #20 is Shelton Benjamin. Punk and Jericho battled on the top rope. Benjamin leaped to the top and hit a double DDT before taking out Henry. The crowd are pretty quiet at this point. #21 is William Regal. Mark Henry got eliminated after Mysterio pulled the top rope down. #22 is Kofi Kingston, who hit a few dropkicks before being clotheslined by Jericho. Undertaker eliminated Benjamin. #23 is Kane, who cleared house before staring down with Undertaker. They double chokeslammed DiBiase. Punk eliminated Regal. #24 is R-Truth.

#25 is Rob Van Dam. Huge, huge pop for RVD, who looked in awesome shape. #26 is THE Brian Kendrick, who eliminated Kofi. Triple H then tossed Kendrick straight out of the ring and the match. #27 is Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler walked straight into Kane, who threw him straight over the top rope. Bye bye. #28 is Santino Marella. He sprinted into the ring and was clotheslined straight out. Must have beaten The Warlord’s two second record. Hilarious. #29 is Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Good pop. Duggan took it to Taker and Kane for a short while. #30 is Big Show. He stared down with Taker but was attacked by Kane. Show fought back then eliminated Duggan.

Show took out R-Truth and then Punk. Hornswoggle hit the ring as Mysterio and Knox eliminated each other. Kane chased Horny off then eliminated Finlay. Big Show and Taker went at it with punches as RVD hit a frog splash on Orton, only to get to his feet and be eliminated by Jericho. Jericho laughed, turned around and was headbutted by Undertaker, who eventually eliminated him. Legacy teamed up to take out Kane, leaving us with six (Legacy, HHH, Show, Taker). Show chokeslammed HHH as Taker was triple-teamed. Taker chokeslammed Orton, then DiBiase, then Rhodes. Taker then hit a clothesline on Show and tried to eliminate him, only for Orton to interfere. Taker blocked an RKO and went back to Show. Orton then hit Show with an RKO on the ring apron, sending him out. Taker went for a chokeslam on Rhodes and DiBiase but Show pulled him off the ring apron and eliminated him. Show and Taker brawled into the crowd as we’re left with HHH vs. Legacy.

HHH blocked an RKO. He hit Rhodes with a pedigree and eliminated both Rhodes and DiBiase, only for Orton to charge up from behind and eliminate HHH. Winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble: Randy Orton.

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage tonight!

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com