WWE’s first PPV of 2009 takes place tonight, with the Royal Rumble coming live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Its the show which will (hopefully) 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’ll have live coverage of the Rumble here at iFight365.com tonight from 7.30pm EST (12.30am GMT).

Ahead of the show, Mark Bright, Michael Campbell and Phil Lowe take a look ahead to tonight’s scheduled matches and what may or may not happen at one of the most popular PPVs of the year…

Women’s Title Match: Beth Phoenix (C) vs. Melina

Mark Bright: Phoenix wins, maybe with help from Rosa Mendez in a four minute match. Melina is definitely miscast in the babyface role, everything about her just comes across naturally heelish and the babyface act seems far too forced, I don’t believe for a minute that that’s anything close to the real her.

Phil Lowe: I’m not a Melina fan but she usually has decent matches with Beth. It’ll be short and Rosa will likely get involved as well. No title change here, Beth retains.

ECW Title Match: Jack Swagger (C) vs. Matt Hardy

Michael Campbell: As crazy as it was to put the belt on Swagger so soon, to take it off him could be even worse. I don’t have high hopes for this one- but it’s always nice to see Matt get a one-on-one effort on PPV and with the company being high on Swagger, this should get a decent amount of time. Winner: Swagger.

Mark Bright: After putting the belt on Swagger a couple of weeks ago and having Tommy Dreamer kick off a build-up to a title versus retirement stipulation match to presumably take place at One Night Stand, logical booking suggests Swagger wins here to establish himself even more firmly as champion. It’s probably what will happen, but an alternative option is Hardy gets the title back here and they trade the belt back and forth to establish themselves as fairly evenly-matched guys leading to a final confrontation at WrestleMania. Yet I doubt that scenario is something that has entered the WWE’s heads. A good performance from Swagger here will further establish him as one to watch for the future, and Hardy can always be relied upon to have good solid matches that the crowd are ridiculously into even in times when the WWE aren’t really focusing on him, so this will be a perfect choice to open the PPV.

Phil Lowe: I think Swagger has a great future ahead of him, but taking the title off him now would be an insane booking decision and kill his momentum. Hardy is over with or without the belt so the best thing to do here is for Hardy to make Swagger look good, let them have a good match and put Swagger over before building to what I’m assuming will lead to Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer.

WWE Title Match: Jeff Hardy © vs. Edge

Michael Campbell: It’s still my opinion that WM 25 should have ended with Jeff capturing the WWE title, even if it was for the second time, rather than first. However, it seems unlikely. They won’t go with a three-way, because they already had that match last month, and I can’t see HHH not being involved in the Smackdown title bout. The working plan is to have Christian/Jeff and HHH/Edge at Mania, so it’s incredibly likely the Rumble will see Christian cost Jeff the strap, and be revealed as the fiend responsible for the attacks on Hardy. It should be a great match. Winner: Edge.

Phil Lowe: The build for this has been pretty good and the match itself should be real good. I love the Rumble match itself but this match also appeals to me. The big question is does Christian debut? It wouldn’t surprise me, but I think they’ll hold off on his debut until Smackdown.

With WWE putting faith in Jeff as champion, I don’t see the sense in having him lose the belt already. For me, he needs to be champion going into WrestleMania. The only problem there, however, is if they go ahead with the plan of Jeff vs. Christian at Mania. That’s a gamble if you’re throwing Christian straight into the title picture. It’s a good problem to have I guess since the Smackdown title picture going into Mania could go one of a number of ways. I have no idea what they’ll do and chances are WWE themselves are going back and forth on booking plans. I still wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that Matt was the one who attacked Jeff back in November. For the sake of a pick, I’ll say Jeff retains.

Mark Bright: I thought the stunt where Jeff got hit with the pyro was really well done, and I was shocked by how much I was into it since on paper it sounded like a really dumb idea. However, keeping Hardy off the show so much since his title win almost makes it seem like the WWE are trying to stop this great wave of momentum Jeff had been on for most of the past 18 months, wellness suspensions aside. And that’s essentially throwing money away.

It’s strange that Edge is the one who will probably benefit from the WWE proving once again that all their talk about how fans make stars and how they listen to the WWE Universe to be the complete bullshit that it is, at least when it comes to set-in-stone WrestleMania main events involving HHH. Obviously the big rumour is the potential involvement of Christian helping Edge win the title and reveal himself as the guy who has been fucking with Hardy these past few months, and if the belt is going back to Edge I think it would be the right time to debut Christian because it gives Jeff an ‘out’ as well as transferring him into a showcased feud that’s not related to the title, allowing HHH and Edge to build WrestleMania.

I have no worries about the quality of the match since these two have been having good and sometimes great matches together for a decade now, and crowd heat will be off the charts as they’re so much more over and have so much more star power than they had during their tag team feud back in the Attitude Era. Outside of the Rumble you’d have to believe this will be the match of the night.

World Heavyweight Title Match – John Cena © vs. JBL (w/Shawn Michaels)

Mark Bright: It’s testament to how good Cena, Layfield and Shawn Michaels are on interviews and how strong this angle is that despite hating almost all the past Cena/JBL matches, after the contract signing angle on RAW this past Monday night, I cannot fucking wait for this match. Obviously it’s building to a big spot worked around “what will HBK do?” and there are a few options. Either Shawn superkicks Cena and JBL wins the title, Shawn superkicks JBL and Cena retains, Michaels superkicks Cena but JBL’s cover only gets 2 and Cena recovers to win anyway meaning JBL can blame Shawn for failing to put Cena away and you build yet more heat for Shawn eventually standing up to JBL at a later date.

I think they do the JBL/HBK split on this show. The drama will be off the charts, hopefully the heat will be too, and after a ref bump here’s both what I would do and what I think happens. JBL knocks Cena down, and orders HBK into the ring. He yells at HBK to superkick Cena, maybe even grabbing a handful of dollar bills and shoving them in HBK’s hand to really hammer the evil rich bully point home. HBK looks like he isn’t going to do it, even turning away, but then turns back and LEVELS Cena with Sweet Chin Music. JBL gets this evil shit-eating grin on his face, and looks on top of the world, when HBK nails him with Sweet Chin Music as well and walks away. As both men groggily get to their feet, Cena hits the FU to win. The heat and drama will make this memorable even if the actual in-ring work might not be up to much.

Michael Campbell: More of an angle than a match- but what an angle! This has developed into something special lately, and the crowd heat for this should be tremendous. Smart money is on Shawn having the opportunity to cost JBL the match, and thus, set up their eventual showdown. The crazy, off-the-cuff theory has JBL taking it. Either way, this should be a highlight of the evening and it’s incredibly rare you can say that prior to a JBL match. Winner: John Cena.

Phil Lowe: OK, booking hat on here, as for me, Cena retains the title and it’s not an issue. The big thing here is whether HBK and JBL split or not. A HBK-JBL match at WrestleMania does seem likely, and six months ago I’d have thought that idea was a truly shitty one. But despite the flawed logic in Shawn portrayed as the megastar with no money, the promos over the past few weeks have been nothing short of incredible and make the Rumble match a must-see match.

Now for the booking. How about this for an alternative to a potential HBK-JBL match at Mania: HBK costs JBL the win and Cena retains at the Rumble. JBL, pissed with missing out on the chance at the top one last time, wants to punish Michaels. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, JBL promises to pay Michaels back, but doesn’t tell us how. At some point around No Way Out, we find out that Bradshaw has been talking to Smackdown heat magnet, Vickie Guerrero, with the end result being Michaels vs. Undertaker at Mania. Fantasy booking? Perhaps. But Michaels vs. Taker has at least been discussed on more than one occasion, and as I wrote in the latest Roundtable piece, it’s a match that a lot of fans want to see. I think its “do-able” and I’d much prefer it to JBL vs. Michaels on the biggest show of the year.

The 30-man Royal Rumble Match with the winner receiving a title shot at WrestleMania 25

Michael Campbell: I’m looking forward to this bout, a Rumble match that features a wealth of talent that should ensure a deeply satisfying encounter. However, despite this, I’m very disappointed with the poor build-up. Across the entire company, the only person who’s particularly displayed an interest in their role in this crucial match is Triple H. Hardly thrilling. Hunter has already entered WrestleMania as a Babyface challenger, on two occasions, so it’s not a scenario I’d especially welcome.

Outside of the box, there’s always the far out notion that HHH won’t be involved in a title match at all, perhaps he’ll face Kozlov or someone, but I still see him going for gold, and going the route of a rumble victory.

Aside from HHH, the only other sensible candidate would be Randy Orton. Although Dave Meltzer has said he believes Orton is headed for a clash with Steve Austin at WM, I cannot see Vince book Austin against anyone other than Cena. But Orton has been on a crazy, wild roll of late and if both he and Cena are available, inevitably they’ll do battle for the World title. I also believe Stephanie McMahon joining Austin’s group would be a boost to the heel unit. And that’s it really…. Shawn Michaels could still walk into one of the remaining spots, but it would be a stretch to believe that JBL will raise the title, and carry it to a Mania main event, although the way in which their feud has developed thus far- it would be the perfect culmination. However, this should be a superb match and one with quite a few twists and turns hidden amongst a fabulous line up of talent. Winner: Triple H.

Mark Bright: Apparently the Rumble match – or at least aspects of it – has been re-booked at some point in the past week, as when Smackdown was taped, HHH losing to Kozlov got him the #1 spot, but once it made the air any references to that part of the angle were completely edited off the show. That could mean HHH is still going to be #1 but they want the mystery and intrigue of waiting until his music hits before revealing it, which is ALWAYS the right way to kick off the Rumble, or it could mean he’s carrying an injury and can’t go the long time he’d have to from #1, especially if he’s winning or at least going to be there towards the end.

If the WWE can’t get Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin to come back for WrestleMania then there’s no question at all that Randy Orton should win this match. The angle where he punt-kicked Vince McMahon to end RAW last week was incredibly heated and made it clear that Orton is THE guy WWE are going to be pushing super strongly this year, and he is at a level right now where his performances totally justify the push. But if Orton isn’t winning I see Shawn Michaels entering as a mystery man, following turning on JBL, and winning the Rumble match. Of course after Cena last year you might question the need to have a mystery entrant winning two years in a row, but the story with Shawn is so strong, and it plays off the popularity of The Wrestler, at least in some ways, with the ageing legend winning the Rumble and making one last run to main event WrestleMania in his home state of Texas. I’d even play off the ending to the 2007 Rumble match by having Shawn and Undertaker as the last two guys in, with Shawn taking the win this time.

As mentioned in a previous roundtable topic here, I LOVE the Rumble match, it’s one I look forward to every year without fail, and even in just writing up this preview I’m super excited. As always it’ll be interesting to see which non-main event guys get strong showings (John Morrison would be a prime candidate I assume), which pairings of guys match up against each other, whether anyone will make returns to action after being out (Umaga would be a prime candidate for this), how they spread out the star power, whether Kane will continue his streak of always being fucking awesome in the Rumble match, and even how they do the commentary.

If the WWE are smart, the announce team will be a reunited Jerry Lawler from RAW and Jim Ross from Smackdown, along with ECW’s Matt Striker. Now watch as we get the team of Michael Cole, Tazz and Todd Grisham.

Phil Lowe: Triple H and Randy Orton are surely favourites here. Unless Orton is going into a match with Austin at Mania then you’d have to say he wins here. If that’s the case, I’d expect Trips to put in a long stint, even if he’s not going in as number one (and who knows what is going on there behind the scenes). You can make a case for Shawn Michaels since there are still open spots and HBK is on the card but without a match, but he’s an outside shot and I don’t see him in the title picture at Mania if its a singles match. Hunter winning would be a shitty, shitty move. He’s at the top of the tree, he doesn’t need to win and he certainly doesn’t need to be in the title picture for WrestleMania in April.

There’s a few places yet to be filled, so I expect we’ll see a few cameo appearances tonight as well, plus Umaga’s return to TV may well be in this match.

If you’re not ordering the PPV (and even if you are!), don’t forget to join us tonight at 7.30pm EST/12.30am GMT here at iFight365.com for live coverage of the Royal Rumble!