Royal Rumble (2005)

Event
Royal Rumble (2005) was the eighteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was presented by PlayStation 2 and took place on January 30, 2005, at the Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, and featured talent from both the Raw, SmackDown! and Hardnitro brands. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, (in this instance: WrestleMania 21) for his choice at either the WWE World, Global or Grand Heavyweight Championship.

Nine professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the annual 40-man Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. The Rock, the twenty-eighth entrant, won the match by last eliminating John Cena, the thirty-fifth entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was Brian Adams versus Christian for the WWE Global Heavyweight Championship, which Brian Adams won by pinfall after performing a Around the Islands. The primary match on the SmackDown! brand was a Singles match for the WWE Championship between reigning champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Shawn Michaels, which JBL won by pinning Angle after performing a Clothesline from Hell. The main match from Hardnitro was Muhammad Hassan versus Triple H for the WWE Grand Heavyweight Championship. Triple H won by pinfall after performing a Pedigree. Kurt Angle attacked Muhammad Hassan during the match. The pay-per-view had three qualifying matches for the Royal Rumble match, one from Raw's brand, A-Train, Mordecai and Goldust versus Billy Gunn, Chuck Palumbo and Ernest Miller, who were beaten by Mordecai. Smackdown was Cibernético, Mark Jindrak and Chris Masters versus René Duprée, Rodney Mack and Tomko, being beaten by Chris Masters after beating René Duprée. Hardnitro's was Road Dogg, Heidenreich and Matt Morgan versus Bam Bam Bigelow, Rich and Luther Reigns, with Heidenreich winning by beating Bam Bam Bigelow. The Cruiserweight title was defended by Zach Pillman against Low Ki. The X-Division title is defended by Rey Mysterio against Jimmy Yang.