Ranking EVERY Royal Rumble WWE Championship Match From Worst To Best

22. Jeff Hardy Vs Edge - 2009 (WWE Championship)

Royal Rumble
WWE.com

A shocking turn by Matt Hardy on brother Jeff may have gifted the WWE Championship back to his bitter rival, but the predictable nature of the finish caused other problems before and after the clash.

The original plan called for this contest to mark Christian's surprising return from TNA, but the in-house belief that those on the outside already knew the ending triggered a needless change of plans. Regardless of the perpetrator, the expected conclusion slightly took the wind out of the encounter's sails as a result.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett