Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View From Worst To Best

28. 2009

Royal Rumble
WWE.com

The Good: Melina and Beth Phoenix' Women's Title match was one of the division's best ever before it was any good. Everything good about Jeff Hardy Vs Edge (including Matt Hardy's swerve turn) remains rooted in cynicism from the time. The entire programme and match was designed to welcome Christian back into the company, but the fans' receptiveness to the idea cooled Vince McMahon on it. Matt wasn't the worst person to parachute in, but it was a depressingly needless change of plans.

The Bad: More boring than bad, the Rumble was boring, Randy Orton winning was boring, Legacy helping him was boring, Triple H being the great babyface hope against them was boring. The incessant mundanity carried over from a listless opener in which Jack Swagger defeated soon-to-turn-heel Matt Hardy in a contest that failed to cement him as a serious proposition on the brand before Hardy disappeared from view.

The Ugly: Though the match wasn't a complete bust, Shawn Michaels' acting certainly was during John Cena's World Championship clash with John Bradshaw Layfield. The premise that 'HBK' needed 'JBL's money was absurd. That drama killed any actual drama.

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