As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, in this instance WrestleMania XX. Beginning with this Royal Rumble, the winner could challenge at WrestleMania his choice of either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship.

Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. Chris Benoit, the first entrant, won the match by last eliminating The Big Show, the twenty-fourth entrant. This win resulted in Benoit breaking the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund, staying in the match for over one hour. The primary match on the Raw brand was a Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship, which ended in a draw. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Brock Lesnar versus Hardcore Holly for the WWE Championship, which Lesnar won to retain the championship. The featured match on the undercard was a Tables match for the World Tag Team Championship between Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) and the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von), which Evolution won to retain the titles.