Royal Rumble (2005)

Royal Rumble (2005)
Promotional poster featuring various WWE wrestlers and referencing West Side Story.
Tagline(s)	All the rumbling, minus the dancing and singing
Theme song(s)	"Find the Real" by Alter Bridge
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown!
Sponsor(s)	PlayStation 2
Date	January 30, 2005
Attendance	12,000
Venue	Save Mart Center at Fresno State
City	Fresno, California
Pay-per-view chronology
New Year's Revolution (2005) Royal Rumble (2005) No Way Out (2005)
Royal Rumble chronology
Royal Rumble (2004) Royal Rumble (2005) Royal Rumble (2006)

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 Save Mart Center in Fresno, California and featured talent from both the Raw and SmackDown! 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 Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship.

Five 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. Batista, the twenty-eighth entrant, won the match by last eliminating John Cena, the twenty-fifth entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was Triple H versus Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Triple H won by pinfall after performing a Pedigree. The primary match on the SmackDown! brand was a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between reigning champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Kurt Angle, and The Big Show, which JBL won by pinning Angle after performing a Clothesline from Hell. For the first time since The Wrestling Classic, no tag team match was featured on the card.