WWE Royal Rumble 2013

The 2005 Royal Rumble was a, professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. It was the 18th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 30, 2005, at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. The event was based around the men's Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-man battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the winner received a world championship match at WrestleMania. For the 2005 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. Five professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the 2005 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. Raw's Batista, the 28th entrant, won the match by last eliminating SmackDown!'s John Cena, the 25th 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 to retain the title. The primary match on the SmackDown! brand was a triple threat match for the WWE Championship between reigning champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kurt Angle, and Big Show, which JBL won by pinning Angle. No tag team match was featured on the card, which made this the first PPV event since The Wrestling Classic in 1985 to not include one.