2010 WWE Royal Rumble Gets a "Rated R" Shock

The night opened up with the ECW Championship on the line as Christian defended the gold against Ezekiel Jackson. It was a fairly stiff match between the two, with Jackson getting a couple of close near-falls. However the ECW Champion managed to hit the Killswitch on Jackson for the successful title defense.

In the second match of the night, The Miz put the United States Championship on the line as he faced Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). It was a match that had been brewing for several weeks, which led up to their match at the Rumble. After MVP went for his Playmaker, The Miz reversed into the Skull Crushing Finale and pinned MVP to retain the title. Afterwards, a frustrated MVP spun Miz around and hit the Playmaker on the champion, leaving him lying in the middle of the ring.

The WWE Championship was on the line next, as Sheamus defended against Randy Orton. Sheamus had been on a roll lately, ever since taking the title from John Cena back in December at the TLC event in San Antonio. This was a brutal match back and forth, that saw just as much action inside the ring as it did outside the ring. At one point in the contest, Legacy member Cody Rhodes hit the ring and took a cheap shot on the WWE Champion. The referee saw this and immediately called for the bell, giving Sheamus the disqualification win, but more importantly, he kept the title.

Afterwards, Rhodes got in the ring and tried to smooth things over with Orton, but was met with a vicious attack by Orton. Rhodes' teammate, This brought Rhodes' teammate, Ted DiBiase, to the ring. He tried to cool the situation down but was quickly floored by Orton as well. Orton stormed out of the ring and off to the locker room.

Up next was the WWE Women's Championship, as Michelle McCool defended her title against Mickie James. Over the last several weeks, McCool and Layla had been poking fun at James, making fun of her physique and taking general verbal cheapshots at her. Before the match started, McCool got on the mic and made some more derogatory remarks about her opponent, and then brought Layla to the ring. Layla was wearing an oversized fatsuit and a pig snout, making more references to Mickie's appearance.

Before anybody could blink, Mickie hit the ring and attacked both McCool and Layla. Once the bell rang, it took Mickie James a DDT and a mere 20 seconds to get the pin and become the new WWE Women's Champion. Following the match, many of the SmackDown! Divas came to the ring with a large cake. Instead of celebrating, Mickie celebrated her win by taking the enormous cake and dumping it on the former champion and her sidekick.

In the final match before the Royal Rumble match, The Undertaker put the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Rey Mysterio. The challenger had to go through a Beat The Clock challenge as well as a couple of additional matches by Batista to earn a shot at Undertaker's belt. Rey put up a valiant effort, even bloodying The Undertaker's face. But after hitting a 619 on the champion, Rey attempted the move again. This time, The Undertaker caught Mysterio and delivered a thunderous Last Ride power bomb. He pinned Mysterio, retaining the belt and then awaited the winner of the Royal Rumble.

The annual Royal Rumble match had its fair share of shocks and suprises. Beth Phoenix became only the second female in WWE history to compete in the match, and even eliminated The Great Khali. A big shock came when Shawn Michaels superkicked his DX partner, Triple H, over the top rope for the elimination. But perhaps the biggest surprise came as Edge returned to the ring tonight as the #29 entry and eventually won the Royal Rumble, earning a guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania 26.

　
Below is the order of entry for each superstar. The person that eliminated them is next to their name.

ORDER OF ENTRY/ELIMINATED BY:

1. Dolph Ziggler, 2^nd by CM Punk

2. Evan Bourne, 1^st by CM Punk

3. CM Punk, 7^th by Triple H

4. JTG, 3^rd by CM Punk

5. The Great Khali, 4^th by Beth Phoenix

6. Beth Phoenix, 5^th by CM Punk

7. Zack Ryder, 6^th by CM Punk

8. Triple H, 17^th by HBK (superkick)

9. Drew McIntyre, 16^th by Triple H & Shawn Michaels

10. Ted DiBiase, 14^th by Shawn Michaels

11. John Morrison, 15^th by Shawn Michaels

12. Kane, 11^th by Triple H

13. Cody Rhodes, 12^th by Shawn Michaels

14. MVP, 9^th by himself (him and The Miz eliminated simultaneously)

15. Carlito, 13^th by Shawn Michaels

16. The Miz, 8^th by MVP (he and MVP eliminated simultaneously)

17. Matt Hardy, 10^th by Kane

18. Shawn Michaels, 27^th by Batista

19. John Cena, 29^th by Edge

20. Shelton Benjamin, 18^th by John Cena

21. Yoshi Tatsu, 19^th by John Cena

22. Big Show, 23^rd by R-Truth

23. Mark Henry, 22^nd by R-Truth

24. Chris Masters, 20^th by Big Show

25. R-Truth, 24^th by Kofi Kingston

26. Jack Swagger, 23^rd by Kofi Kingston

27Kofi Kingston, 25^th by John Cena

28. Chris Jericho, 26^th by Edge

29. Edge, ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER

30. Batista, 28^th by John Cena