Storyline

Royal Rumble (2008) was the twenty-first annual Royal Rumble PPV. It took place on January 27, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown and ECW brands. The event was also the first WWE pay-per-view broadcast in high definition. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania. The main event was the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from all three brands. The primary match on the Raw brand was Randy Orton versus Jeff Hardy for the WWE Championship. The primary match on the SmackDown brand was Edge versus Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship. The featured matches on the undercard were Montel Vontavious Porter versus Ric Flair in a Career Threatening match and John "Bradshaw" Layfield versus Chris Jericho.