ROYAL RUMBLE LIVE COVERAGE

WELCOME!!

The show kicked off with an incredible intro video that took place on a New York City subway and highlighted clips from the past Royal Rumble events. Superstars from the 80s, 90s and beyond were shown, along with commentary from the late Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross.

Big fireworks display and we are LIVE inside Madison Square Garden! The crowd is going bonkers.

Michael Cole welcomes us to the 21st Royal Rumble. 20,798 fans are in attendance as we start down the road to WrestleMania.

MATCH 1: RIC FLAIR vs. MVP: Flair comes out and takes the mic. He thanks everybody for the great honor of wrestling in Madison Square Garden all these years. MVP came out and interrupted Flair's speech. The match starts off back and forth with a lot of "false starts". Flair gets the upper hand and goes to work on MVP in the corner, unloading with a series of chops. MVP recovers and is now in control. MVP whips Flair into the corner and gives him a snap mare. MVP has a chinlock sinched in. MVP picks Flair up, whips him into the corner, runs at him but Flair puts up his elbow. Flair goes for a figure four but no luck. Flair is in control now. He goes for the figure four again, but MVP counters with a small package. 1-2-KICKOUT! MVP now in control. Great spot where MVP had Flair pinned, but Flair had his feet on the ropes. As MVP argued with the ref and Flair rolled him up for a 2-count. Suplex off the top rope by MVP on Flair. MVP is in control and is looking great. Flair is getting slapped around by MVP. MVP goes for his Playmaker finisher, but Flair gets out of it. Flair finally gets the figure 4 and MVP submits! WINNER: RIC FLAIR

Backstage, Mr. McMahon is shown talking to Hornswoggle. He talks about the luck of the Irish and talks about his family's history of promoting events in the Rumble. McMahon tells Hornswoggle that he has to carry on the McMahon name tonight. He tells Hornswoggle that he can't trust anybody tonight - including Finlay. In walks Finlay. He asks what Vince is talking about and Vince repeats that you can't trust anbyody. Finlay gave McMahon a look and Hornswoggle jumped on Finlay and carried him out.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcome us to ringside. They mentioned that we've got a new broadcaster in the WWE - former American Gladiators (and XFL) host Mike Adamle. This guy looks absolutely incredible for 58 years old. He previews the Chris Jericho vs. JBL match and we cut to a video package highlighting the feud.

MATCH 2: CHRIS JERICHO vs. JBL: Both men brawl to start the match. The action spills onto the floor and both guys are really going at it. Back in the ring, Jericho charges at JBL, who hits him with a stungun. Jericho got a ton of air on that one. JBL follows up with a huge clothes line. He picks Jericho up and lands another one. JBL is choking Chris Jericho on the bottom rope. Jericho is under the ropes and JBL gives him a slingshot, driving Jericho's throat into the bottom rope. JBL is really in control and taking it to Jericho. JBL gives Jericho a sleeper hold. Jericho breaks free, runs into the ropes, ducks a big boot and nails JBL with a big clothesline. JBL gets up, Jericho charges at him again but this time gets hit with the boot. JBL picks up Jericho and whips him into the corner hard. Jericho's head hit the post and he rolls to the outside. Jericho is busted wide open, bleeding real bad on the outside. JBL lands some stiff shots on Jericho. He brings Jericho inside and is stomping a mudhole in his ass in the corner. JBL has been in control for several minutes. CLOTHLESLINE BY JERICHO! AND ANOTHER! Jericho botches a bulldog and the crowd is booing and chanting "You F'd Up". Jericho hits a few signature moves and nails a lionsault! Jericho clotheslines JBL again and both men go over the top rope onto the floor. Both men brawl on the outside. Jericho is covered in blood. He grabs a chair from the outside and cracks JBL, leading the ref to end the match. Jericho went to the outside and grabbed a TV cable to choke JBL with. He got it around JBL's neck and just snapped. Jericho jumped out of the ring and "hung" JBL with the cable. Jericho stood on the announcers table, pulling on the cable, which was still around JBL's neck. Chris Jericho went to the back and Lillian Garcia announced the winner. JBL WINS BY DISQUALIFICATION

Ashley is shown backstage. She knocks on Maria's dressing room and asks for Maria. Out walks Santino. Funny stuff as usual from Santino.

WrestleMania XXIV graphic is shown, saying the big event is 63 days away.

Plug for "Stand up for Rock 'n Roll", the official theme song of the Royal Rumble.

Jonathan Coachman and Michael Cole are at ringside and say that the World Heavyweight title match is next.

Video package airs hyping the Edge vs. Rey Mysterio match, recapping the entire feud.

MATCH 3: EDGE (c) vs. REY MYSTERIO (World Heavyweight Title MAtch) Edge comes out with some impressive pyro. Vickie Guererro is wheeled out by Teddy Long. Then come Zach Ryder and Kurt Hawkins to watch from ringside. During the ring intros, Edge got a huge crowd reaction while Mysterio was boo'd. The crowd is firmly behind Edge. Edge shoves Mysterio to start. The two men circle. Loud "Lets go Edge" chants. They lock up and Edge gets the upper hand. He tweaks Rey's arm and gets him down on his knees. Mysterio kicks back and gets more boos. Mysterio jumps off the rope, whips Edge down with a real unique move but the crowd was not impressed. More Edge chants. Rey gets thrown to the outside and the Edgeheads kick his ass. Referee sends them to the back, which gets boo's. Back in the ring, both men are back and forth but Edge has the upper hand. Michael Cole points out that Mysterio wants to keep it fast paced while Edge is trying to slow it down and work the ground game. Mysterio goes for the 619 but Edge jumps up first and powerslams Rey. Edge is working Rey over with a few submission holds, concentrating on Rey's surgically repaired knee. More "Lets Go Edge!" chants. Vickie Guererro is at ringside and happy that Edge is in control. Mysterio battles back but Edge chops him down. Edge continues to work over Mysterio's knee. Rey gains control and hits a nice hurracanrana on Edge. Mysterio goes off the top rope and stomps on Edge's test. Mysterio throws Edge into the ropes, who slides under them and onto the outside. Mysterio follows him, slides under the ropes and hits a tornado DDT on Edge on the outside. Sick more. Back in the ring, Mysterio runs against the ropes and into a huge boot from Edge. OUCH! Edge goes for the speer and misses. Hurracanrana by Mysterio, followed by a 619! Rey off the top rope with a HUGE splash! 1-2-NO! Vickie Guererro jumped out of her wheelchair and stopped the ref's count! What the?! Rey is yelling at Vickie while Edge comes at him for a spear. Rey moves, and Edge is stuck in 619 position. Vickie tries to help Edge, but both she and Edge get hit with the 619! Rey for the top-rope springboard onto Edge, but he nails Rey with a SPEAR! 1-2-3!! WINNER: EDGE by PINFALL.

Backstage segment with Kennedy and Ric Flair talking in the lockerroom. In walks HBK, Triple H and Batista. Fluff segment.

Quick No Way Out PPV preview. Shot of Times Square.

Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton are shown in a splitscreen backstage.

Out comes WWE Diva Maria. She does the Kiss Cam bit and out comes Ashley. She says she was talking to Hugh Hefner, who wants to know if Maria will pose for Playboy. Just as she's about to answer, down comes Santino, followed by somebody covered in a sheet. Santino runs down the New York sports teams. Ashley asks Maria again if she'd pose. When Maria asks the crowd if they want to see her in Playboy, Santino takes the mic again. He invites his special friend to come into the ring. The sheet comes off and its Big Dick Johnson in a New England Patriots jersey. Total waste of time.

Video preview for WrestleMania 24 with Kelly Kelly and Mae Young as lifeguards on the beach.

Mike Adamle is ringside and sets up the WWE title match. Really great video package airs highlighting the WWE careers of Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy.

MATCH 4: RANDY ORTON vs. JEFF HARDY: Both men tie up and go from post to post while still locked up. Mixed chants from the crowd, some for Orton and some for Hardy. The two men are seperated and have a staredown. Hardy shoves Orton and they go at it. Lots of great fast-paced back and forth action, these guys are working stiff. Hardy takes control and hits a few of his signature offensive moves. Hardy picks Orton up and hits an atomic drop for a 2-count. Orton is quick to get up and starts beating down Jeff in the corner. Orton whips Jeff off the ropes but is met by a kick to the midsection followed by a clothesline to the outisde. Jeff nails a BIG dropkick through the ropes sending Orton flying backwards into the guard rail. Orton's head cracks off it pretty hard. Orton starts to get up and Hardy hits a big suicide dive over the top rope onto Orton. Hardy recovers in the ring to break the 10-count, then slides back outside to brawl with Orton. Hady throws Orton back into the ring and goes to jump into the ring over the top rope but is met by a dropkick from Orton sending him to the outside! Orton slides out of the ring and hits a big suplex on Hardy at ringside. The two men are now back in the ring with Orton stomping on the near-motionless Hardy. Orton pins and gets a 2-count. Orton is doing his best to keep the match slow-paced, but Hardy starts fighting back with right hands and throws Orton outside the ring. Hardy follows Orton through the ropes and hits a big flying clothesline off the ring apron onto the floor. Jeff rolls him back into the ring for the pin, but only gets a 2. Hardy goes for a spear into the corner but misses and bangs his head off the steel ringpost. Orton drags Hardy into the center of the ring for the pin and gets a 2-count. Hardy recovers and gains some momentum. Hardy goes for the twist of fate but out of nowhere, Orton hits the RKO for the win. WINNER: RANDY ORTON

They aired the "numbers" video package, with various Rumble statistics and classic footage of the past 20 years of Rumbles.

Michael Buffer is in the ring to read the rules and announce the #1 and #2 draws.

#1 is THE UNDERTAKER.

#2 is SHAWN MICHAELS.

Undertaker goes for the attack but HBK dodges. Taker catches him and whips him into the corner. Undertaker lifts HBK up high and throws him back into the corner. Heavy shots by Taker onto Shawn. Taker is unloading. He whips HBK into the opopsite corner and HBK lands perched on the corner. Taker kicks Shawn up, who gets "crotched" on the ropes. Both men back on the inside.

#3 is SANTINO MARELLA.

Santino looks very scared as he stares down the Undertaker. He turns his back and gets hit with sweet chin music! Taker tosses out Santino and HBK sneaks up from behind and tries to eliminate Taker. Taker punches Shawn and goes to work on him. Taker goes old school and walks the top rope. Back and forth between HBK and Taker. Michaels chopping undertaker. Inverted atomic drop by Michaels.

#4 is THE GREAT KHALI

Khali is destroying The Undertaker. "You can't wrestle chants" aimed at Khali. Kahli is choking Undertaker but Taker breaks it up. Taker eliminates Khali rather easily.

#5 is HARDCORE HOLLY

Holly works on The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.

#6 is JOHN MORRISON

Morrison goes right for HBK and the two go back and forth. HBK gets the upper hand and tries throwing Morrison out, who hangs on and gets back into the ring.

#7 is TOMMY DREAMER

Huge pop for Dreamer.

#8 is BATISTA

SPINEBUSTER on Dreamer. Clotheslines on Holly and HBK. Backdrop on Morrison and Batista is going nuts. Staredown with Undertaker and Dreamer interrupts it. Batista stares Dreamer down and throws him out.

#9 is HORNSWOGGLE

Hornswoggle hides under the ring without entering. Batista is going at it with The Undertaker. Huge spear on Taker by Batista.

#10 is CHUCK PALUMBO

Palumbo goes after Batista. Everyone's brawling.

#11 is JAMIE NOBLE

Big pop and chant for Noble, who goes right after Palumbo. Noble is taped up. Batista eliminates Tommy Dreamer.

#12 is CM PUNK

Huge pop for Punk. CM Punk eliminates Chuck Palumbo. Undertaker clotheslines Punk. Hardcore Holly is kicking HBK's ass. Everyone still brawling.

#13 is CODY RHODES

Rhodes and Punk are going at it. Rhodes goes after Morrison.

#14 is UMAGA

Umaga cleans house, including HBK and Undertaker. Umaga eliminates Hardcore Holly with the Samoan Spike.

#15 is SNITSKY

The server is taking forever to load, so until the final few we'll just go with entrants:

16: The Miz
17: Shelton Benjamin
18: Superfly Jimmy Snukka
19: Rowdy Roddy Piper
20: Kane
21: Carlito
22: Mick Foley
23: Mr. Kennedy
24: Big Daddy V
25: Mark Henry
26: Chavy Guererro
27: Finlay
28: Elijah Burke
29: Triple H
30: JOHN CENA!!!

Final 4 are Cena, Triple H, Batista and Kane. Kane grabs Batista and Triple H by the throat. They turn on him and throw Kane out. It's down to 3! MSG is going insane. Batista does a double thumbs up and then thumbs down. Cena does "You can't see me". Triple H does a double crotch chop and all 3 men go at it. Batista hits a huge spinebuster on Cena. Pedegree on Batista is blocked. Spinebuster on Triple H. Batista goes for the Batista bomb on Cena but its blocked. Triple H eliminates Batista and we're down to Cena and Triple H! The two men point at the WrestleMania XXIV logo hanging from the ceiling. The men are exchanging punches and the crowd is majorly behind Triple H. They go back and forth with "BOO!" and "YEAH!" for Cena and Triple H respectively. F-U on Triple H but it's reversed. Pedegree reversed. Double clothesline and both men are down. Cena gets Triple H up for the F-U and dumps him out.

JOHN CENA WINS THE 2008 ROYAL RUMBLE!!