The 2005 Royal Rumble was the 18th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on January 30, 2005, at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's 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 twenty-eighth entrant, won the match by last eliminating SmackDown!'s 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 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, 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 since The Wrestling Classic in 1985 to not include one. Production Background The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2005 event was the 18th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 30, 2005, at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2005, the winner could choose to challenge for either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. Storylines The card consisted of five matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers