Royal Rumble ( 2008 ) was a wrestling PPV that took place in New York City , New York at Madison Square Garden . Royal Rumble ( 2008 ) was the twenty-first annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . 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 .