Matt Hardy in the context of "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling"

The 2009 Royal Rumble was the 22nd 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, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on January 25, 2009, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2009 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship, SmackDown's WWE Championship, or the ECW Championship at WrestleMania 25.

Five professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the 2009 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from all three brands. Raw's Randy Orton, the eighth entrant, won the match by last eliminating SmackDown's Triple H, the seventh entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was John Cena versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Cena won to retain the title. The primary match on the SmackDown brand was a No Disqualification match between Jeff Hardy and Edge for the WWE Championship, which Edge won to win his fourth and last WWE Championship. The predominant match on the ECW brand was between Jack Swagger and Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship, which Swagger won to retain. This event also marked the first appearance of Rob Van Dam in WWE since One Night Stand in June 2007.

WrestleMania 25, also promoted as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, was a 2009 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 25th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 5, 2009, at NRG Stadium (previously known as Reliant Stadium) in Houston, Texas, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. This was the second WrestleMania held in Houston, after WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001 at the Reliant Astrodome. This would also be the last WrestleMania to feature the ECW brand, as it was dissolved in February 2010, and it was the first WrestleMania of the PG Era.

Eight matches were held on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The final match of the night, which was the main match of the Raw brand, was a singles match in which Triple H defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship. The main match of the SmackDown brand was a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, which saw John Cena defeat defending champion Edge and Big Show to win the championship. The main match of the ECW brand saw WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) from SmackDown defeat the World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz from ECW in a lumberjack match to unify the two championships; the match took place on the event's pre-show. Another marquee match saw The Undertaker defeat Shawn Michaels to extend his undefeated WrestleMania streak to 17–0. Featured matches on the undercard included Matt Hardy defeating Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules match, Chris Jericho defeated the team of Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka, and the annual Money in the Bank ladder match which was won by CM Punk over Christian, Finlay, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Montel Vontavious Porter and Shelton Benjamin.

Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is one-half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions in his fourth reign. He also appears on partner promotion WWE on its NXT brand where he is a former one-time NXT Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his tenure in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Known for his risktaking and high-flying style, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of his generation and of all time.

Together with his brother Matt Hardy, the tag team The Hardy Boyz are widely regarded as one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era and one of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history.