World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
The 2002 Royal Rumble was the 15th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 20, 2002, at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the final Royal Rumble event produced under the WWF name, as in May, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was also the final Royal Rumble held before the introduction of the first brand extension in March. Six matches were contested at the event.
As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2002 event, the winner received a match for the Undisputed WWF Championship at WrestleMania X8—this was the last Royal Rumble until 2014 to feature one world championship. The main event was the 2002 Royal Rumble match, which was won by Triple H, who last eliminated Kurt Angle. In other prominent matches, Chris Jericho defeated The Rock to retain the Undisputed WWF Championship, Ric Flair defeated Vince McMahon in a Street Fight, and William Regal defeated Edge to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.