The buildup to the Royal Rumble match began on the December 23 episode of "Raw", when the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff discussed about the upcoming Royal Rumble match that 15 wrestlers would represent the Raw brand and 15 wrestlers would represent the SmackDown! brand in the match, because it was going to be the first Royal Rumble match to take place after WWE's brand extension. The buildup continued on the January 2 episode of "SmackDown!", a vignette aired hyping the return of The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble match. Later that night, Paul Heyman announced that Brock Lesnar and Big Show would wrestle in a Royal Rumble qualification match at the Royal Rumble. On the January 6 episode of "Raw", Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels argued over who would be drawing the #1 entry in the Royal Rumble match. On the January 13 episode of "Raw", a Royal Rumble qualification match took place in which Jeff Hardy defeated Raven. Later that night, Jericho defeated Batista, Kane and Rob Van Dam in an over the top rope Challenge to earn the right choose an entry number of his choice. Jericho chose #2 because #1 was already given to Michaels.