WWE Royal Rumble PPV moved to avoid NFL conflict

WWE's 2010 Royal Rumble pay-per-view has been officially moved to January 31, sidestepping a conflict with the National Football League. For reasons still unclear, World Wrestling Entertainment had originally set its PPV event for January 24 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

As pointed out earlier this week by Richard Trionfo at PWInsider.com, the 1/24 placement put the Royal Rumble in direct conflict with one of the NFL conference championship games. With those games being among the most popular television events for young adult males in existence, the conflict would have significantly reduced the Royal Rumble buyrate.

The decision to reschedule the Royal Rumble to January 31, the off Sunday between the conference title games and the Super Bowl, was thus a no-brainer for World Wrestling Entertainment. It just amazes this blogger that WWE allowed the conflict to exist in the first place.