Bron Breakker says he’s proven that he deserves to be on the WWE main roster.
Breakker was a surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday. He tossed out Ivar, Omos, Finn Balor, and Jimmy Uso before being eliminated by Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio.
He spoke with Cathy Kelley after the match.
Breakker said:
What an opportunity tonight was for me to make a statement and I thought I did that tonight, 100 percent. But I know things didn’t go my way, but I’m not done with The Judgment Day by any means.
He continued:
I think tonight I proved that I belong on the main roster. This is my home now, and I’m ready for the work. I’m ready to prove to my peers and to the people and to everyone out there who believes in me that this is where I belong, this is what I was born to do. And I’m here, I’m ready to go.
Breakker still has at least one more match in NXT, however. After beating Axiom and Nathan Frazier in the semifinals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic, Breakker’s team with Baron Corbin will wrestle in the tournament finals at NXT Vengeance Day on February 4.
Our own Dave Meltzer noted on Saturday’s Wrestling Observer Radio that Breakker had not originally been planned for the Rumble. He was a late replacement for Brock Lesnar, who was withdrawn from the match following his mention in the recent lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis.
This year’s Royal Rumble is over, and now we know who’s going to WrestleMania.
Cody Rhodes will get another shot at finishing the story after eliminating CM Punk in the men’s Royal Rumble. He also made it perfectly clear that he’s going after Roman Reigns, pointing at him and shouting “I’M CHOOSING YOU” to close out the show. It was a good finish in a match that, much like the show overall, felt flat at times.
We’ll get into the women’s Rumble in a bit, but the men’s match had better wrestling, though the women’s match had a better finish. Punk and Rhodes wrestled for a long while once everyone was eliminated, and for whatever reason the crowd wasn’t into it. That hurt the momentum of the match, as you would assume Cody Rhodes getting a chance to FINISH THE STORY would be a bigger deal to this crowd. At least they popped when he threw Punk out.
So now the question is: will Rhodes finally win the Undisputed (but not really) WWE Championship one year after failing to do so? I think he should as winning the title at WrestleMania over Roman, finally ending his forever reign as champion, makes all the sense in the world. But given WWE’s track record, you can’t automatically assume it’ll happen.
Bayley was the first to earn her ticket to WrestleMania, last eliminating the returning Liv Morgan to win her first Royal Rumble. The match itself had a ton of missed spots, though it did have the better heat and had a clever finish with the returning Liv Morgan eliminating Jade Cargill, only to immediately get dumped to the floor by Bayley.
With Charlotte out of the picture, it seems clear to me the big title match for SmackDown is Bayley and IYO SKY. They’ve definitely been planting the seeds for Damage CTRL to turn on Bayley for months now, and with her win it’s likely we’ll see the trigger for that feud to begin soon, possibly starting on next Friday’s show.
I thought the four-way for the Undisputed WWE Championship was good but here’s the problem: I did not think at any point Roman was in danger of losing the title. There were a million near falls where they tried to get you to think Roman would lose, but I didn’t buy it. No one bought it. So you had a match where people were just doing stuff, the crowd weren’t really reacting like this to anything important, you had the 10,000th Solo Sikoa interference spot, then yes, Roman won with the spear. Nothing bad about it, but absolutely a match that was nothing of note.
The United States title match probably had the best wrestling out of anything on the show. Logan Paul looked really good at times, his offense is great. But then the finish went down, with the same Logan Paul associate from Crown Jewel (who was eventually named JEFF) introducing the brass knucks, only for Grayson Waller and Austin Theory to interfere and give the knuckles to Paul. Owens grabbed them and hit Paul with the knuckles, but right as the referee counted to three he stopped, pointed to the knuckles, and DQ’d Owens. Hideous finish on a pay-per-view but it’s clear they are getting a rematch, probably next month in Australia or WrestleMania.
That was the Royal Rumble, kind of a middle-of-the-road show where nothing was real bad but there wasn’t a ton that was real good either. WWE is off to Australia next month for the Elimination Chamber before heading to Philadelphia for the biggest wrestling show of the year.
And with that folks, the countdown to WrestleMania is now on.
Bron Breakker replaced Brock Lesnar in the 2024 men’s Royal Rumble match.
Lesnar had been scheduled to return to WWE on Saturday’s show. However, following allegations involving the 46-year-old listed in the recent lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis, the decision was made to remove him from the Rumble.
I think most people know this but Brock Lesnar was scheduled to return at the Rumble and this was a change, obviously, that was made because of the lawsuit. So, the change was made probably Friday, most likely, perhaps Saturday morning.
Bron Breakker, because of that, and the fact that the match was pretty much scripted out already, Bron Breakker essentially fulfilled the Brock Lesnar role. He came in when Brock Lesnar was going to come in, he threw out the guys Brock Lesnar was going to throw out, he got thrown out exactly how Brock Lesnar was going to get thrown out.
Meltzer later added that Breakker had not originally been planned for the match.
Brock was going to be in their looking impressive so they needed someone to fill those shoes. There weren’t a lot of guys that they would give that spot to.
Breakker entered the match at number twenty and eliminated Omos, Ivar, Finn Balor, and Jimmy Uso. He lasted just over 5 minutes before being eliminated by Dominik Mysterio.
Controversy surrounding Lesnar began on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal broke the story of former WWE employee Janel Grant’s lawsuit accusing McMahon of sexual abuse and exploitation. The lawsuit states McMahon used a sexual encounter with Grant as a bargaining chip during contract negotiations with Lesnar.
The lawsuit reads:
That December, McMahon gave Grant’s personal cellphone number to the WWE star, the lawsuit said. The wrestler asked her to send a video of herself urinating, the suit said, and after she did, he called her a “b—.” That same month, the suit said, the star expressed a desire to “set a play date,” but a snowstorm disrupted his travel plans.
Another WrestleMania showdown between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes is officially set.
Rhodes secured his spot in the WrestleMania 40 main event by winning Saturday night’s men’s Royal Rumble match. Rhodes is the first wrestler to win the Rumble in back-to-back years since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 1997 and 1998.
Rhodes will now attempt to finish his story by challenging Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40. After his Rumble win tonight, Rhodes pointed at Reigns and declared that he’s choosing to face Reigns at WrestleMania. The match is happening one year after Rhodes’ loss to Reigns at WrestleMania 39.
The final four wrestlers in the men’s Rumble were Rhodes, CM Punk, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre. The match then came down to Rhodes and Punk.
Rhodes got the advantage after hitting Cross Rhodes, but Punk then delivered a GTS to Rhodes. Punk hit a Pedigree and went for another GTS, but Rhodes blocked it and then threw Punk out of the ring.
Rhodes had entered the Rumble match as the 15th entrant.
Earlier in the night at the Royal Rumble, Reigns defeated AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and LA Knight in a fatal four-way match to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
WrestleMania 40 is being held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7. Women’s Royal Rumble winner Bayley will challenge either Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley or WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY at the event.
Naomi made her return, plus TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace & Jade Cargill made their in-ring WWE debuts in Saturday’s women’s Royal Rumble match.
After walking out of the company in May 2022 over creative issues, Naomi made her return as a surprise third entrant in this year’s women’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, lasting until the final six competitors of the match ultimately won by Bayley.
WWE posted a link on social media to new Naomi merchandise available on WWE Shop, indicating that she has returned on a full-time basis.
TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace entered fifth for the women’s Rumble, wearing the TNA title belt to the ring just as Mickie James did while Knockouts Champion at the 2022 Royal Rumble. Commentary mentioned TNA by name several times. Grace was eliminated before the 15th entrant to the match.
Jade Cargill made her in-ring WWE debut in the Rumble as the 28th entrant. Cargill lasted until the final three of the contest and eliminated Becky Lynch and Nia Jax before being eliminated in a tussle on the apron with the final two competitors, Liv Morgan & Bayley. Cargill is a former TBS Champion in AEW and was a heralded free agent acquisition by WWE in September 2023.
Morgan made her return from injury in the Rumble as the 30th entrant, and was the final elimination. Morgan had been sidelined since July with a shoulder injury.
NXT’s Roxanne Perez & Tiffany Stratton were the only other Rumble entries of note not part of WWE’s main roster.
Steve Khan’s Royal Rumble live play-by-play post is here.
Bayley is headed to WrestleMania with a decision to make.
On Saturday night, Bayley became a Royal Rumble winner for the first time in her career. Bayley entered the Rumble at number three and competed in the match for more than an hour before being crowned the winner. She last eliminated Liv Morgan to get the victory.
Bayley, the returning Morgan, and the debuting Jade Cargill were the final three wrestlers left at the end of the match. Morgan eliminated Cargill but was then quickly eliminated by Bayley.
WWE announced that Bayley was in the match for 1:03:03 — a new women’s Royal Rumble record.
She fought for a record-setting 63 minutes and 3 seconds… and now, Philadelphia is calling her.
Bayley will now challenge either Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley or WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY at WrestleMania 40. Bayley and SKY are stablemates in Damage CTRL. During the build to the Royal Rumble, Bayley said that she would challenge Ripley at WrestleMania instead of SKY. But WWE has been building to a split between Damage CTRL and Bayley.
Damage CTRL members Asuka and Kairi Sane were also entrants in the women’s Royal Rumble. Dakota Kai, who has been out of action since last May due to a torn ACL, did not make her return to the ring at the Rumble.
This will be Bayley’s first time wrestling in a one-on-one title match at WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 40 is taking place from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7.
Pat McAfee later appeared as a short-lived surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match. McAfee entered the ring but almost immediately eliminated himself after going face-to-face with Omos and Bron Breakker.
For the second straight year, Pat McAfee dropped by the Royal Rumble to do commentary.
Saturday night’s event opened with McAfee joining Michael Cole and Corey Graves at the commentary desk. It was said that McAfee would be a special guest commentator for the night. The show then opened with the women’s Royal Rumble match.
McAfee’s appearance on commentary at the 2023 Royal Rumble was a surprise even to Michael Cole. This time, Cole said he knew in advance that McAfee would be there. McAfee had originally been discussed as an entrant for last year’s men’s Rumble match but wasn’t able to get in ring shape due to his schedule.
From April 2021 to September 2022, McAfee worked as a full-time commentator on SmackDown. He departed the role after joining ESPN’s College GameDay. McAfee later expanded his relationship with ESPN when he brought his sports talk show to the network.
McAfee has remained part of WWE despite leaving commentary. He appeared at Fastlane and WrestleMania last year, along with showing up alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on SmackDown last September.
Cole and Graves called Friday night’s episode of SmackDown together. Kevin Patrick, who had been Graves’ broadcast partner on SmackDown, was released by WWE earlier in the week.
Date: January 27, 2024 Location: Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL
**********
Show Recap —
KICK-OFF SHOW
There was a quick intro video narrated by Hulk Hogan. The preshow was hosted by Jackie Redmond, Booker T, Wade Barrett and Peter Rosenberg. They showed a few wrestlers (Becky Lynch, Bobby Lashley) arriving and played one of the Royal Rumble numbers videos. (They continued to show wrestlers arriving as the preshow went on.)
Earlier today, Kayla Braxton interviewed Rhea Ripley as she sat alone in the stands at Tropicana Field. Ripley said the winner of the Rumble would be wasting their opportunity if they chose to fight her at WrestleMania. She claimed she would be the only woman to enter at number one and win it. She told Braxton to leave.
Paul Heyman interview
Byron Saxton interviewed Paul Heyman. Heyman thought WWE wanted Roman Reigns’ reign to end. WWE didn’t have the system anymore to have a 3+ year champion. They didn’t have the system to promote a dynasty like the New York Yankees or LA Lakers. They wanted a champion in and a champion out. They even created a replica championship. The system wasn’t designed for someone like Roman Reigns.
That’s why Nick Aldis put Reigns in a match where it’s practically guaranteed that he would lose. The key word was ‘practically’ because the last time he was placed in this position, he stacked up Daniel Bryan and Edge (who he named) to retain his title. Reigns would retain tonight and go into WrestleMania as the champion and that was a spoiler.
********
Musician Jelly Roll joined the panel and was excited to be at the show.
Peter Rosenberg accosted people backstage. He found Austin Theory and Grayson Waller first. They thought he was Sam Roberts. They said they would be the first co-winners of the Rumble in 20 years. Rosenberg ran into R-Truth next. Truth was trying to open baseballs to get a new Rumble entry number.
Rosenberg ran into Punk who said he was facing-timing Larry the dog. Punk said he missed Larry and he missed this place. Punk never thought he would be in a Rumble match again but that was the great thing about life. He was older and wiser but felt good and was still the best in the world. He felt nerves but that was a good thing. He stopped feeling those nerves before he left the last time. Rosenberg wished him luck.
********
There were features on Cody Rhodes and Gunther.
Redmond cut to the back where Braxton interviewed Paul “Triple H” Levesque (which is what Redmond called him and what his graphic said). Hunter hyped the show and said the road to the biggest WrestleMania of all-time started tonight.
The Women’s Rumble match starts the PPV.
********
2024 ROYAL RUMBLE
Michael Cole said they were sold out with over 40,000 fans. Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair and Montez Ford were shown arriving at the arena.
They aired the 3-minute long Rumble intro video narrated by Hulk Hogan.
Cody Rhodes was shown surveying the stadium and CM Punk was shown arriving as well.
Pat McAfee entered to join commentary. Cole was pumped. Corey Graves acted pissed.
********
Bayley won the Women’s Royal Rumble Match (1:04:56)
Natalya entered 1st. Naomi returned and entered 2nd. She got her flashy entrance and Cole mentioned that she won the TNA Knockouts Championship while she was gone. She got a big reaction and “welcome back” chants.
Bayley entered 3rd to a good reaction. Candice LeRae entered 4th.
Jordynne Grace entered 5th. She wore her Knockouts Championship belt. The announcers put her over big as she suplexed and slammed Natalya and LeRae. She hugged Naomi before they traded blows (the crowd popped for their interaction). Grace got the better of that exchange.
Indi Hartwell entered 6th. Asuka entered 7th and Bayley seemed surprised. Asuka acted happy to see Bayley and they worked together. Bayley was hesitant but they worked together to eliminate Hartwell.
Ivy Nile entered 8th. A dead period led to Bayley inviting Cole into the ring. Katana Chance entered 9th. Grace and Nile looked at each other before they each showed off their strength by hitting delayed vertical suplexes to Chance and LeRae, respectively.
Bianca Belair entered 10th. Belair knocked down Asuka and Bayley with a double blockbuster. Belair dropped Chance onto LeRae and Bayley before hitting all three of them with a springboard moonsault. Kairi Sane entered 11th and she worked with Bayley and Asuka to eliminate LeRae.
Tegan Nox entered 12th and took out Bayle with a Molly-Go-Round. Nox eliminated her partner Natalya but Bayley immediately eliminated Nox.
Kayden Carter entered 13th. Sane was almost eliminated but Sane somehow held on like a spider but she couldn’t quite hold and she fell out. Chance and Carter eliminated Asuka (leaving Bayley on her own).
Chelsea Green entered 14th. Belair gave Grace a KOD on the apron to eliminate her. Piper Niven entered 15th. Green was almost eliminated but NIven saved her. Niven teased dropping her on purpose but didn’t. Niven squished Green in the corner by mistake later on.
Xia Li entered 16th, Zelina Vega entered 17th and she planted Niven with a DDT. Maxxine Dupri entered 18th. She tried her best but, uh, didn’t look good. Niven eliminated Chance.
Nia Jax entered 19th. She eliminated Li and Nile. Niven drove Jax into the corner and unfortunately, Green was also in that corner. Shotzi entered 20th. Naomi and Shotzi teamed up on Jax before Dupri hit a reverse Caterpillar. All of the women, about 8 of them, tried eliminating Jax but she shoved them away.
Bayley eliminated Dupri. Jax eliminated Niven. Jax press slammed Chance out of the ring onto Niven, Li and Green. (Green wasn’t eliminated but was outside the ring.)
Becky Lynch entered 21st (to a big pop) and went right after Jax. Lynch shoved Green off the apron to eliminate her. Alba Fyre entered 22nd, Shayna Baszler entered 23rd.
Valhalla entered 24th. As she entered, Truth’s music and he ran into the ring. Truth was suddenly confused upon entering the ring and Jax chucked him out. The crowd booed Jax. Adam Pearce came out to tell Truth he was in the wrong Rumble. Jax eliminated Valhalla in the background.
Michin entered 25th. Naomi eliminated Alba. Zoey Stark entered 26th. Stark and Baszler eliminated Vega by chucking her onto Alba Fyre (which looked nasty).
Roxanne Perez entered 27th. Jax eliminated Baszler, Michin and Shotzi.
Jade Cargill entered 28th to a big pop. She faced off with Jax and the crowd chanted “Holy shit.” Cargill easily got Jax on her shoulders and slammed her which got a big pop. Cargill lifted Jax up and chucked her over the top rope which also got a huge reaction. There was a great shot as the camera expanded to show a very impressed Lynch.
Tiffany Stratton entered 29th. She wiped out about 6 women with a Swanton.
Liv Morgan returned and entered 30th. Morgan eliminated Stark, Stratton eliminated Perez.
Belair and Cargill each hit press slams (while staring at each other) on Morgan and Lynch, respectively. The crowd popped as the two faced off but they were attacked by Stratton and Bayley.
Lynch was almost eliminated by Cargill but she held on. As Lynch was on the apron, Cargill swung Naomi into Lynch which knocked her out. Cargill also tossed Naomi.
Stratton was almost eliminated but held on to Belair’s braid for dear life (which didn’t look fun for Belair). Bayley kicked Belair to eliminate both Belair and Stratton.
The final three were Cargill, Bayley and Morgan. All three wound up on the apron. Morgan and Bayley teamed up on Cargill before Morgan wound up eliminating her. Bayley kicked Morgan off the apron immediately to win the match.
The crowd popped big as Bayley seemed to be the favourite since she entered.
Bayley pointed at The Sign and as fireworks went off.
********
(I didn’t time it, but between commercials/video packages and entrances, it felt like a very long time between the last match and this one.)
LA Knight’s entrance was sponsored by Slim Jim and there were Slim Jim logos everywhere.
Fatal 4-Way: Roman Reigns defeated LA Knight, AJ Styles and Randy Orton to retain the Undisputed Championship (19:28)
As Knight slammed Styles’ head against the announce table, Orton backdropped Reigns onto the table. Knight responded by giving Styles a backdrop on the table before bouncing Orton’s head on it (as the crowd yelled, “Yeah.”) Orton managed to slam Knight on the table anyway.
They all traded moves in the ring but Reigns wound up on top. Reigns plodded around the ring for a few minutes until Knight hammered away at him. Knight was all over everyone and hit an impressive leaping superplex on Styles. Knight hit Reigns with BFT and made the cover but a staggered Styles fell over onto him to break it up.
Styles fought back and hit Reigns with a Styles Clash but Knight broke up the cover. Orton gave Knight a draping DDT. Styles set up for the Phenomenal Forearm but Orton went right up to him at the ropes and brought him down with an RKO. Orton also RKO’d Knight and countered Reigns’ spear into an RKO.
The crowd bought this as a finish but Solo Sikoa yanked the referee out of the ring at a two count. Sikoa beat the crap out of everyone as the crowd booed. Sikoa stacked up Knight and Orton for Reigns before heading out of the ring. Sikoa went for a running hip attack on Styles but Styles moved and Sikoa crashed through the barricade. (Poor Samantha Irvin almost got killed.)
Reigns stood up in the ring but Styles nailed him with a Phenomenal Forearm. Reigns wound up stacked up on top of Orton and Knight. Styles covered them all but they all kicked out.
Styles grabbed a chair and attacked Reigns and Knight. Orton fought off Styles but Reigns speared Orton out of the ring. Knight dropped Reigns and went for the BFT but Reigns shoved him into the ropes as Styles set up for the forearm. Styles fell off the ropes and Reigns speared Knight for the pinfall win.
This was fine, I guess.
********
United States Championship: Logan Paul defeated Kevin Owens via disqualification (14:02)
Owens was all over Paul early on. He hit a German suplex but Paul left the ring before Owens could go for a cannonball. Paul tried to go after his arm but Owens fought him off.
Paul eventually did stomp his hand and hit a dive. Paul repeatedly slammed his hand against the ring post. Paul hit a springboard crossbody and standing shooting star press. Paul literally punched Owens’ hand and hit a series of uppercuts.
Paul went for a 619 but Owens ducked and hit a clothesline. Owens went for a senton but Paul got his knees up. Owens fought back with a neckbreaker, chops (with his left hand), consecutive cannonballs and frog splash for two.
Owens went for a flying senton but Paul got his knees up again. Paul went for one too but Owens dodged it. Paul hit a Buckshot Lariat and a splash for two. Owens hit an avalanche fisherman’s buster for two. Owens superkicked Paul but Paul hit a big punch for two.
One of Paul’s buddies hopped the barricade but the referee immediately tossed him. Security also showed up because he wouldn’t leave. Paul tried to use the distraction but Paul and Owens dropped each other with clotheslines.
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller showed up and one of them handed Paul brass knux. Owens grabbed them away and punched Paul with them. Owens covered him and had it won but as the ref was about to count to three, he saw the knux on Owens’ hand. The ref DQ’d Owens.
— After the match, Owens powerbombed Paul through the announce table.
(This was pretty good until the finish.)
********
Cody Rhodes won the Men’s Royal Rumble Match (1:08:13)
Jey Uso entered 1st. Jimmy Uso entered 2nd. They traded strikes and Jey got the better of their exchange but Jimmy got his knees up on a splash.
Grayson Waller entered 3rd. Waller cut a promo on the way out but Jey superkicked him off the apron (before he officially entered). Waller did get in and teamed with Jimmy against Jey.
Andrade entered 4th. He wore a mask on the way out but removed it as he entered. He got a big pop.
Carmelo Hayes entered 5th. He looked good and quickly eliminated Waller. Shinsuke Nakamura entered 6th. The crowd sang his song. McAfee was entertained by this.
Santos Escobar entered 7th. He faced off with Andrade which got a pop. Escobar assumed they’d be friends but Andrade was not on board. Karrion Kross entered 8th. Not much happened. Dominik Mysterio entered 9th. The crowd booed.
Carlito entered 10th. He pulled an apple out of trunks (crotch?) and took a bite. He spat at Escobar and eliminated him.
Bobby Lashley entered 11th. Lashley speared Nakamura, Jimmy, and Dom. He also gave Andrade a spinebuster before eliminating Carlito and Kross. AOP entered and Kross, who was already eliminated, yanked Lashley off the apron. Lashley was eliminated as a result. The Street Profits ran and the teams brawled. This part was all very dumb.
Ludwig Kaiser entered 12th. Austin Theory entered 13th. We’re 21 minutes in, and aside from Andrade’s return, this is pretty boring so far.
Finn Bálor entered 14th. Bálor assisted Dom and eliminated Hayes.
Cody Rhodes entered 15th. The crowd woke up and got to its feet and he eliminated Theory. Bálor and Dom went after him. (It feels like the next entrant came out before 90 seconds.)
Kofi Kingston entered 17th. They said this was his 16th Rumble match, only behind Kane who has 18 appearances. Rhodes eliminated Nakamura. Kingston eliminated Kaiser.
Gunther entered 18th. He was pissed at Kaiser. Gunther chopped Kingston, Bálor, Dom and Jimmy. (Jimmy was trying to be friends with every heel who entered, which was funny.) Gunther and Rhodes faced off until KIngston went after Gunther. Gunther very easily eliminated Kingston. This was the easiest Kingston has probably ever gone out. (They face off tomorrow for the IC title.)
Ivar entered 19th. Ivar took it to Gunther. Jimmy tried to be friends with Ivar but Ivar dropped him.
Bron Breakker entered 20th. He speared Jimmy, slammed Bálor, and clotheslined Ivar. Breakker eliminated Jimmy and Bálor. The crowd buzzed. Breakker faced off with Gunther and the crowd was into it. Breakker speared Gunther and the crowd was totally into it.
Omos entered 21st. He eliminated Reed. Breakker eliminated Ivar.
McAfee’s music hit and he entered at 22. He acted surprised and entered the ring as OMos and Breakker stood tall. McAfee entered the ring but thought better of it and eliminated himself. McAfee re-joined commentary. Breakker eliminated Omos and Dom eliminated Breakker. This was sort of hard to miss because the next entrant, JD McDonagh at 23, was on his way out.
R-Truth entered at 24th. He tossed McDonagh back in the ring (after he rolled out) and McDonagh eliminated by Jey. The crowd loved Truth. Dom “tagged in” Truth who ran wild Gunther. Truth did John Cena’s comeback and the crowd loved it but he was booted by Gunther.
The Miz entered 25th. Miz wound up working with Truth. Miz tried to eliminate Dom but Truth saved him. Dom gave Miz a 619.
Damian Priest entered 26th. Priest immediately clocked Truth and eliminated him. The crowd booed.
CM Punk entered at 27th. Punk ran wild on everyone and eliminated Dom.
Ricochet entered 28th. Gunther eliminated Miz.
McIntyre entered 29th. Jey fired up but was eliminated by Gunther.
Sami Zayn entered 30th.
McIntyre eliminated Ricochet. Zayn gave McIntyre a Helluva Kick and eliminated Priest. McIntyre eliminated Zayn.
(Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were each shown watching from different suites at this moment.)
McIntyre, Gunther, Punk and Rhodes were the final four.
Punk went for the GTS on McIntyre but McIntyre slipped out and hit a headbutt. McIntyre Claymore Kicked both Rhodes and Punk.
Punk got McIntre on his shoulders and chucked him out. Gunther powerbombed Punk before Rhodes eliminated Gunther.
Punk and Rhodes are the final two.
They had an exchange that Rhodes was getting the better of before Punk hit triple German suplexes. Rhodes came back with jabs and the bionic elbow.
Punk tried to eliminate Rhodes but Rhodes got back in. Rhodes came back and hit a Cross Rhodes.
Rhodes went to eliminate Punk but Punk countered and hit a GTS.
Another exchange led to Punk hitting a Pedigree (this didn’t get the reaction I think they wanted).
Punk went for another GTS but Rhodes countered and chucked Punk out for the elimination. Rhodes wins. The crowd popped big. Rhodes won.
(This wasn’t a great Rumble at all, but it obviously came down to the last few minutes which was very good.)
The following is a rumored spoiler regarding the women’s Rumble match at the WWE Royal Rumble.
According to PWInsider, current TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace will make her WWE debut at tonight’s Royal Rumble in the women’s Rumble match.
Grace regained the Knockouts title from Trinity (the former Naomi in WWE) at this month’s Hard to Kill. Trinity’s name has also come up as a possible surprise entrant as news came out this month that she was expected to return to WWE following her TNA deal ending.
In a post to X Saturday, Grace showed that she was home with her dog:
If the Grace debut happens, it wouldn’t be the first time a current Knockouts Champion has appeared in the women’s Rumble match as Mickie James made her surprise return to WWE in the 2022 edition.
After hitting free agency last summer, Grace returned to then-Impact Wrestling at last September’s Victory Road after signing a reported two-year deal that included a “substantial pay increase” according to Fightful. Thus, tonight’s possible appearance would likely be a one-off surprise.
As of Saturday morning, only eight women were official for the 30-participant Rumble match.
Brock Lesnar is not expected to be at tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble according to PWInsider.
The outlet reported that as of Saturday morning, Lesnar had not traveled to Tampa, Florida, for tonight’s event and that one source said he was withdrawn from the Royal Rumble match itself for an unnamed NXT wrestler slotted for the spot instead.
This comes despite Lesnar reportedly being in WWE’s plans for WrestleMania.
The development follows his mention in a lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon on Thursday where former employee Janel Grant alleged McMahon sexually assaulted, abused, degraded and trafficked her during her three years at WWE.
In the lawsuit, Lesnar was mentioned and alleged as being the willing recipient of sexually explicit videos and photos of Grant via McMahon. There was allegedly a McMahon offer to Lesnar for Grant to have sex with him as part of him signing a new contract.
From the lawsuit:
“That December, McMahon gave Grant’s personal cellphone number to the WWE star, the lawsuit said. The wrestler asked her to send a video of herself urinating, the suit said, and after she did, he called her a “b—.” That same month, the suit said, the star expressed a desire to “set a play date,” but a snowstorm disrupted his travel plans.”
McMahon resigned as TKO executive chairman Friday and has denied the allegations in the lawsuit. Lesnar has yet to release any kind of statement publicly.
One of the most anticipated events of the year takes place tonight in Tampa with the WWE Royal Rumble.
Stories don’t finish at the Rumble, but key chapters are written. It’s like WWE’s version of a conference championship game if those games also had Elimination Chambers the following month.
Several potential winners of the men’s Rumble match have been built up on WWE programming of late, some with more realistic chances than others.
Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and now Gunther have all cut promos in recent weeks stating, more or less, that they need to win the Rumble to finish their story at WrestleMania. Not surprisingly, the betting world has those four listed as the top favorites.
Conversely, the field of possible Rumble winners in the women’s match appears smaller. Becky Lynch’s chances of winning increased after she and Rhea Ripley had an excellent promo segment recently on Raw, setting up a possible Mania match between the two. That segment did well in the ratings as you might expect considering the star power of both. It’s a fresh matchup as well with the only non-house show singles match between them having taken place in NXT in 2019.
Bayley is the top favorite to win from the SmackDown roster, promising to win on behalf of Damage CTRL with the tease being she could then challenge teammate IYO SKY and pay off all the dissension that has been building within the faction for months.
An in-ring WWE debut for Jade Cargill could easily take place tonight as well. How she factors into a title picture is unclear, however. It feels like Cargill vs. Charlotte Flair could have been the plan if not for Flair’s injury.
As for the rest of the card, the results aren’t really in doubt. Roman Reigns will retain his undisputed Universal title, likely getting the pin on AJ Styles in the four-way match while United States Champion Logan Paul is a pretty strong favorite to beat Kevin Owens.
With all that, let’s get into predictions, betting odds, and analysis for the WWE Royal Rumble (8 PM EST Peacock/WWE Network):
Men’s Royal Rumble match
As of this writing, here are the betting favorites to win:
CM Punk +125
Gunther +180
Cody Rhodes +250
Drew McIntyre +1000
The Rock +1000
Jey Uso +1400
Sami Zayn +1800
MJF +2500
I’m not sure Gunther would benefit much from winning the Rumble as he doesn’t need a Rumble win to solidify himself as a top contender for a World title. He’s already got his record-setting run with the Intercontinental Championship for that and will have a big match at WrestleMania regardless of what happens.
The Rock also does not need to win the Rumble to justify booking him in a World title match at WrestleMania. He’s The Rock. He can always be put in that position.
Lesnar’s odds of winning the Rumble this year sit at +5000. However, his possible presence at the event this year could be a distraction. It would remind fans of the disturbing allegations against Vince McMahon that included Lesnar, and that is likely not what anyone wants right now.
Punk winning the Rumble and facing Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania is a possible outcome. I just don’t think it’s the most likely. Punk doesn’t need a Rumble win to face Rollins as fans are going to want to see that match regardless. WWE can take another route to get there.
The most likely WWE wrestler to win the Rumble 2024, in my opinion, is Rhodes. If Rhodes is put in a World title match and given a chance to finish his story at WrestleMania, it will feel like he cut corners if he doesn’t win the Rumble en route to doing so.
It’s been very clear in his promos of late that finishing his story means winning the Rumble to earn a spot in the final chapter. Any other path to that match will feel tainted and unearned.
If Rhodes doesn’t win the Rumble, he won’t face Reigns at Mania this year. Perhaps he will wrestle Drew McIntyre or maybe he’ll move into the program with Punk and Rollins, but he won’t face Reigns.
Despite The Rock’s return, I still feel pretty confident that Rhodes is WWE’s top babyface and the plan must be/should be/probably is for him to eventually defeat Reigns and finish his story. That’s why I think he’s the favorite to win the Rumble.
Prediction: Cody Rhodes
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
As of this writing, here are the betting favorites to win:
Bayley +100
Becky Lynch +200
Jade Cargill +500
Nia Jax +800
Raquel Rodriguez +900
Bianca Belair +1000
Mercedes Mone/Sasha Banks +1200
Liv Morgan +1400
Asuka +1600
Shayna Baszler +2500
The women’s Rumble match feels harder to predict than the men’s. This uncertainty might be a result of the recent injury to Flair. One thing any WWE fan knows is that Flair is always factored into the Women’s World title plans, be it Mania season or not. Her being out of the mix has no doubt caused them to deviate from plans.
One match a lot of fans are speculating will happen at WrestleMania 40 is a newly babyface Bayley vs. IYO SKY, thus Bayley being considered the betting favorite. It’s a possible outcome, but I don’t know if it’s the most likely.
Belair being a +1000 underdog is interesting to me. If betting on wrestling were recommended (for obvious reasons, it is not), I would put a little money on her. She’s a face of the division and one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. I imagine Belair is factored into a major match at WrestleMania and her winning the Rumble is a good way to get there. Those are pretty long odds they have given her, though.
The most likely wrestler to win the Rumble is Lynch. I doubt that big rating for the aforementioned Lynch/Ripley segment went unnoticed. That match for WrestleMania seems like a foregone conclusion and her winning the Rumble to get there could be the perfect setup. While it’s not her only route, I still think she’s the favorite.
Prediction: Becky Lynch
WWE United States Champion Logan Paul (-2000 favorite) defends against Kevin Owens
There is very little chance that Owens will defeat Paul on Saturday. Paul is a huge star and brings eyeballs to the company while Owens is a star that can lose big matches and not be hurt in the least. The result is not really in question, but I imagine these two will want to take a fun route to the forgone conclusion.
Prediction: Logan Paul retains
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against LA Knight, Randy Orton and AJ Styles in a four-way
Roman Reigns is listed as a -3000 favorite to retain.
This feels like the least important Reigns match in years, but might be out of necessity more than anything. In contrast from WrestleMania 38 to 39, Reigns’ title run since beating Rhodes at Mania has felt untouchable as though fans realize he won’t be dropping the belt until at least WrestleMania 40. A year ago, McIntyre, Sami Zayn, and Rhodes all appeared to have legitimate chances to take the title off him.
Fans know he is going into the biggest weekend of the year as champion and WWE knows that fans know Reigns is going into that weekend as champion. A story will be told in this match, but the result is not really in doubt.
In advance of tonight’s event, WWE has confirmed a few new participants who will be taking part in the women’s Royal Rumble match.
Alba Fyre, Shotzi, Zelina Vega, and Michin will be competing in the women’s Rumble tonight. Their participation was confirmed in a video that WWE uploaded after Friday’s SmackDown. Fyre, Shotzi, Vega, and Michin were shown picking their Rumble numbers.
SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis told Isla Dawn in the video that she won’t be taking part in the Rumble.
There have now been eight participants confirmed for the women’s Rumble match:
Bayley
Nia Jax
Becky Lynch
Bianca Belair
Alba Fyre
Shotzi
Zelina Vega
Michin
The men’s Rumble has 14 announced entrants:
Cody Rhodes
CM Punk
Shinsuke Nakamura
Bobby Lashley
Drew McIntyre
Gunther
Damian Priest
Kofi Kingston
Jimmy Uso
Santos Escobar
R-Truth
Carlito
Austin Theory
Grayson Waller
There will be 30 entrants in each Rumble match.
The Royal Rumble is taking place from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida tonight. The show streams live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. An hour-long pre-show will air before that.
WWE Royal Rumble 2024 card —
Men’s Royal Rumble match
Women’s Royal Rumble match
Fatal four-way match: Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Randy Orton, LA Knight, and AJ Styles
United States Champion Logan Paul defends against Kevin Owens
WWE has confirmed six new entrants for Saturday’s men’s Royal Rumble match.
Three new wrestlers were shown drawing their entry numbers during Friday’s SmackDown episode, while three additional stars were shown choosing numbers in a video posted to WWE’s YouTube and social media channels.
Jimmy Uso, Legado Del Fantasma’s Santos Escobar, and R-Truth are the names newly announced during SmackDown as entries into the Rumble. Grayson Waller, Austin Theory, and Carlito are the new announcements confirmed in the digital media video.
14 of 30 names are now officially confirmed for the men’s Rumble, while WWE has only officially revealed four of the 30 entrants for the women’s Rumble match.
WWE Royal Rumble streams live on Saturday, January 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock in the United States.
In addition to the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches, Roman Reigns will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against AJ Styles, LA Knight, and Randy Orton at the event. Logan Paul defending the United States Championship against Kevin Owens is also scheduled for the show.
The updated list of confirmed entrants for Saturday’s Royal Rumble matches:
