WWE Royal Rumble 1/27/2024 (Card)

WWE Royal Rumble PLE Saturday, January 27, 2024 from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The pre-show starts at 7:00 PM EST while the main card starts at 8:00 PM EST

CARD

30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:
Participants: Bobby Lashley, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Kofi Kingston, Shinsuke Nakamura, Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa, R-Truth, Santos Escobar, Carlito, Austin Theory, Grayson Waller, Jimmy Uso and TBA

30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:
Participants: Bayley, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Nia Jax, Maxxine Dupri, Ivy Nile, Zelina Vega, Alba Fyre, Shotzi, and Mia Yim and TBA

UNDISPUTED WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP – FATAL 4-WAY
Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. LA Knight vs. Randy Orton

UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP:
Logan Paul (c) vs. Kevin Owens

WWE Appears To Confirm Nia Jax’s Return With New Merchandise

Nia Jax’s return at the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event doesn’t appear to be a one-off, with a new piece of merchandise being released for the former RAW Women’s Champion.

Jax returned to WWE as the #30 entrant in this year’s Women’s Rumble match, after being released from the promotion in November 2021.

After her shocking return, WWE released a new shirt for Jax, using her moniker as the ‘Irresistible Force.’

Source: eWrestlingNews

WWE Royal Rumble 1/28/2023 (Results)

WWE color commentator Pat McAfee made his return last night during the 2023 Royal Rumble. He joined the commentary team which featured Corey Graves and Michael Cole.

30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:

Entry Order:

  1. Gunther
  2. Sheamus
  3. The Miz
  4. Kofi Kingston
  5. Johnny Gargano
  6. Xavier Woods
  7. Karrion Kross
  8. Chad Gable
  9. Drew McIntyre
  10. Santos Escobar
  11. Angelo Dawkins
  12. Brock Lesnar
  13. Bobby Lashley
  14. Baron Corbin
  15. Seth Rollins
  16. Otis
  17. Rey Mysterio – Nevered entered the Rumble, he was apparently taken out in the back by his son Dominik
  18. Dominik Mysterio
  19. Elias
  20. Finn Balor
  21. Booker T
  22. Damian Priest
  23. Montez Ford
  24. Edge – After he was eliminated, Edge chases Priest and Balor back up the ramp and they begin brawling until Rhea Ripley comes out and helps. However, as she turns around Beth Phoenix appears and hits Rhea with a spear and the brawling continues until officials break it up.
  25. Austin Theory
  26. Omos
  27. Braun Strowman
  28. Ricochet
  29. Logan Paul
  30. Cody Rhodes

Winner: Cody Rhodes

MOUNTAIN DEW PITCH BLACK MATCH:
Bray Wyatt def. LA Knight

After the match, Wyatt then ends up with some form of mask on his face with a completely different look than before, and he stalks Knight. He uses the kendo stick to hit Wyatt on the head but he just walks through it as the blows don’t register. Wyatt eats a trio of shots to the head but he doesn’t flinch as hey head through the fans, and Wyatt grabs Knight and locks in the Mandible Claw. 

Uncle Howdy is then shown above Wyatt on a platform, and he launches himself off the top of the platform, crashing through Knight underneath as the area explodes. Above him are the puppet characters who look down and watch everything.

RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP:
Bianca Belair (c) def. Alexa Bliss

After the match the lights flicker and a playground is shown with various Wyatt related logos. Uncle Howdy asks her if she feels in charge, and Bliss is then shown looking scared inside the ring.

30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:

Entry Order:

  1. Rhea Ripley
  2. Liv Morgan
  3. Dana Brooke
  4. Emma
  5. Shayna Baszler
  6. Bayley
  7. B-Fab
  8. Roxane Perez
  9. Dakota Kai
  10. Iyo Sky
  11. Natalya
  12. Candice LeRae
  13. Zoey Stark
  14. Xia Li
  15. Becky Lynch
  16. Tegan Nox
  17. Asuka
  18. Piper Niven
  19. Tamina
  20. Chelsea Green
  21. Zelina Vega
  22. Raquel Rodriguez
  23. “Michin” Mia Yim
  24. Lacey Evans
  25. Michelle McCool – She was sitting in the crowd
  26. Indi Hartwell
  27. Sonya Deville
  28. Shotzi
  29. Nikki Cross
  30. Nia Jax

Winner: Rhea Ripley

UNDISPUTED WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP:
Roman Reigns (c) w/Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens

After the match, all of The Bloodline appear. Jey Uso wants to honor him but Reigns says no and he wants them to attack Owens more which The Usos do as they beat down on Owens, hitting the 1D. They then trap Owens’ head into a chair as Solo Sikoa charges into the corner with a hip attack. The Usos then handcuff Owens to the top rope, leaving him helpless as they continue the attack with superkicks. 

Reigns then gets set to hit Owens with a chair but Zayn gets in the way and he tells Roman it is beneath him as it is enough. Instead, Reigns hands Zayn the chair himself, and he then steps infront of him and Zayn teases hitting Roman but he doesn’t. Reigns then pushes Zayn several times as he screams in his face, but Zayn then uses the chair…on Reigns! He apologizes to Jey, and then Jimmy Uso nails him with a superkick and begins a beatdown himself. Sikoa then hits the Samoan Spike to him as Reigns instructs them to keep attacking him and they beat him down as Jey watches on. They hen want more Jey to get involved, but he simply leaves the ring as he cries and walks away from The Bloodline. Reigns then takes out his frustration with a chair on Zayn himself. 

WWE Royal Rumble 1/28/2023 (Card)

Date: January 28, 2023
Location: Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

CARD

30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:
Participants: Austin Theory, Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Karrion Kross, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Santos Escobar, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Omos, Dominik Mysterio and TBD

30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:
Participants: Candice LeRae, Emma, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Rhea Ripley, Shayna Baszler, Zelina Vega and TBD

MOUNTAIN DEW PITCH BLACK MATCH:
Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight

UNDISPUTED WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP:
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens

RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP:
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

WWE Royal Rumble Breaks Record For Largest U.S. Non-WrestleMania Gate

The WWE Royal Ruble 2023 PLE has broken the record for the live gate of any U.S.-based event that isn’t a WrestleMania.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that with a live gate of over $7 million, the show has beaten any non-Mania event in the U.S. and has surpassed most WrestleManias.

WWE was hoping that the gate would surpass $8 million, which would have seen the show surpass Clash at the Castle for the largest non-WrestleMania live gate in wrestling.

It was reported last November that the show had reached the highest live gate of any Royal Rumble event.

WWE is off to a strong start for next year’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view event as the company announced in a statement to Pwinsider that the event has broken the largest gate in the history of the event. The statement reads as follows,

“WWE Royal Rumble 2023 – slated for Saturday, January 28 – has broken the company’s record for largest gate in the event’s 36-year history.

Over the weekend, Royal Rumble surpassed the $5M mark and previous record holder from 2017 – the last time the event was held at San Antonio’s AlamoDome.

This carries a 2022 trend into 2023 where WWE set gate records for many of its events, including WrestleMania, Extreme Rules and Crown Jewel.”

The Observer adds that WWE is expected to announce an attendance figure in excess of 50,000 since they’ve already used that number on television.

Source: eWrestlingNews

It’s Official – Cody Rhodes Enters The 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble Match

It’s official – Cody Rhodes will be making his in-ring return at the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.

On this week’s episode of RAW, it was announced that Rhodes, who has been out of action with a torn pectoral muscle following his match with Seth Rollins at WWE Hell in a Cell 2022, will be entering the men’s Royal Rumble match.

Rhodes joins Kofi Kingston, Ricochet, Baron Corbin, Austin Theory, Santos Escobar, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, and Gunther as confirmed competitors for the match so far.

WWE Reportedly Planning A “Pitch Black” Match For Bray Wyatt At Royal Rumble

Let the speculation on what exactly a Pitch Black match is going to be begin.

The next major event on the WWE calendar is Royal Rumble, and other than the two usual 30-person matches, nothing for the card has been officially announced. However, the event might well be the backdrop for Bray Wyatt’s long-awaited in-ring return.

According to WrestlingNews.co, the entire card for Royal Rumble is already planned out, and currently on that card is something being referred to as a Pitch Black match. WWE’s sources didn’t indicate what exactly a new match type will involve, but it’s believed if it does happen, Wyatt will be one of the competitors.

Even though Wyatt made his WWE return at Extreme Rules well over a month ago, The Eater of Worlds is yet to have actually wrestled a match. In fact, by the time Royal Rumble rolls around, Wyatt will be nearing two years since he last wrestled. The former WWE Champion’s final match up until this point was a loss to Randy Orton at WrestleMania 37, and before that match he hadn’t wrestled since being burned alive by Randy Orton the year prior at TLC.

As for who Wyatt might face should there be a Pitch Black match at Royal Rumble, the most likely candidate right now is LA Knight. The two of them have been clashing on SmackDown as Wyatt’s first rivalry since his return has been unfolding. As for whether that can be dragged out for the next two months, especially if Wyatt isn’t going to wrestle, is another question entirely.

That could mean we see Wyatt wrestle before then. Whether it be during an episode of SmackDown or perhaps when WWE travels to India for a big show, something that is currently being planned for January. While the storyline with Knight appears to have fans gripped, Wyatt has to wrestle again sooner or later, and doing it in a new gimmick match might be the perfect way to reintroduce him to the ring.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Announcers Were Not Allowed To Say Impact Wrestling Or Knockouts During Royal Rumble

In case you haven’t heard, wrestling has a forbidden door and apparently, it’s wide open. AEW wrestlers are competing in New Japan, Impact stars are showing up in WWE, and pretty much everyone is appearing for GCW. The most shocking of all was that middle one. Mickie James returning to WWE for one night only even though she is currently the Impact Knockouts World Champion.

James made an appearance in the women’s Royal Rumble and even though she isn’t a WWE Superstar, she had quite a good showing. She was even allowed to wear her Knockouts Title to the ring. However, eagle-eyed fans might have noticed the bottom third referred to the championship as the Impact Women’s Title. Not what it’s called, and this was no accident.

During a recent episode of Fightful’s Grapsody, which you can check out below, Will Washington reveals a few of the words WWE’s announcers were not allowed to say when discussing James during the Rumble. The big one was the ability to say Impact, but not Impact Wrestling. Not a slight on the rival wrestling company, but rather the hang-up Vince McMahon has with the word wrestling. It’s sports entertainment.

The title being given an entirely different name is also linked to words WWE didn’t want said on the air. Knockouts was one, and world was another. Unclear what WWE’s problem is with the word knockouts. Perhaps it doesn’t want fans to think wrestlers might get legitimately knocked out. As for the word world, maybe since its own Women’s Titles don’t have the word world in them, McMahon feared fans would think the Knockouts Title would be thought of as better than by more casual fans.

The ban on those words for Royal Rumble also extended to the social media team. As for the announcers, dodging words and phrases McMahon doesn’t like being said on his TV shows is an almost untraversable minefield at this point. The longer the list gets, the more respect we should all have for Michael Cole. The man gets a lot of stick from fans, but to be doing that job as long as he has with McMahon constantly in his ear, he deserves more credit than he gets.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Morale Was Low Backstage After Royal Rumble 

According to a report, WWE morale was low backstage after the Royal Rumble largely because a plethora of changes were made before the event.

The backstage “morale” following Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view was reportedly low.

Before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view commenced, it was reported that Vince McMahon had made several changes to the Royal Rumble matches. As previously noted, Riddle was reportedly initially scheduled to win the men’s Royal Rumble match, but WWE ultimately went with Brock Lesnar.

According to a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider, “the morale with the WWE locker room among talents was down” after the show. This was largely “due to the whirlwind of changes made to the Rumble matches in the days and hours” before the Royal Rumble event started.

It was noted by Johnson that Triple H (Paul Levesque) and producer Tyson Kidd (T.J. Wilson) usually play major roles at the Royal Rumble event. Specifically, Triple H would be used “in an advisory role of sorts”, which includes making adjustments “to accentuate certain talents”. Triple H remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a serious cardiac event back in September that required surgery.

Johnson added that Kidd often plays “a massive leading role in producing the women’s division”, but he wasn’t present for Saturday’s event in St. Louis, Missouri.

Kofi Kingston botched a spot and was eliminated from the men’s Royal Rumble match sooner than planned. It was also reported that Shane McMahon, who returned to WWE programming following a lengthy hiatus, has plenty of backstage heat for largely booking the Royal Rumble around himself.

There was plenty of hype around Saturday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but in many ways, it did not live up to expectations. For one, why couldn’t Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley just win their respective matches cleanly? Why did Lesnar himself have to win the Royal Rumble when he’s already an established main event star? WWE missed several opportunities to piece together a top quality Royal Rumble event here, and it’s no wonder that so many fans were left greatly disappointed.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Royal Rumble Results 1/29/2022, Ronda Rousey Returns

WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP (SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos was banned from ringside)
Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns (c) by DQ

Seth Rollins came to the ring to The Shield’s music wearing his old Shield gear.

Reigns was disqualified when he refused to let go of a  guillotine submission hold with Rollins in the ropes.

After the match, Reigns viciously beat Rollins with repeated chair shots

30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

  1. Sasha Banks
  2. Melina
  3. Tamina
  4. Kelly Kelly
  5. Aliyah
  6. Liv Morgan
  7. Queen Zelina
  8. Bianca Belair
  9. Dana Brooke
  10. Michelle McCool
  11. Sonya Deville
  12. Natalya
  13. Cameron
  14. Naomi
  15. Carmilla
  16. Rhea Ripley
  17. SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
  18. Ivory
  19. Brie Bella
  20. Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James
  21. Alicia Fox
  22. Nikki A.S.H.
  23. Summer Rae
  24. Nikki Bella
  25. Sarah Logan
  26. Lita
  27. Mighty Molly Holly
  28. Ronda Rousey – Winner
  29. Shotzi
  30. Shayna Baszler

RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
Becky Lynch (c) defeated Doudrop

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar (c) to become the new WWE Champion

Roman Reigns interfered. Paul Heyman handed the title belt to Reigns and he hit Lesnar with it and Lashley made the pin cover for the win. Heyman walked out with Reigns.

MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH
WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix defeated The Miz and Maryse

30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

  1. AJ Styles
  2. Shinsuke Nakamura
  3. Austin Theory
  4. Robert Roode
  5. Ridge Holland
  6. Montez Ford
  7. Damien Priest
  8. Sami Zayn
  9. Johnny Knoxville
  10. Angelo Dawkins
  11. Omos
  12. Ricochet
  13. Chad Gable
  14. Dominik Mysterio
  15. Happy Corbin
  16. Dolph Ziggler
  17. Sheamus
  18. Rick Boogs
  19. Madcap Moss
  20. Riddle
  21. Drew McIntyre
  22. Kevin Owens
  23. Rey Mysterio
  24. Kofi Kingston
  25. Otis
  26. Big E
  27. Bad Bunny
  28. Shane McMahon
  29. Randy Orton
  30. Brock Lesnar – Winner