It’s the first PLE of 2026, and it’s point-to-the-sign season starting with the Royal Rumble! We are officially on the Road to WrestleMania, and it’s gonna be a hot one in Riyadh. Drew McIntyre defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn! Gunther faces AJ Styles one-on-one, and AJ’s career is on the line if he loses! Which man and woman will win their respective Royal Rumble matches? Check out the recap of WWE Royal Rumble today at 2 PM ET on ESPN (USA) and Netflix (worldwide). Hit F5 or refresh as often as you like for the latest updates.
We start the event with the usual “superstar arrivals” including tandems of Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, then Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan representing Judgment Day, as well as Nia Jax and Lash Legend, and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley. For the men we see AJ Styles, Gunther, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, World Tag Team Champion Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu, Je’Von Evans, and Cody Rhodes. It’s time for the Royal Rumble!
We get a video package with Triple H narrating the past Royal Rumble events leading up to this year’s event. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are the commentators for the show, Mark Nash will handle the ring announcing duties, and the women will start the festivities. Which woman will main event WrestleMania?
* 30-Women Royal Rumble Match
#1 is Charlotte Flair and #2 is Alexa Bliss. The two best friends and former tag team champions will have to face each other to start the match! Charlotte looks worried that she has to compete against her tag team partner but she keeps looking at the WrestleMania sign hanging high above to remind herself what lies ahead. Alexa just has a smile on her face ready for whatever has to happen. The bell dings to get the match started, Alexa will wait for the next entrant, but Charlotte keeps looking at the sign. Alexa looks for a truce, Charlotte picks her up towards a corner, but says she was just kidding, and accepts the truce. Charlotte points to the sign again, Alexa sets up for Sister Abigail, but she was just kidding too, so Charlotte teases a figure-4, helps her back up, and they hug. Alexa piggy-backs Charlotte as they wait for the next entrant. #3 is Kiana James. Kiana hits shoulder tackles to both women, shoulder thrusts as well, and hits a Codebreaker to Flair. Alexa throws her onto the apron, Kiana comes back with a slingshot splash, superkicks Flair, and Charlotte hits her with the big boot. Charlotte and Alexa double-team on James and await the next woman. #4 is Nia Jax. Nia headbutts Bliss, clotheslines Flair, tosses both aside, splashes them in corners, revels in the crowd’s ire, headbutts James, hits a Samoan drop to Bliss, and a Samoan drop to Flair. Kiana superkicks Jax, hits a standing moonsault to Bliss and Flair, and side-steps Jax sending her into the ringpost. #5 is Ivy Nile. Ivy delivers a German suplex to Flair, German suplex to James, running dropkicks to Flair and Bliss, and a tilt-a-whirl DDT to James. Ivy kicks Jax in the head, Nia picks her up, Ivy slips off and goes for a German, but Nia pummels her with elbows in a corner.
#6 is Lola Vice. Lola makes her first Rumble appearance as she runs down the long ramp to get in on the action, and kicks every woman that gets in her way. Lola hits the proud Latina hip attack to Flair and bliss, and hits the spinning backfist to Nile. Nia clotheslines Vice, mocks her dancing, Charlotte and Kiana superkick Jax, but Nia comes back to clothesline both, fights off Bliss and Nile, goes up to the middle ropes with James in position, but Kiana cuts her off, gives her a jawbreaker, and KIANA GIVES JAX A SAMOAN DROP! They all try to lift Jax over the ropes. #7 is Candice LeRae. Candice runs to the ring to save her friend, gives Flair a tornado DDT, tosses James over the ropes, side-steps and sends Nile into James, Ivy grabs LeRae from behind, Nia clotheslines Nile, Candice hits the step-up senton, and she hugs Jax. #8 is Jordynne Grace. Jordynne is on fire knocking everyone down, plants James with a spinebuster, catches Charlotte’s leg for a capture suplex, hits a shoulder flatliner to Bliss, and tosses both Candice and Lola out the ring for our first two eliminations! Jordynne and Ivy battle, Jordynne suplexes her onto the ropes, and knocks her out with a European uppercut for the/her third elimination. Nia drops Grace in a corner, stink face applied, carries for Bliss and Flair, but she’s unable to toss them out. Alexa counters a powerbomb from Jax, they land on the apron, Nia fights Flair off, she grabs Bliss, Charlotte hits Jax with the big boot to eliminate her, but Nia pulls Bliss down with her in an elimination domino effect! Charlotte is distraught, but she quickly has a scowl when she hears the music for the next entrant. #9 is Becky Lynch, the Women’s Intercontinental Champion. Becky passes off her championship to referee Eddie Orengo because she doesn’t trust Jessika Carr. Charlotte and Becky come face-to-face, they start trading punches and chops, Becky tosses her over the ropes, Charlotte is back in, they continue fighting until they roll out under the ropes, in front of the announce table and back into the ring. #10 is Sol Ruca. Sol Ruca makes her Royal Rumble debut today! Sol hits the springboard 360 clothesline to Flair and James to start her time in the Rumble match. Sol blocks a slap, slams Becky to the mat after spinning her around, shuffle kick, superkick to Grace, delivers a German suplex, kips up, missile dropkick to Flair and James, kips up again, gets tossed to the apron, and split-ducks a swing to avoid getting dumped out.
#11 is Roxanne Perez. Roxanne tosses Lynch and James over the ropes, wails on Flair, back elbow to Grace, running European uppercut to James, and side-steps Ruca sending her crashing into Grace. Roxanne does a headscissors to Ruca, flipping kneedrop, and trade slaps with Becky until Becky delivers the Becks-ploder. #12 is Maxxine Dupri. Becky is ready for Dupri, but Maxxine hits the Thesz Press, gets tossed onto the apron, kicks her in the head, hits a diving crossbody, and tosses her onto the apron but Becky hangs onto the ropes. Maxxine delivers the fisherman’s suplex, kips up with the slow rise, spinning heel kick to Perez, kicks Flair in the head, a step-up legdrop to James, blocks the Manhandle Slam and delivers a German suplex. #13 is Nattie. Natalya is gone, but the new attitude of Nattie is here with new music, and she storms to the ring to enter her 9th women’s Royal Rumble continuing the streak of appearing in every one. Nattie takes her down, Maxxine reverses a body slam for the ankle lock, kicks Lynch away, Nattie escapes the hold, Becky plants Dupri with the MANHANDLE SLAM, then tosses her out the ring! Becky pats Nattie on the back proud of their work, tricks her by sending her to the ropes, but Nattie blocks it, smiles at Lynch then dumps her out the ring! #14 is Liv Morgan. Liv Morgan is the only other women besides Nattie to compete in all 9 women’s Royal Rumble matches. Liv ducks a clothesline from Nattie and hits James with the OBLIVION! Liv hits Nattie with an enzuigiri, Three Amigos to Ruca, gets hit by Grace, but Roxanne steps in front of her attack to protect her fellow Judgment Day member. Roxanne does the tilt-a-whirl to Grace, Liv hits her with the Codebreaker, Roxanne finishes the combo with the Russian legsweep, then Charlotte clotheslines both of them. #15 is Lash Legend. Lash takes down every women that approaches her, including a double choke slam to Kiana James and Liv Morgan! She hits a big boot to counter Ruca’s springboard, counters Perez’s tilt-a-whirl with a slam to the mat, and prematurely points at the sign (she didn’t win yet, so that doesn’t count). Jordynne counters the powerbomb with a back drop onto the apron, Lash grabs her, Jordynne tries to fight her off, but Lash picks her up in the fireman’s carry from the apron and tosses her to the floor to eliminate her!
#16 is Zelina Vega. Zelina trips up Perez, kicks Ruca in the face, sends Nattie into Morgan, and counters a suplex by James into a DDT. Lash counters a hurricanrana and swings Vega into Flair then powerbombs her. #17 is Raquel Rodriguez. Raquel boots Flair in the head, throws James off of Morgan, saves Perez from Ruca, clotheslines Nattie, clotheslines James, and clotheslines Ruca. Roxanne and Liv takes Legend down from behind and beat her down, James tosses Morgan onto the apron, Roxanne dumps her onto the apron as well, Kiana pulls Perez over the ropes too, she fights off both Morgan and Perez, but Raquel boots James in the face to knock her off the apron and eliminates her! Kiana James had a good stint in this match. Raquel, Roxanne and Liv all rejoice in the ring. #18 is Chelsea Green, one-half of the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champions. Alba Fyre accompanies Green and stays at ringside. Chelsea tries to appeal to Judgment Day, they huddle to talk it out, they dismiss her with Liv slapping her, Chelsea backhands her and that gets her beat down. Chelsea tries to take a break with Alba but she gets dragged back into the fire (no pun intended) and Fyre is dragged in as well while holding onto Green. Raquel clotheslines Fyre out the ring and alley-oop bombs Green onto the ropes. #19 is Giulia, the Women’s United States Champion. Giulia runs through Morgan and Perez but has a tough time taking Rodriguez down until she dropkicks her, then suplexes Vega, and tosses Green out the ring, but Fyre crawls under Green to save her from elimination! #20 is Iyo Sky, one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions. Iyo hits the Sho-tei uppercuts to every women that approaches her, tosses Green over the ropes, dropkicks both Morgan and Perez, counters Rodriguez with a jawbreaker, kicks her and hits the missile dropkick, kips up and does her signature Iyo pointing taunt!
#21 is Asuka. Giulia and Iyo await Asuka to get in the ring for a Joshi showdown! Asuka looks to team with Giulia but gets her hand kicked away, but they eventually double team on Sky beating her down, Giulia holds Sky in position, but Asuka instead kicks Giulia! Asuka then clotheslines Sky while giving Giulia the bulldog. #22 is Rhea Ripley, one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions. Rhea gets pyro for her entrance, big enough for Wade Barrett to point it out on commentary. Rhea attacks all of Judgment Day right away, avoids the Tejana Bomb, kicks Rodriguez in the side of the head, and headbutts Ruca. Giulia and Zelina pull each other onto the apron, Giulia shoves her into the ringpost, and hits her with Arrivederci to knock her down and eliminate her! Chelsea salutes Ripley, so Rhea salutes her back, hits a big forearm to the chest, superkicks Fyre off the apron, and eliminates Green! Rhea fights of Perez, blocks the Pop Rox, and counters with the Razor’s Edge tossing her out the ring onto Green and Fyre! Liv and Raquel take umbridge to that and attack Ripley, with Iyo getting involved as well. #23 is Bayley. Sol Ruca dodges Bayley on the apron, but Bayley slams her down, and Ruca saves herself with her feet on the bottom rope and pulls herself up. Bayley and Sol fight off Legend before stepping back in the ring, Bayley tries to dump out Morgan, running knee to Legend, clotheslines Asuka in a corner, Charlotte chops her, and Bayley chops her back. #24 is Jacy Jayne, the NXT Women’s Champion. Jacy Jayne is entering her first Royal Rumble and starts with a headscissors to Legend, neckbreaker to Bayley, sends Rodriguez into the turnbuckles, superkicks Morgan, a cannonball to Bayley and Rodriguez, and a running knee to Ruca. Rhea and Nattie go at it back and forth until Nattie hits the discus clothesline. Nattie shoves Morgan to the mat, Raquel saves her friend, powerbombs her over but Nattie brings her over the ropes with her both landing on the apron, and Liv hits the OBLIVION to send Nattie to the floor! #25 is Nikki Bella. Nikki and Liv fight each other, Nikki clotheslines Jayne, spinebuster to Bayley, tornado DDT to Rodriguez, and Liv drops her with the lungblower.
#26 is Lyra Valkyria. Lyra hits Morgan with the enzuigiri, springboard crossbody to Flair and Nikki, enzuigiri to Legend, but Giulia traps her in a modified octopus stretch, so Lyra puts her over the ropes to break the hold. Bayley pushes her down, Giulia pushes her off, so Lyra jumps off of Bayley’s back with a big punch to eliminate her! #27 is Kelani Jordan. Kelani also makes her Rumble debut today, and starts with a PHOENIX SPLASH onto the NXT Women’s Champion! Kelani drops Valkyria and Bayley, then hits both with a cartwheel back elbow, kips up, superkicks Morgan, a tornado DDT to Rodriguez and Morgan, dropkicks Ripley, and Iyo kicks her in the head followed by a wheelbarrow splash. #28 is Kairi Sane. Kairi hits Sky with a flying forearm smash, headscissors to Valkyria and Bayley, and helps up Asuka. The Kabuki Warriors attack Ripley sending her over the ropes, Rhea pulls Asuka onto the apron, Iyo saves her tag team partner, Kairi almost collides with Asuka, so Iyo pushes Kairi into her, Kairi grabs onto Asuka to save her, Iyo grabs Kairi as Asuka barely hangs on, Kairi lands on her feet, but Iyo moves out the way so Kairi hits the Sliding D to Asuka knocking her off the apron and eliminates her!! Kairi is in shock, and Asuka is pissed as she yells “KAIRI~!!” Even Iyo Sky feels bad for her, but she still shoves Kairi over the ropes to eliminate her, still with a concerned look on her face. #29 is Brie Bella. Brie Bella is back, and the crowd is doing the YES chants! Brie is a house of fire in the ring taking out every woman, hits a missile dropkick to Rodriguez, hits her with the Yes Kicks and loud assistance from the crowd, trips Jordan onto the bottom rope, and hits the running knee. Brie helps her twin sister up for a hug, but Raquel and Liv attack The Bella Twins to spoil the moment. #30 is Tiffany Stratton. Tiffany Stratton is back since losing the WWE Women’s Championship and being injured! No woman has won from the 30th spot, so we’ll see if this will be her year, as Tiffany dives onto a whole pile of women with a big swanton dive! Tiffany plants Jayne with a spinebuster, plants Jordan with the Alabama Slam, and hits Jayne with the basement dropkick and kips up.
We still have 14 women in the ring at this point. Tiffany and Charlotte come face-to-face remembering their WrestleMania match nine months ago, they start fighting and chopping, but Liv and Raquel break that up. The Judgment Day members suddenly find themselves surrounded by The Bella Twins, Lyra and Bayley. Once they are disposed of, The Bella Twins face off against Lyra and Bayley, they fight each other, Lyra is dumped over the ropes, and the Bellas hit a double flapjack to Bayley. Brie saves herself on the ropes with a headscissors on Valkyria, next to them Nikki does the exact same to Bayley, and The Bella Twins eliminate them! Down to 12! The Bella Twins square up to the Women’s Tag Team Champions, a possible look into the near future, and they all get attacked by the other women. Raquel puts Sky on the apron, Kelani gets dumped over the ropes but she hangs on, but Jacy kicks her in the head to knock her down and out. Jacy taunts her, Sol hits her with the SOL SNATCHER, and throws Jayne out the ring!
Lash sends Ruca into the turnbuckles, The Bella Twins attack her, Lash blocks a double suplex, they block a choke slam and fight her, Lash catches Nikki on her shoulders, catches Brie on her shoulders, tosses BOTH Bellas out the ring and stands on the ropes taunting her! Charlotte lowers the ropes on Legend, Sol picks Flair up to put her over the ropes, Charlotte elbows Ruca in the head, elbows Legend in the head, hits Ruca with a boot, chops Legend, then Lash hits Flair with the pump kick and pushes her off the apron to eliminate her! (Lash stands on the apron taunting Charlotte, and at this point I’m begging someone to keyfabe knock her out the ring as she takes her time with her back to the ring three times now!) Charlotte had the longest time in the Rumble at 59:49.
We’re down to 7 women left in the match. The Judgment Day attack Rhea and Iyo, while Sol and Tiffany go after Legend. Rhea with a fallaway slam to Morgan, Raquel clotheslines Ripley, Iyo dives onto Rodriguez but she’s caught and dropped on the apron, Rhea saves her partner, and plants Rodriguez with the RIPTIDE! Lash blasts Ruca, clobbers Ripley from behind, Iyo knees her in the face, Lash catches her off a springboard, lifts her with the double-handed choke, Iyo pulls her over the ropes, kicks her while hanging on the ropes, applies a leglock hanging on the apron, and Lash kicks Sky in the face to knock her down and out! LASH IS TAUNTING CASUALLY ON THE APRON – WHY does she have no sense of urgency or caution?! The Saudi crowd is loudly chanting “overrated” directed at Lash Legend – wow. Rhea glares at Legend for her misconduct towards Sky, she headbutts Morgan, elbows Ruca in the jaw, Legend clobbers Stratton, and the two woman finally come to blows. Rhea clotheslines Legend, headbutts her, Lash hits the pump kick, Raquel hits Ripley with the big boot, and now Raquel has a staredown with Legend. Raquel and Lash clothesline each other, and again, Lash catches her, hits a fallaway slam, kips up, and AGAIN stands at the ropes with her back to the ring! Raquel counters the pump kick, Legend blocks the Tejana Bomb, and RHEA CLOTHESLINES LEGEND OUT OF THE RING! Raquel plants Ripley with the TEJANA BOMB ONTO THE APRON and Rhea falls to the floor! Raquel taunts Ripley on the ropes, AND LIV MORGAN DUMPS RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ OUT OF THE RING TO ELIMINATE HER!! Liv had NO qualms about dumping her friend out to win the match as she is clearly smiling at the opportunity that she just took!
We are down to the last three women in the match – Liv Morgan, Sol Ruca, and Tiffany Stratton! Each women fights each other off, Sol gets tossed onto the apron, Liv hits Stratton with the Codebreaker, Sol hits Stratton with the slingshot X Factor, and Liv hits Ruca with the basement enzuigiri. Liv pulls her off the ropes, Tiffany jumps off Ruca’s back to dropkick Morgan, hits the backspring back elbow to Ruca in the corner, Liv follows up with the running knee to Ruca, and hits a running dropkick. Tiffany hits Morgan with the rolling senton right next to Ruca, and hits the PRETTIEST MOONSAULT EVER onto Morgan as Sol moved out the way. Liv is right back up, Tiffany counters the Oblivion, sends her into the turnbuckles, and Sol hits BOTH with the DOUBLE SOL SNATCHER!!! Sol lifts both women over the ropes, she falls over as well, all three hang onto the ropes and save themselves. Both attack Morgan, Sol leaps off of her back to strike Stratton, kicks Morgan, but Tiffany sends her towards the ringpost, Sol slips but saves herself and hits a back elbow. Tiffany blocks the Sol Snatcher and pushes her to the floor! Liv hits a modified OBLIVION SENDING STRATTON TO THE FLOOR FOR THE FINAL ELIMINATION!!! Liv Morgan has finally done it! 2026 WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER: LIV MORGAN!!!
Liv Morgan is no longer a runner-up, as she now finally wins the Royal Rumble match! What a performance from everyone involved! We get replays of the Tejana Bomb to Rhea on the apron, to Liv then eliminating Raquel, the double Sol Snatcher, and the final moments of the match. Wonder what’s going to happen on Monday Night Raw between the Judgment Day members. After the replays, Liv Morgan OFFICALLY POINTS to the WrestleMania sign for the pyros to go off. Congrats Liv Morgan!
We see Oba Femi getting ready for the men’s Rumble match. But coming up next, AJ Styles puts his career on the line against “The Ring General” Gunther. We recap all of the women’s Rumble winners over the past nine years – Asuka in 2018, Becky in 2019, Charlotte in 2020, Bianca Belair in 2021, Ronda Rousey in 2022, Rhea Ripley in 2023, Bayley in 2024, Charlotte again in 2025, and now Liv in 2026.
Je’Von is shown getting ready for the men’s Rumble match, and we see past winners for the men. Gunther comes out for the next match first. AJ Styles comes out to a lot of pyro and cheers. Referee Dan Engler is assigned for this match, which is fitting as he has officiated many of AJ’s matches since back in their TNA days.
* Gunther vs. AJ Styles
[If AJ Styles loses, he must retire.]
AJ goes for the arm early, Gunther goes for a headlock, AJ takes the arm, Gunther tries to block, AJ with the side headlock, takes him down, Gunther powers back up, pushes him off, Styles kicks him in the leg, goes back to the headlock, Gunther pushes him off, and avoids the baseball slide. Styles goes for the leg, Gunther backs him to a corner, Styles ducks the chop, starts chopping him, and Gunther puts him in a headlock taking him down to the mat. Styles pushes off, leapfrog, drop-down, dropkick, and the crowd is extra hyped up. Gunther boots him out the ring, suplexes him onto the announce table, Irish whip into the ringpost, and the crowd chants “Let’s go AJ!” Gunther chops him hard, hammer throw into the barricade, breaks Engler’s count, and sends him back into the ring.
Gunther hits a hard chop, stomps on his back, and walks around like he has the match completely in control. Styles fights back briefly, but Gunther does a hammer throw into the corner, then gives him a HIGH back body drop, and puts him in the Boston crab. Styles escapes with upkicks, Gunther with a running kick, hits a short-arm chop, picks him up for another but AJ ducks and strikes back, ducks a clothesline, and hits the Pele kick. AJ hits the Phenomenal Blitz, ducks a clothesline, kicks him down, hits the basement forearm, connects with the Stinger forearm in the corner, and hits the Ushigoroshi for a 2-count.
Gunther counters the Styles Clash, but Styles rolls through, Gunther kicks him to free himself, and blasts him with a lariat for a 2-count. Gunther blocks the Calf Crusher, clubs him on the back, chops him, Styles goes for the Calf Crusher again but Gunther makes it to the ropes immediately. Gunther kicks him off, hits the big running dropkick, hits the POWERBOMB, stacks him up for the cover, and gets a near-fall! Gunther chops him hard, hard Irish whip, AJ dropkicks his leg, and locks in the Calf Crusher! Styles rolls him away from the ropes to lock it in again, Gunther counters with the Sleeper, Styles gets to his feet, Gunther drops back down, AJ rolls back for a 2-count, and locks in his own Sleeper! Gunther pushes him off to lock in the SLEEPER again but AJ dumps him out to the floor.
AJ hits the slingshot Phenomenal Forearm to the floor, sends him back into the ring, goes up to the top rope, Gunther is back up to chop him, climbs up to him, AJ slips underneath, Gunther lands on his feet and goes for another powerbomb, Styles lands on his feet, and delivers his own powerbomb for 2! AJ steps onto the apron, the springboard 450 splash connects, he hits the STYLES CLASH, and rolls him over for the 1-2-KICKOUT! AJ gets on the apron again, gets in position, Gunther counters the Phenomeal Forearm into the Sleeper, but AJ reverses to his own Sleeper, Gunther lunges towards the ref to corner him, and gives Styles the LOW BLOW! Gunther delivers another POWERBOMB, stacks the cover, and gets the 1-2-KICKOUT!!
Gunther complains to the ref, Styles pulls himself up on the ropes, chops him, another chop, another hard chop, another chop, and a kick. He stomps him down until the ref pulls him away for separation, and AJ pulls himself back up. Gunther chops him over and over, harder and harder, until AJ falls back down for the ref to check on him. Styles is back to his feet, Gunther continues his chopping assault, hits a clothesline, and waits for the ref to check on him. AJ brushes his chest off, starts to fight back, repeated forearms in the corner, kicks him down, brushes his chest off, Gunther tosses him onto the apron, AJ goes for the springboard but Gunther catches him, switches to the electric chair position, and drops him into the SLEEPER! AJ crumbling down to the mat with Gunther’s weight on him, he fights back with elbows to the thigh, but Gunther hits him with elbows to the shoulder and neck section, locks in the SLEEPER again, AJ tries to fight out and reaches for the ropes, but Gunther pulls him back, hits elbows to the jaw, and locks in the SLEEPER once more. AJ’S RAISIES HIS ARM BUT IT FADES LOWER AND LOWER, AND DAN ENGLER SADLY CALLS FOR THE BELL! AJ’s career… is over. WINNER: GUNTHER!
The crowd is in a stunned silence for a delay until Gunther is called the winner. Gunther is ecstatic over his victory, and AJ Styles comes to wondering and asking referee Dan Engler what happened. After the replays, Engler consoles him and apologizes but AJ was knocked out so he had to call for the bell. The crowd as well as the commentators give AJ Styles a standing ovation. AJ takes his gloves off, thinks about places them on the mat, but he can’t bring himself to do it, so he puts them back on and does his P1 pose. “Thank you Styles! Thank you Styles! Thank you Styles!” AJ exits the ring, but steps back in to pose on the turnbuckles and salute the crowd once more.
We get more shots of more superstars getting ready for the Rumble match. Sami Zayn heads out for the next match getting immense support from the crowd. Drew McIntyre is out next with pyro on the stage set and the WWE Championship around his waist. Charles Robinson is the referee for the only title match on the card, Mark Nash does the proper title match introductions, and the match gets underway.
* Undisputed WWE Championship: Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre {C}
They lock up collar-and-elbow, Zayn ducks him, gives him a chop and backs up. McIntyre with a kick to the side headlock, Zayn pushes him off, McIntyre hits a shoulder block, chops him, Zayn kicks and chops him, and McIntyre chops him back down followed by mounted punches and a stomp. McIntyre delivers a dead-lift vertical suplex, covers for 2, Zayn fights back, McIntyre reverses an Irish whip, Sami hits a double axe handle, chops him again, and clotheslines the champ out the ring. Sami hits a tope con hilo and clutches his back on the landing. Ref Charles Robinson checks on him, but McIntyre capitalizes by shoving his back into the edge of the ring apron.
Back in the ring, McIntyre hits a backbreaker, gloats his work, hammer throw into the turnbuckles, Sami tries to fight back, but McIntyre remains in control with more hard chops. McIntyre delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, covers for 2, picks him up onto the top turnbuckle, Sami blocks the superplex, flips over him for a sunset flip powerbomb and gets a 2-count. Zayn is unable to hit the Blue Thunder Bomb, so McIntyre hits a running neckbreaker, kips up, Zayn boots him in the face, hits the Blue Thunder Bomb, and gets a near-fall.
Both men trade shots, McIntyre hits the Glasgow Kiss, backs into the corner, counts down 3-2-1, Sami rolls under the Claymore attempt, rolls him up for 2.5, followed by mounted punches of his own. Zayn goes up top, McIntyre with a jumping punch, chops and punches him, picks him up, delivers the Avalanche White Noise, and covers for a near-fall! Zayn counters the Future Shock, backslide, McIntyre rolls through, hits the Future Shock, rolls him over, hits another Future Shock, gets him back up for a third Future Shock, and covers for 1-2-NO as Sami lifts his shoulder off the canvas. McIntyre blocks the exploder, clotheslines him in the corner, hits a running clothesline in the corner, avoids the Helluva Kick, and hits the CLAYMORE for 1-2-NO as Sami gets his foot on the bottom rope! McIntyre corners referee Charles Robinson for not making the full count, Robinson steps under his arm to escape being cornered, Zayn hits the HELLUVA KICK and crawls to make the cover for the 1-2-KICKOUT!
McIntyre rolls out the ring, Zayn follows for a suplex but his back gives out, so McIntyre POWERBOMBS ZAYN THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE!! More referees come to check on Sami, but McIntyre doesn’t want to wait as he picks him up and throws him back into the ring. McIntyre stomps on his back, gets in his face, tells him to stay down for his son, slaps him repeatedly, Zayn hits the exploder suplex into the turnbuckles, and starts to fire up! McIntyre hits the CLAYMORE, refuses to cover, backs into the corner, hits another CLAYMORE, and covers for the 1-2-3 to retain the title!! WINNER and STILL UNDISPUTED WWE CHAMPION: DREW McINTYRE!!
McIntyre calls for Charles Robinson to raise his hand when he calls for the queue. “That’s why I’m the damn champion of the world.” We get the announcement that WWE Backlash takes place in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, May 9th at the Benchmark International Arena. We go back to the Countdown earlier where Paul Heyman confronted Adam Pearce about his guy being #2 in the Royal Rumble. Pearce reminds Heyman that every number picked is a random drawing. Heyman sternly said, “You want to play F.A.F.O. with me? Mr. Pearce, I will play F.A.F.O. with you.” We get shots of other men winning the Royal Rumble, and that match is next!
The WWE Elimination Chamber takes place in four weeks at the United Center in Chicago on February 28th. It’s now time for the main event, where 30 men will try and throw one another over the top rope! Which man will main event WrestleMania?
* 30-Women Royal Rumble Match
#1 is Oba Femi! Oba ended his NXT tenure vacating the NXT Championship on his way to the main roster and enters his first Royal Rumble match at #1! #2 is Bron Breakker. Paul Heyman heads down with Breakker. A MAN DRESSED IN ALL BLACK JUST ATTACKED BREAKKER!! This mysterious man launches Breakker into the steel steps, kicks him in the face, and hits THE STOMP!! He tosses Breakker into the ring, the bell dings, Breakker uses the ropes to get to his feet, and Femi clotheslines Breakker back out for his first elimination! Breakker already has the shortest time in the Rumble this year! The mysterious man observes the elimination and finally exits through the crowd with a lot of questions, and Heyman is screaming at the referees over the mess. Breakker storms around the ring in frustration before leaving through the timekeeper’s area. #3 is Solo Sikoa, one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions. This is also Solo Sikoa’s first Royal Rumble match. They trade shots to start, Solo hits a shoulder bloc, Oba hits a shoulder block, Solo hits a shoulder block, Oba runs through a clothesline attempt and drops him with a shoulder tackle. Oba body slams him, hits a running European uppercut in a corner, and Sikoa sends him shoulder-first into the ringpost. #4 is Rey Mysterio. Rey is tied for third with the most Rumble appearances at 16. Mysterio drops onto Sikoa with a seated senton, baseball slides under him, kicks Femi, side-steps Sikoa who collides with Femi in the corner, trips Solo into the ropes, Sikoa picks him up, and Oba hits Sikoa with the running boot. #5 is Rusev. This is Rusev’s first Rumble match since 2018, and he fights with Femi right away. Rusev dropkicks Femi two times, clotheslines him on the ropes, Mysterio trips Rusev onto the middle ropes, hits the 619, and Femi shoves Rusev out the ring to eliminate him! Solo stands behind Oba, superkicks him, Femi ducks the Samoan Spike, delivers a backbreaker, and clotheslines Solo out the ring for his third elimination! Mysterio hits Femi in the ribs with the 619, dropkicks him onto the middle ropes, Rey hits the 619, but Femi doesn’t fully go down, he grabs Rey and tosses him out with one hand and a punch for his fourth elimination!
#6 is Matt Cardona. This is Cardona’s fifth Rumble appearance, and he’s entering since 2015. Cardona strikes first with forearms, Femi hits a lariat, Cardona puts his knees up, lands a missile dropkick, hits running boots to the face, but Femi counters the Rough Ryder with the FALL FROM GRACE powerbomb! Femi applauds Cardona’s efforts and tosses him out the ring for his fifth elimination in a row. #7 is Damian Priest. Priest sprints to the ring, strikes first, Femi with a knee, Priest with a boot, shoulder block, and Femi clotheslines him. Priest avoids a powerslam, superkicks him, avalanche in the corner, Femi catches him, Priest with a couple of spin kicks, and clotheslines him. #8 is Je’Von Evans. Evans rushes to the ring for his Royal Rumble debut, leaps over Priest, superkicks him, Femi wipes Priest out, catches Evans, drops him on the apron, Priest grabs Evans by the throat, Evans lands on the other apron, and springboards over Oba to clothesline Priest, then Evans hits the rebound flip kick to Femi. #9 is Mr. Iguana. Mr. Iguana comes out with La Yeska, and uses it to hit Evans, and lands a diving crossbody followed by a tornado DDT. Mr. Iguana ducks Priest, Femi punches Priest, Iguana side-steps Femi and hits an enzuigiri. Femi sets up a powerbomb, but Evans superkicks him. Priest grabs La Yeska, grabs Mr. Iguana by the throat, and choke slams both! Iguana is frozen stiff from the impact. #10 is Trick Williams. This is also Trick’s first Royal Rumble match. Williams clotheslines Priest, tosses Mr. Iguana out the ring, throws La Yeska out as well, and gives Priest a flapjack – all before even taking off his white fur coat. We get a showdown from the 2025 NXT Stand & Deliver main event of Evans, Williams and Femi in the middle of the ring. Williams and Evans both kick Femi, Williams throws Evans over the ropes, but Je’Von hangs on and gets back in.
#11 is Cody Rhodes. Rhodes hits Williams with the drop-down uppercut, powerslams Evans, and hits Priest with the Cody Cutter! Femi and Rhodes go at it with unfinished business from Saturday Night’s Main Event back in December. #12 is El Grande Americano. Rayo and Bravo Americano wave their leader to the ring for his first Royal Rumble match. Americano clotheslines Evans, beats him down, throws him over the ropes, Evans fights back, kicks Williams in the head, kicks Americano in the head, throws him out to the apron, but Americano gives Evans the hot shot before loading up the mask with the metal plate and hits Evans and Williams with running headbutts with the loaded mask. #13 is ORIGINAL El Grande Americano. Wait… TWO Grande Americanos!? But… which one is the real one?! The “original” El Grande Americano and the “current” El Grande Americano have a face-off in the ring, and they do the Spider-Man meme! They fight each other, the original tries to unmask the other, but he gets blocked, and the current Grande hits a rolling death valley driver. The original Grande delivers a German suplex, gets tossed over the ropes, skins the cat but is close to being unmasked, he pulls him out using his legs to eliminate him, then gets knocked out from behind by Williams and he too is eliminated! Rhodes ducks a crescent kick from Williams, hits the CROSS RHODES, and throws him out the ring! Priest plants Rhodes with the SOUTH OF HEAVEN choke slam! #14 is POWERHOUSE HOBBS, now known as Royce Keys! In the first real shocker of the night, the AEW wrestler formerly known as Powerhouse Hobbs makes his WWE debut in the Royal Rumble, and his name is now Royce Keys! The rumors were true of the powerhouse becoming a free agent and signing with WWE. Keys goes face-to-face with Priest, he catches him from a kick, hits the running powerslam, and eliminates Priest with a clothesline out the ring! Evans superkicks Keys, but Keys plants him with a spinebuster, Cody goes face-to-face with his former company mate, and Keys blocks the drop-down uppercut. #15 is Austin Theory. Theory drops Evans with a boot stomp, chopblock to Rhodes, hits a big left-hand punch, and tries to eliminate Evans in a corner.
#16 is Bronson Reed. Bronson immediately goes up top, and hits the TSUNAMI onto Evans as Theory was holding him down! Reed and Theory double-team Femi with the high-low combo. #17 is Ilja Dragunov. Ilja makes his Royal Rumble debut, and he’s ready as he runs in to chop and kick every man in the match. Rhodes sends him to the ropes but Dragunov swings back with the Constantine Special! #18 is La Parka. AAA’s La Parka joins the fray with a dropkick to Theory and gives him a flapjack followed by a kip up. La Parka picks up Dragunov for the spiral suplex and dances. #19 is Dragon Lee. Dragon Lee also makes his Royal Rumble debut, he kicks Reed in the head, lands the jumping stomp to Evans, and hits the OPERATION DRAGON to Theory! Dragunov chops him, Dragon Lee hits the pump knee, Dragunov boots him in the head, and Lee hits the OPERATION DRAGON to Ilja! Dragon Lee hits Rhodes with the pump knee, Reed goes for a powerbomb, but Lee counters with a DDT and kips up. #20 is Logan Paul. Logan blasts Lee with a clothesline, delivers a gutwrench suplex to La Parka, turns around to see Royce Keys behind him and says “Who the hell are you?” Paul lands the body blows with lefts and rights, Keys traps his arms, headbutts him on the chest, and plants him with the World’s Strongest Slam! Reed steps up to Keys, this gets Keys’s attention, Theory attacks him from behind, Paul hits a running punch, and Reed clotheslines Keys out the ring to eliminate him! The Vision worked well together to get rid of the big man. Dragon Lee and La Parka both superkick Theory and Paul, they double superkick Reed, but Reed blocks a double Irish whip and clotheslines both of them. Reed picks La Parka up on his shoulder, Theory hits the rolling thunder dropkick to eliminate the AAA luchador, they all gang up on Dragon Lee, and Reed press slams Lee out the ring onto La Parka to get rid of him too.
#21 is LA Knight. LA Knight is back after being taken out by The Vision in December! Knight goes after The Vision before getting beaten down by the group, Reed crushes him in a corner, and Knight tosses Theory out the ring! Knight side-steps Paul in a corner, hits the jumping neckbreaker, clotheslines Reed on the ropes, drops him with the BFT, then Knight clotheslines Reed out the ring to eliminate him!! #22 is Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman is back out alongside Lesnar, and Cody stands in the ring ready for Lesnar to step into the ring. Lesnar quickly gives Rhodes a German suplex, gives Knight a German suplex, hits Evans with a German suplex, boots Dragunov and clotheslines him, then plants Evans with the F-5! The iron man of the match Oba Femi gets face-to-face with Lesnar unafraid of The Beast Incarnate. #23 is The Miz. The Miz enters his 17th Royal Rumble in his career, one shy of Kane’s record at 18. Miz slides into the ring, sees Femi and Lesnar, slides back out, the group attack the big men, but they fight them all off. Dragunov chops Lesnar over and over, but Lesnar just screams at him and tosses him out the ring. Femi tosses Miz and Paul aside, Lesnar delivers another German suplex to Rhodes, a German suplex to Knight, and again Lesnar and Femi come face-to-face. #24 is Rey Fenix. Fenix makes his Royal Rumble debut, goes for a springboard, Lesnar catches him, and tosses him aside for nothing. Lesnar ducks behind Femi for a German suplex, plants Fenix with the F-5, and tosses him out the ring to eliminate him. Lesnar ducks a clothesline by Femi, taunts him with a smile, and Femi clotheslines Lesnar! Femi knocks Paul off the top rope, Paul hangs on the ropes, Femi tries to peel him off, and Lesnar dumps Femi over the ropes to eliminate him! Paul skins the cat to save himself but Lesnar is behind him and gives him a German suplex. #25 is Jey Uso, one-half of the World Tag Team Champions. Jey Uso heads down to the ring yeeting through the crowd. Rhodes and Knight team up and they clothesline Lesnar out the ring to eliminate him! Jey gets in the ring, superkicks Miz, and he runs it back to yeet some more.
#26 is Roman Reigns. Reigns gets in the ring, Jey is there waiting for him, Reigns wants him to run it back again, the music plays, and Reigns uppercuts him! Reigns plants Evans with a urinage, hits Miz with the Superman Punch, hits Paul with the Superman Punch, blasts Miz with the SPEAR and throws his ass out the ring! Cody and Roman stand face-to-face, but… #27 is Jacob Fatu. Cody’s attention is directed towards Fatu, he goes for a suicide dive, but Jacob uppercuts him to block it and throws him into the steel steps and the ringpost. Fatu throws him back into the ring, superkicks Knight for touching him, punches Rhodes some more, shoves Evans down, and launches Evans high in the air for the pop-up Samoan drop! Roman glares at cousin Jacob, but Cody isn’t having it and attacks Fatu from behind. Rhodes and Reigns go eye-to-eye, Jey goes after Rhodes, then Roman and Jey drop Rhodes with the 1-D! #28 is Penta. Penta catches Evans with a running hurricanrana, hits Paul with a gamengiri in the corner, hits the handstand basement dropkick, superkicks Fatu, then hits a backstabber after his handspring. Knight powerslams Penta, spots Roman to counter the Superman Punch, and plants him with the BFT! Rhodes goes for the Cross Rhodes, but Kinght counters with a reverse DDT, pops back up, but Rhodes tosses him onto the apron and hits the Disaster Kick to eliminate him! Fatu goes back on his attack to Rhodes. #29 is Randy Orton. Randy hits Jey with the snap powerslam, hits Penta with the snap powerslam, he pulls both men through the ropes for a double vintage draping DDT, stalks his prey, Logan grabs him from behind, so Paul eats the first RKO! Penta kicks Orton in his legs, and springboards into an RKO! #30 is Gunther. Gunther limps his way to the ring still selling the Calf Crusher from earlier. Paul chops Gunther, so Gunther chops him back harder. Jey goes after him, so Gunther gives him a German suplex. Gunther chops Rhodes hard on the chest, Evans goes for a superkick but is blocked, he lands on his feet from a German suplex attempt, ducks a chop, and hits a flying knee. Orton is behind Evans as he gets to his feet, Evans blocks the RKO, hits the rebound spin kick, looks to take his big moment, but Orton counters the OG Cutter with a massive RKO!! Orton throws Evans out the ring!
We’re down to eight man left in the match. Gunther hits Orton with the big boot, Penta superkicks Gunther, goes for the headstand in the corner, but Gunther pushes him out the ring, then Orton hits Gunther with the RKO! Rhodes locks eyes with Orton, he pickes up Gunther, and Orton kicks him in the gut, now Orton holds up Gunther, and Gunther moves out the way as Rhodes hits the CODY CUTTER to Orton! Jacob Fatu superkicks Rhodes, sends him over the ropes, Rhodes hangs onto the ropes to skin the cat, but Drew McIntyre hits Cody with the drive-by CLAYMORE to eliminate him!! Fatu glares at McIntyre, and Roman throws Fatu out the ring while distracted! Jey tries to dump Reigns out to no avail, he connects on Roman with the SPEAR, picks him back up, and Roman reverses the momentum to throw Jey out and eliminate him!
We are down to four in all four corners of thing – Logan Paul, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Gunther! Paul and Reigns pair off, and Orton goes after Gunther in a big brawl. Reigns sends Paul onto the apron, Paul flips back in and Roman connects with the Superman Punch, and Reigns throws Paul out the ring! Orton hits Reigns with the RKO, and Gunther tosses Orton out the ring!! We’re down to two men! Gunther goes for the Sleeper, Reigns battles out, Gunther sets him up for the powerbomb, Reigns counters with a back drop onto the apron, Gunther punches him, steps back through the ropes and puts him in the SLEEPER HOLD! Reigns shoves him off, Gunther counters the Superman Punch, and puts him in the SLEEPER again. Reigns sends him into the top turnbuckle to break the hold, hits the SPEAR, and throws Gunther out the ring to win the Royal Rumble match for the second time in his career!! 2026 MEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER: ROMAN REIGNS!!!
Roman Reigns is going back to the main event of WrestleMania once again for a championship! After the replays, Reigns puts the one in the sky and points to the WrestleMania sign as pyro goes off. That’s the end of the 2026 Royal Rumble!
