WWE Officials “Extremely Thrilled” With Royal Rumble Event
It has been reported that WWE officials were very happy with how this year’s Royal Rumble event turned out.
The 2023 Royal Rumble was the first Premium Live Event of the year. It was headlined by Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Kevin Owens. Reigns won that match even though Owens had it won, if not for a referee getting knocked down.
Post match, Reigns and The Bloodline issued another beating on a helpless Kevin Owens. Instead of joining The Bloodline in the attack on Owens, Sami Zayn responded to the brutal actions of Reigns by hitting Roman with a steel chair to the back. The fans responded with a huge ovation as they supported Zayn while Jey Uso walked out rather than attack Zayn the way that Reigns, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa did. It was pro wrestling drama at its best.
There were four other matches at the Royal Rumble with Cody Rhodes winning the Men’s Rumble and Rhea Ripley winning the Women’s Rumble with both of them earning major championship matches at WrestleMania 39 in April. Bianca Belair also beat Alexa Bliss to retain the Raw Women’s Champion while Bray Wyatt beat LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match.
It has also been reported by PWInsider that WWE officials are really happy about the Royal Rumble event. Officials are also “extremely thrilled” with the viewership numbers on Peacock.
In a press release earlier today, WWE also touted a new all-time gate record at more than $7.7 million, far surpassing the previous Royal Rumble high in 2017 by more than 50 percent. They also said that the viewership of the event saw a 52 percent increase versus the previous record set in 2022.