TJRWrestling WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Preview
It’s WWE Royal Rumble, featuring two huge Rumble matches, plus Drew McIntyre facing Sami Zayn, Gunther against AJ Styles, and more.
This is the 39th year in a row that WWE has run a Royal Rumble event. The first one was a TV special, and for the last 38 years, it’s been a PPV/PLE event. I’ve reviewed them all and can probably recite way too many Rumble stats. For many fans, it’s their favorite show of the year because the Royal Rumble is unlike anything else, with 30 women and 30 men competing in the unique Rumble matches. It’s the first Royal Rumble PLE in Saudi Arabia, and I think it may be the last year it’s a 1-night event, since it will probably be a 2-night show like WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
I think WWE could have done a much better job of building the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches. They didn’t let many wrestlers do promos about how they are going to win, how important it is to win, and why they need to win. Instead, the company just said this person is in, or that person is in, and very few people got to talk about the match. I want wrestlers to sell the importance of the Rumble and make us care about winning. Instead, it just feels like another match. I still like it, but I wish it were built up better.
Every year during the Royal Rumble, WWE tells us that the winner will “main event” WrestleMania, even though last year’s two winners – Jey Uso and Charlotte Flair – didn’t come close to main eventing. In fact, the trio of CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns main evented WrestleMania 41 Saturday, even though they weren’t even in the match at the end. Last year’s runner-up, John Cena, main evented WrestleMania 41 on Sunday because he won at Elimination Chamber, which is a month away, and a show that could set up the WrestleMania 42 main event matches. Anyway, just remember all that when they tell you the winner gets to main event WrestleMania.
This was written before SmackDown on January 30th. You can watch WWE Royal Rumble on January 31st streaming live at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on the ESPN App in the United States and on Netflix everywhere else. Let’s get to it.
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Women’s Royal Rumble Match
There are 30 women in this match. The list of confirmed names from WWE’s website: Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Bayley, Lyra Valkyria, Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Jordynne Grace, Becky Lynch, Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Giulia, and Maxxine Dupri. There are 17 names there.
Every year when I do this, I like to write out point-form notes with my thoughts on what I think might happen.
* Bianca Belair hasn’t wrestled since WrestleMania last April due to having broken fingers. I think she was likely ready to come back weeks ago and maybe even months ago, but WWE likely wanted to save her return for this match. Not only will Belair be in this match, but she’ll be a threat to win.
* Tiffany Stratton has been away since losing the WWE Women’s Title in early November, so she’s had a three-month break. I expect her to return in this match too. I don’t think she was that injured since she’s been away. I think it’s a case of WWE wanting to save her for this match.
* I think there will be at least three NXT women in the match: Jacy Jayne, Sol Ruca, and Lola Vice. Kelani Jordan may be in there, too. None of them were on NXT this past week. I don’t expect any of them to have a significant run in the match, but if any of them do, it would be Ruca.
* There could be some moments of dominance for the team of Nia Jax and Lash Legend, so if there’s a spot in the match where there are 10 people in the ring and they need to be cleared out, I think Nia and Lash clearing the ring could happen.
* The Judgment Day trio of Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, and Raquel Rodriguez will probably be in the match together for a long time and likely combine for some eliminations. It wouldn’t shock me if Liv dumped Raquel at one point, just because that would fit Liv’s character.
* It would be cool to have Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair have a showdown in the match since it’s been a long time since they feuded. I think it’s a great rivalry historically.
* I think AJ Lee will be in the Women’s Royal Rumble match and probably eliminate Becky Lynch from it. That will set them up for a WrestleMania 42 showdown for Lynch’s Women’s Intercontinental Title. Lee has only wrestled twice since coming back last September, but maybe she’ll be more of a regular moving forward.
* I would love to see the return of Paige. I don’t know if it’s happening. I’d be so happy for her because I know how much she wants it.
* Since Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky are Women’s Tag Team Champions, along with teams like Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss, and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria, focusing on the tag team division, I don’t see any of them as major threats to win. I could see Ripley as the woman throwing out the most people and lasting a long time, but I don’t see her winning it.
* My pick to win is Liv Morgan, and my second pick is Bianca Belair. If it’s not one of them, then I would be surprised. Morgan has lasted until the final stages of multiple Royal Rumble matches, and I think this is the year where she is the winner. It would set her up for a Women’s World Title match against Stephanie Vaquer, who I expect to remain champion until WrestleMania 42. Liv makes sense as the winner, in my opinion. If Belair wins, then I would have Morgan win the Elimination Chamber. Last year, Belair won Elimination Chamber, and she could do it again this year.
Wrestler That Lasts The Longest:Bianca Belair from the #1 or #2 spot.
Most Eliminations:Rhea Ripley
Final Four:Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley.
Winner: Liv Morgan
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AJ Styles vs. Gunther
(If Styles loses, then he must retire.)
I don’t want AJ Styles to retire, but if this is the end for him, then I respect his decision. The man has wrestled at a high level for the past 25 years, and if he wants to go out while still performing at a high level, then I can respect that. It’s sad that so many guys I love watching, like John Cena, Bryan Danielson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and now AJ Styles, are ending their careers around the same time, but that’s life. They are at an age similar to me and sometimes the body just doesn’t let you keep performing at that high level. That’s life, my friends.
I know Styles did that promo on Raw about the end of his WWE career, and when he specifically said WWE instead of wrestling, it led to people thinking he might go to AEW or perhaps do a final year in TNA, which makes a lot of sense to me. Since Styles became a household name in TNA, I wouldn’t mind seeing him wrestle some matches there and retire at Slammiversary in the summer or perhaps Bound for Glory later in the year. I’d rather see him compete in a WWE ring all year, too, but I don’t know if he wants to keep doing that since he’ll be 49 this year, and he has said he’s ready to call it a career.
As for the match, it should be awesome like their Raw match was. I know Shinsuke Nakamura wrote and then deleted a social media post about how Styles told him he was retiring at the Royal Rumble. I think plans can change, though, and I hope the plans change in this case. Since Gunther got the controversial win when they had a Raw match, I think Styles is going to pull the tights or put his feet on the ropes to cheat to win to keep his career going. It will be 1-1 between them, and the third match will be at WrestleMania 42 with Styles putting his career on the line again. Gunther will win that, and that’s where Styles will retire. Am I sure? Absolutely not. I just think if I were booking WWE, I’d want Styles to give me a few more months and call it a career at WrestleMania instead of a Royal Rumble PLE. Regardless of the result, it should be an outstanding match.
Winner: AJ Styles
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Undisputed WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Sami Zayn
It would be a major surprise if Drew McIntyre lost this match, considering he won the WWE Title from Cody Rhodes three weeks ago. As much as I want to see Sami Zayn as the WWE Champion at some point in his career, it just doesn’t feel like the right time for it. Perhaps it will happen later in the year. They could have Zayn win King of the Ring to set it up, or find some other way to get Zayn a title shot. I’d love to see it for him.
These guys always have good matches together, and I expect no different here. The crowd should be strongly behind Zayn, as we have seen at past Saudi Arabia shows. Zayn will likely come close to winning a few times, and I expect them to get 15-20 minutes, but it should be a win for McIntyre.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
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Men’s Royal Rumble Match
There are 30 men in this match. The list of confirmed names from WWE’s website: Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Brock Lesnar, Jey Uso, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, Penta, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Austin Theory, Je’Von Evans, Randy Orton, Jacob Fatu, Damian Priest and Oba Femi. That’s 17 names there. I’ll go point form style.
* Roman Reigns is the betting favorite to win, and I think it’s going to be him or Bron Breakker. If Reigns wins, then he’s probably going after the World Title held by CM Punk, and I think that would work well as a WrestleMania main event since they were in the same WM match last year. I like Reigns a lot as a performer, but he wrestled in fewer than 10 matches last year, and if that’s the case this year, then I’d rather not see him hold a World Title again.
* Cody Rhodes will probably have a good showing in the match, but I expect Jacob Fatu to cost him the victory. Perhaps they’ll do a spot where they are eliminated at the same time. Drew McIntyre could also show up to screw over Cody, since I think a Drew-Cody-Jacob match at WrestleMania 42 is a possibility.
* I’m excited about former 2-time NXT Champion Oba Femi being in the match. I think he’s going to be a popular pick as the guy who eliminates the most wrestlers in the match. I don’t want WWE to give him a slow-burn kind of push. I think they need to establish him as a big name in his first main roster match. I think having Femi eliminate a big name like Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns would set him up for a big WrestleMania 42 match. Lesnar seems like a possibility for sure, especially if Lesnar plans to retire this year. Put over Femi on the way out.
* The Vision’s foursome of Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul and Austin Theory will likely dominate a lot of the match. We have seen stables dominate Rumble matches in the past, and I think that’s probably going to happen with them since they are featured so heavily on Raw. Regarding the aforementioned Oba Femi, there’s also a part of me that thinks perhaps he starts out as a babyface in the match, but then he helps The Vision by turning on a babyface like Reigns and that leads to Breakker getting the win. Putting Femi with The Vision makes sense since he’s a 27-year-old with a bright future, but perhaps having 5 wrestlers in the group is too many people. If they had Femi turn heel to join The Vision and eliminate Roman Reigns, then that would make Femi look like a major star right away. Just saying.
* Brock Lesnar is probably going to put over a younger guy by being eliminated by them. If it’s not Femi, then maybe they go with Bronson Reed or Logan Paul. There are obviously a lot of options. You could even have Je’Von Evans eliminate Brock and then set them up for a WrestleMania match. I wouldn’t mind that at all.
* I hope Randy Orton has a significant role in the Royal Rumble match. I’m not sure what feud he might have going forward, but his rivalry with Kevin Owens ended prematurely last year due to Owens ‘ injury. Hopefully, there’s a good plan in place for Orton.
* Is Royce Keys (fka Powerhouse Hobbs) going to debut here? I think it’s possible. WWE may not want him in the ring with Oba Femi at the same time to keep their “debuts” separate, but I think it’s a good spot for Keys to debut. That’s another guy who could be an ally of The Vision if they feel the need to add another wrestler to the group.
* It would be hilarious if WWE brought IShowSpeed to the Royal Rumble this year and had Bron Breakker hit him with a Spear like last year. I’d love to see it again.
* Is Chris Jericho going to be in the match? I’m leaning towards a no. While I think he is coming back to WWE, I don’t know if he’s totally free from AEW yet. Perhaps his WWE return will be at WrestleMania or before that. Your guess is as good as mine. I’d love it if Jericho was in the Rumble match, so if I’m wrong, then so be it. I’d be happy to be wrong about this.
* Bron Breakker has been my pick to win for several weeks now, but I think it certainly could be Roman Reigns. I think WWE might go with the Punk-Breakker match at WrestleMania 42, and this time, Breakker wins, unlike when they wrestled on Raw earlier this month. If it’s Reigns, then having him go against Punk works fine too, and I would expect a title change in that scenario.
Wrestler That Lasts The Longest: Logan Paul
Most Eliminations: Oba Femi
Final Four: Bron Breakker, Roman Reigns, Oba Femi, Logan Paul
Winner: Bron Breakker
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BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE ROYAL RUMBLE!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Men’s Royal Rumble.
The Match I Care About The Least
Nothing. I like them all.
Longest Match
The Men’s Royal Rumble match lasts around 75 minutes.
Shortest Match
AJ Styles vs. Gunther around 15 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
I’m at 7.5 out of 10 for this show. It could certainly be an 8-out-of-10 show, but I feel like WWE could have done a lot more to make us care about the Rumble matches. I like the Royal Rumble and I think both Rumble matches have a lot of star power, which is great to see. I’m not one of those people who love or hate a Rumble based on surprises, but I do think it’s important to book the match in a logical way, so I hope both Rumble matches are fun to watch. If my winners are wrong, it doesn’t bother me at all. I just want
I’ll be back with a review of the Royal Rumble on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.