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WWE News: Royal Rumble 2020 Will Take Place at Minute Maid Park in Houston

TJR Wrestling

For the second year in a row, a WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event will take place in a Major League Baseball stadium. This year’s Royal Rumble was in Phoenix at Chase Field and next year it will be in another major American city at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. The Houston Chronicle was the first to break the news this evening. The Royal Rumble will take place on January 26, 2020.

Here’s more info from WWE’s press release.

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that Minute Maid Park in Houston will host the Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 26, 2020. The event will mark WWE’s debut at Minute Maid Park and the second time the Royal Rumble has been held at a baseball stadium following this year’s event at Chase Field in Phoenix which took place in front of a capacity crowd of 48,193.

Fans attending this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber event at the Toyota Center in Houston will receive an exclusive pre-sale offer to buy tickets to the Royal Rumble before the general public. Details on ticket availability will be forthcoming. Additionally, fans in attendance will have the chance to win four tickets to the 2020 Royal Rumble by taking part in a special Twitter and Instagram sweepstakes.

“We are thrilled to bring one of WWE’s biggest events of 2020 to Minute Maid Park,” said Janis Burke, CEO of the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority. “We look forward to WWE fans from around the world descending on Houston for the Royal Rumble.”

The event, which will stream live around the world on WWE Network, will feature a 30-Man Royal Rumble match, and a 30-Woman Royal Rumble match, with the winners of both matches receiving Championship opportunities at WrestleMania 36.

Even though it is not mentioned in the Houston Chronicle article, it’s expected that WWE would also have Friday Smackdown, Saturday NXT Takeover and Monday Night Raw in Houston that same weekend in late January as well, most likely at the Toyota Center where the Houston Rockets play basketball and where WWE holds their events when they are in town.

TJR Thoughts: It’s likely that WWE made the announcement today because of Elimination Chamber also taking place in Houston this Sunday night.

There’s no word on the estimated attendance, but it should be somewhere in the 40,000+ people range similar to this year’s Royal Rumble in Phoenix.

Houston also hosted Survivor Series weekend in 2017. Houston also hosted WrestleMania 17 in 2001 at the Astrodome and WrestleMania 25 in 2009 at Reliant Stadium.