2026 Royal Rumble reactions

The 2026 Royal Rumble has come and gone, and WWE is officially on the road to WrestleMania.

This past Saturday’s event saw the end of one of the greatest in-ring careers of the 21st century, crowned two new contenders for world championships, and set up several other storylines that will likely culminate in matches at WrestleMania. Here is a recap of everything that happened at the 2026 Royal Rumble.

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

The women’s rumble started with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, a fun dynamic given their partnership over the last six months. I appreciated the logical approach both took by teaming up on early entrants instead of fighting, although they should have eliminated Kiana James before Nia Jax entered.

The first 20 entrants of the match were pretty uneventful, with the ring getting a little too full. The action really picked up in the final 10 entrants, with a focus on the women’s tag division.

The surprise entrants weren’t particularly inspiring. Sol Ruca, Jacy Jayne and Tiffany Stratton were good, but Brie Bella was the only major return to reunite with her sister Nikki. The Bella twins weren’t good wrestlers in their primes, nevermind a decade later with a much better roster of talent now than back in 2015.

The final three came down to Ruca, Stratton and the eventual winner, Liv Morgan. The finish was innovative with all three competitors on the apron, and Morgan eventually won, a call back to her last two Royal Rumble appearances, where she was the runner-up.

Overall, it was one of the weaker women’s rumble matches. The first half didn’t create many stories for WrestleMania, and while Liv winning makes sense, it is the kickstart WWE aims for with the Royal Rumble.

Gunther vs AJ Styles

This was an awesome match, which makes sense given the two guys in the ring. Gunther takes most of the match to tell the story of Styles losing a step, which works psychologically. It was a phenomenal sendoff for arguably the best in-ring wrestler of the last quarter-century.

Unfortunately, the story leading up to the match did not match the stakes. Styles agreeing to put his career on the line just for a rematch was illogical and signaled the result before the match, taking away some tension in the match.

The final sequence of the referee dropping Styles’s arm once before ringing the bell was ironic because that was the finish everyone wanted for John Cena’s match when he was retired by Gunther six weeks earlier. Instead, Styles passed out, and Cena tapped out and gave up.

After the match, Styles kept his gloves on after threatening to take them off. It seems possible that he will finish his retirement year with a run in TNA or AEW. I would prefer the latter because of the number of dream matches on the table in the only major wrestling company Styles hasn’t wrestled in.

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs Sami Zayn

Two main stories were going into this match. The first was that Zayn had never beaten McIntyre in his career. The second story was that Zayn was undefeated when wrestling in Saudi Arabia.

The result was never really in question, and McIntyre beat Zayn in a fun match. McIntyre’s heel character has gone from someone who cost himself matches to using those same traits to win matches. It’s an incredible character arc for arguably the best heel in the company.

It is time to have an uncomfortable conversation about Zayn being taken seriously as a world title contender.

He hasn’t been able to recapture the magic he had in 2023 when he faced Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber in Montreal. Ever since, he hasn’t felt like a real contender and an inconsistent pursuit of the world title has skewed things.

Men’s Royal Rumble

The men’s rumble opened with Oba Femi at No. 1, and before Bron Breakker could make his entrance at No. 2, he was attacked by a masked man who will likely be revealed as Seth Rollins. Femi immediately eliminated Breakker.

Femi and Je’Von Evans were the breakout stars of the match, lasting for a combined 1 hour and 20 minutes of ringtime. Femi was tied for the most eliminations as well, with five. It was good to see the next generation of stars get to shine in one of the biggest matches of the year.

The El Grande Americano spot in the middle of the match was fun, and Powerhouse Hobbs debuting as Royce Keys was a nice surprise. Debuting Hobbs, who came over from AEW, in a country where AEW isn’t available, was a slightly dumb choice, though.

Brock Lesnar entered at No. 22 and had the worst elimination of the match. After eliminating Femi, Lesnar got tossed out during Jey Uso’s crowd entrance. One of the biggest stars was eliminated when the crowd wasn’t paying attention, and even the camera almost missed it, too.

Roman Reigns came in at No. 26 and ended up winning the match. The final four were uninspiring and kind of ruined the match because none of the potential winners were very inspiring.

It was Reigns, Gunther, Logan Paul and Randy Orton. All of them were safe options that are established main eventers at a time when WWE desperately needs to build some young new stars.

Nate Johns is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jzn5275@psu.edu.