Royal Rumble (2024)

The 2024 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the 37th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 27, 2024, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The event was broadcast via pay-per-view and livestreaming, and featured wrestlers from all three of WWE's brand divisions. It was the third Royal Rumble held in the Tampa Bay area (following the 1995 and 2021 events), and the second at Tropicana Field after 2021; however, as that event was held without an audience via the ThunderDome due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first Royal Rumble at the stadium to have live fans. This was the first major WWE event not to involve Vince McMahon or any member of the McMahon family at any capacity since his resignation as chairman of TKO Group Holdings a day before amidst the ongoing sex trafficking scandal.

The event is based around the Royal Rumble match, and the winner traditionally receives a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2024 event, the men's and women's winners received a choice of which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania XL. The men's winner could choose to challenge for either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, while the women's winner had the choice between Raw's Women's World Championship and SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship. The women's match, which was the opening bout, was won by Bayley from SmackDown, who also broke the record for longest time spent in the women's match, lasting 1:03:03. The men's match, which was the main event of the card, was won by Raw's Cody Rhodes for a second consecutive year. This made Rhodes the first wrestler since "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (1997 and 1998) to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches, and fourth overall, after Austin, Shawn Michaels (1995 and 1996), and Hulk Hogan (1990 and 1991).

In addition to the two Royal Rumble matches, two other matches were contested on the card, which were for SmackDown championships. In the first, Roman Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in a fatal four-way match against Randy Orton, LA Knight, and AJ Styles, while Logan Paul defeated Kevin Owens by disqualification to retain the WWE United States Championship. Notably, this is the first WWE Network event since February 2022's Elimination Chamber in which Roman Reigns wrestled in a match that was not the main event.

The women's Royal Rumble match notably marked the WWE in-ring debut of Jade Cargill, who signed with the company in September 2023. TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) also made a surprise appearance in the women's Rumble. The event also saw the returns of Naomi, Liv Morgan, Andrade, and Omos in the men's and women's Rumbles, while the men's match was also notable for CM Punk's first WWE televised match since the 2014 Royal Rumble.

Background
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event produced every January by WWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five". The concept of the event is based around the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.

Announced on September 13, 2023, the 37th Royal Rumble was scheduled to be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, and it featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brand divisions. This was the second Royal Rumble to be held at Tropicana Field after the 2021 event, but the first with live fans in attendance as the 2021 event was produced without fans via the WWE ThunderDome due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year. This in turn marked the third Royal Rumble to be held in the Tampa Bay area, but the first with fans in attendance since the 1995 event. In addition to airing on pay-per-view worldwide, it was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. Tickets went on sale on October 20, 2023, with premium hospitality packages also available.

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2024, the men and women could choose which world championship to challenge for at WrestleMania XL; the men could choose Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, while the women had the choice between Raw's Women's World Championship and SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship.

Days before the Royal Rumble event, Janel Grant, a former employee at WWE headquarters between 2019 and 2022, filed a lawsuit against WWE as well as TKO (by proxy of ownership). Grant alleged that Vince McMahon had coerced her into a sexual relationship and, along with the WWE executive John Laurinaitis and a WWE wrestler who was also a former UFC fighter, sexually trafficked her and repeatedly sexually assaulted her during 2020–2021. Grant alleged that she was subjected to "extreme cruelty and degradation" by McMahon, including being defecated upon during a sexual encounter. Grant stated that McMahon had agreed to pay her $3 million in 2022 in return for a non-disclosure agreement, but stopped paying after only $1 million had been paid following the initial public emergence of the sexual misconduct allegations the same year. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed McMahon, and have taken up the filing in question. One day after the report of the claims, on January 26, 2024, Vince McMahon had resigned from TKO. In a statement, McMahon said the decision was made "out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees". Ari Emanuel took over as the Chairman of TKO. In response, Slim Jim, the sponsor of the event, temporarily paused its promotional work due to allegiations, only to resume the next day after McMahon resigned. The removal of McMahon from the TKO board makes the 2024 edition of the Royal Rumble, the first major WWE event, without him or any of his family involved at any capacity.

Storylines
The event included four matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were played out on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Before he went on hiatus in May 2022 due to a back injury, Randy Orton had been feuding with The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso). The following year at Crown Jewel in November 2023, Reigns defeated LA Knight to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship after interference from the Bloodline. On the following episode of SmackDown, Knight stated that he was not done with the Bloodline until he defeated Reigns for the title. Orton then returned at Survivor Series: WarGames later that same month, and on the December 1 episode of SmackDown, he signed with the SmackDown brand after fending off an attack by the Bloodline (which had since added Solo Sikoa, while Jey had left the group and the SmackDown brand earlier that summer), vowing to get revenge. Two weeks later, the returning AJ Styles helped Knight and Orton fend off the Bloodline before attacking Knight. The following week, Styles explained that he attacked Knight for taking his spot in a tag team match at Fastlane in October 2023. After Orton interrupted and said that he also wanted a title match against Reigns, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that Orton, Styles, and Knight would compete in a triple threat match at SmackDown: New Year's Revolution on January 5, 2024, where the winner would face Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. However, the match ended in a no contest after the Bloodline attacked all three competitors. As a result, Aldis announced that Reigns would instead defend his championship in a fatal four-way match against Orton, Knight, and Styles at the Royal Rumble.

At Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023, Logan Paul won his first WWE title, the United States Championship. Paul made his first appearance as champion on the December 1 episode of SmackDown where he announced that his first challenger would be determined by an eight-man tournament. The tournament was won by Kevin Owens at SmackDown: New Year's Revolution on January 5, 2024, thus earning him a match against Paul for the title at the Royal Rumble.

Preliminary matches
The event opened with the Women's Royal Rumble match. The first two entrants were Natalya from Raw, who continued her streak of being in every Women's Rumble, and Naomi, who returned to WWE after walking out of the company in May 2022 and after performing in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) the preceding few months. She was followed by SmackDown's Bayley at number three. TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace entered at number five as a surprise entrant, and briefly reignited her feud with Naomi, who she defeated in Naomi's final TNA match for the title. Past Women's Rumble winners Asuka (2018) and Bianca Belair (2021), both from SmackDown, later entered at numbers seven and 10, respectively. As the ring filled up, Raw's Nia Jax entered at number 19 and went on a run of eliminations. 2019 winner Becky Lynch from Raw entered at number 21. As Raw's Valhalla was making her entrance as the 24th entrant, R-Truth (who was assigned as the 24th entrant for the Men's match) also tried to enter the match, not realizing that this was the Women's Rumble. Jade Cargill was another surprise entrant at number 28, making her WWE in-ring debut, and eliminated Jax and Naomi (who lasted for over an hour). Raw's Liv Morgan was the final entrant, making her return after over six months due to injury, and also continuing her streak of being in every Women's Rumble. Bayley, Cargill, and Morgan were the final three, and after Morgan eliminated Cargill, Bayley then eliminated Morgan to win the Rumble, and in the process set the new Women's Rumble longevity record at 1:03:03. She was also the second woman to win the match from the #3 position after Belair in 2021 and third person overall. In addition to the win this made Bayley the first Mexican-American female wrestler to win the Royal Rumble and the second ethnicity wrestler after Rey Mysterio in 2006 to win the event.

After that, Roman Reigns defended the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and LA Knight in a fatal four-way match. All three challengers started the match by triple teaming Reigns, then eventually paired off into their own battles. Orton hit his RKO finishing move on all of the other participants and attempted to pin Reigns, before Solo Sikoa attacked Orton on Reigns' behalf. Reigns eventually hit the spear on Styles to score the pinfall, winning the match and retaining his title.

The penultimate match saw Logan Paul defend the United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Paul spent much of the match attacking Owens' injured right hand. One of Paul's friends, Jeff Levin tried to give Paul a pair of brass knuckles, but he was ejected by the referee. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller—who had been feuding with Owens as well as forming an alliance with Paul—then came out during this moment with Theory instead giving Paul the brass knuckles. Owens, however, got a hold of them and knocked out Paul, but during the pin, the referee saw the knuckles on Owens' hand, resulting in Owens being disqualified and giving Paul the victory to retain. After the match, Owens powerbombed Paul through the announcers' table.

Main event
The main event was the Men's Royal Rumble match. It began with Raw's Jey Uso at number one and his brother Jimmy from SmackDown at number two. Andrade, who returned to WWE after leaving the company in March 2021 and then worked for All Elite Wrestling, entered as a surprise participant at number four, as did Carmelo Hayes from NXT, who made his Rumble debut at number five, followed by 2018 Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura from Raw at number six. SmackDown's Bobby Lashley (#11) eliminated eighth entrant Karrion Kross also from SmackDown, but Kross' Final Testament stablemates Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) stormed the ring, leading to Kross coming back in to eliminate Lashley, resulting in a ringside brawl between the Final Testament, Lashley, and his associates The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford). As the ring filled up, 2023 Rumble winner Cody Rhodes from Raw entered at number 15. NXT's Bron Breakker made his Rumble debut at number 20, and scored several rapid eliminations. Omos was next at number 21, followed by surprise entrant Pat McAfee (#22), who had earlier made a surprise return as a commentator for the event. After coming face to face with the over seven foot tall Omos, McAfee backed away and eliminated himself by climbing over the top rope and returned to commentary. Raw's CM Punk, who returned to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames in November 2023, entered at number 27, marking his first WWE televised match since the 2014 Royal Rumble match. 2020 Rumble winner Drew McIntyre entered at number 29 followed by Sami Zayn as the number 30 and final entrant, both from Raw.

Jey was eliminated after a stint of 50 minutes and 50 seconds. The final four were Rhodes, Raw's Gunther (#18), Punk, and McIntyre. After Punk and Rhodes eliminated McIntyre and Gunther, respectively, Punk and Rhodes engaged in a lengthy back and forth exchange of attempted eliminations, before Rhodes finally threw him over the top rope to win the match for a second consecutive year. With this victory, Rhodes became the first wrestler since "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (1997 and 1998) to win back-to-back Rumbles, and fourth overall after Austin, Shawn Michaels (1995 and 1996), and Hulk Hogan (1990 and 1991).

Raw
During the Royal Rumble post-event press conference, Cody Rhodes, who won the men's Royal Rumble as a Raw wrestler, seemingly made his decision of which world championship he would challenge for at WrestleMania XL. He stated that while he respected Seth "Freakin" Rollins and his run with the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw, Rhodes said that he needed to finish his story and defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, as he failed to do so at WrestleMania 39 the previous year. However, on the following episode of Raw, Rollins explained why Rhodes should instead challenge him at WrestleMania, stating that the title Reigns held lost its luster due to Reigns defending it so infrequently, and the shady reputations of other past champions, while Rollins made his title representative of the blue collar, workhorse style that Cody's father Dusty Rhodes embodied. A conflicted Rhodes said he would think about it. Rhodes then appeared on SmackDown and confronted Reigns and said that he would eventually win Reigns' title, but not at WrestleMania. The Rock then came out and stared down Reigns in the ring as the episode went off the air, seemingly challenging for Reigns' title at WrestleMania, which has since drawn intense fan backlash. However, during the WrestleMania XL Kickoff event on February 8, Rhodes announced that he had in fact chosen Reigns, much to the dismay of Reigns and Rock.

Two days after the event, reports emerged that CM Punk had gotten injured during the men's Royal Rumble match. Punk, with his arm in a sling, opened that night's episode of Raw and confirmed that he tore his right triceps and would have to miss WrestleMania XL. He was interrupted by Drew McIntyre, who Punk had eliminated in the match. McIntyre said he had hoped Punk would get injured so he could instead go to WrestleMania and challenge for a world championship. Punk then said that whenever he comes back, McIntyre would be his first target.

On the same episode of Raw, it was announced that Pat McAfee had returned to WWE full-time to be a commentator alongside Michael Cole for the brand, and on the heels of his return at the Royal Rumble, Andrade became a member of the Raw roster.

SmackDown
On WWE The Bump the day after the Royal Rumble, Bayley, who won the women's Royal Rumble as a SmackDown wrestler, seemingly confirmed that she would challenge Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship at WrestleMania XL due to her Damage CTRL stablemate Iyo Sky holding the WWE Women's Championship. Bayley subsequently appeared on the following episode of Raw to officially announce her decision, but after being interrupted by Ripley and then Ripley being attacked by Nia Jax, who warned Bayley that Ripley would not make it to WrestleMania, Bayley said she would make her announcement on SmackDown. On that episode, Bayley eavesdropped on Sky and The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) say something in Japanese with Sky saying they would end Bayley that night. Later in the ring, Bayley confronted Sky, Asuka, and Sane, revealing she understood what they were saying and wondered why they made fun of her. The three then attacked Bayley, who decided that she would challenge Sky for the WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania, turning face.

On the same episode of SmackDown, Naomi and Tiffany Stratton—both surprise entrants in the Women's Rumble—announced they had signed with SmackDown full time (Naomi coming in as a free agent after leaving TNA and Stratton from NXT). Two weeks later, Bron Breakker—a surprise Rumble entrant on the men's side—had signed with SmackDown, coming over from NXT.

Women's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations

 * – Raw
 * – SmackDown
 * – NXT
 * – TNA
 * – Unaffiliated
 * – Winner

Men's Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations

 * – Raw
 * – SmackDown
 * – NXT
 * – Unaffiliated
 * – Winner