The 2024 Royal Rumble is in the books, with Bayley securing her first Royal Rumble victory and Cody Rhodes notching his second.
Over 40,000 fans packed Tropicana Field for the 37th annual Rumble event, with Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, noting that the event generated the largest gate revenue in the history of WWE, outside any WrestleMania event.
The night was sandwiched with the pair of Rumble matches, with the women’s bout starting the evening. Let’s recap the four matches on the card.
Bayley wins Women’s Royal Rumble match
The Women’s Royal Rumble featured fantastic spots, memorable returns and debuts, and was capped with a great finish to give a stalwart of the women’s division her first Rumble victory.
Bayley entered at No. 3 and went on to win, setting a women’s record for time spent in the ring at 1:03:03 along the way. It’s another feather in the cap for Bayley, who will now have done, seemingly, everything in her career.
Up next will, likely, be a championship match against Iyo Sky, with a split with her Damage CTRL stablemates along the way, making Bayley the sympathetic babyface on the road to WrestleMania, a role where she has thrived in the past.
In the middle of Bayley’s victory came one of the more anticipated debuts in recent memory, and one of the most memorable moments of the evening.
Jade Cargill made her WWE in-ring debut inside the Rumble after entering at number 28. Cargill signed a mega-money deal with WWE in 2023, coming over from AEW where she was a former TBS Champion. Cargill was treated as not just another superstar, but instead a future world champion.
She stood side-by-side with several of the other long-tenured stalwarts such as Bayley, Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair and looked like she belonged with the best. Her memorable moment came when she lifted Nia Jax and tossed her over the ropes for a surprise elimination, with commentary noting how difficult the feat was. The future is bright for Cargill.
Other bright spots of the match included the return of Naomi after a stint in TNA/Impact Wrestling, where she was their world champion. That wasn’t the only TNA/Impact content from the Rumble, though, as current TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace also made an appearance and looked terrific in the process. It was a great moment for TNA as the crowd immediately recognized the significance when Naomi and Grace, opponents in TNA, faced off in the ring.
This women’s Rumble match was also noteworthy for not using any WWE legends, something it had relied upon in its first several years of existence. Instead, this year, the light shone solely on current talent.
Match Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cody Rhodes wins Men’s Royal Rumble match
In a pre-match conversation with the Rumble’s No. 1 entrant, Jey Uso, he mentioned Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Gunther and Drew McIntyre as his favourites to win the match, with a specific nod to Rhodes as his, “number one” choice. Uso’s prognostications turned out to be bang on, as those aforementioned four wrestlers represented the final four, with Rhodes eventually securing the victory.
Rhodes will now head on to WrestleMania for a rematch of last year’s main event with Roman Reigns, where he will look to avenge his loss or, “finish the story” as he has so often referred to it. Rhodes is the fourth back-to-back winner in Rumble history and the first back-to-back winner since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 1997-1998.
Outside of the final four, the match felt somewhat disjointed throughout. Jey and his brother, Jimmy, started the match as the first and second entrants. When it felt like this would spark a build to a match at WrestleMania between the brothers, they were, instead, quickly separated and wouldn’t often interact as the match wore on, with Jimmy eventually eliminated by Bron Breakker, and Jey eliminated by Gunther.
The only major surprise of the men’s Rumble came out at the number four position with the return of Andrade. A former NXT Champion most recently wrestling in AEW, Andrade’s reunion with WWE wasn’t exactly anything to remember, as he was eliminated eighth overall, without eliminating anyone himself.
The entire night seemed to be a setup for the final four, which was great. However, everything beforehand will likely be left out of the history books.
Match Rating: 3/5 Stars
Roman Reigns (C) def. AJ Styles, LA Knight and Randy Orton to retain Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
There was little doubt heading into this title bout that Roman Reigns would be relinquishing his title. His reign was sitting at over 1,200 days, and with it being just over two months, that thought process held true as the final bell sounded.
Reigns retained his title following a fatal-four-way victory in which he pinned AJ Styles. It was a fun match, with some good spots that involved everyone getting their finisher in multiple times. In the end, though, there was only one way this match was going to end, and that was with Reigns’ hand raised.
Match Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Logan Paul (C) def. Kevin Owens via disqualification to retain U.S. Championship
This match had no business being as good as it was. It felt as though it was lost in the shuffle on a card featuring two Rumble matches and a world title match. Instead, it left a memorable impression. Logan Paul, meanwhile, has no business being as good as he is when it comes to pro wrestling.
The YouTube influencer, energy drink pusher, actor, etc has taken to pro wrestling in a way so few have before him. He can safely be put in the same class as wrestlers like Kurt Angle when it comes to professional wrestling aptitude.
On the other side of the ring, Kevin Owens demonstrated, once again, how great he is. Owens is able to have a great match, with anyone, at any time, with Saturday night inside Tropicana Field no exception.
Owens was eventually disqualified when he was found to have used brass knuckles, but it felt like the most understandable use of brass knuckles by a “babyface” since someone like Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin Theory threw the knuckles in the ring for Paul, before Owens stole them and clocked Paul in the face. Wouldn’t you have done the same thing in Owens’ situation? Unfortunately for the native of Marieville, Que., the referee discovered the use of the knucks, and Owens was disqualified.
Match Rating: 3.25/5