This year’s Royal Rumble had the potential to be one of the best Rumble events in WWE history. Cody Rhodes is finally coming back to WWE after a long absence. The Rock is scheduled to be a surprise entrant and win the whole thing. There were a lot of expectations from Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens too. And what surprises the women’s Royal Rumble match organized? Let us go through everything in details. But before we start, we need to inform that Pat McAfee made his return at the start of the event and joined the announce table.
Match 1 – Men’s Royal Rumble Match – Cody Rhodes won the Men’s Royal Rumble match of 2023.
WWE Royal Rumble 2023 Results & Ratings
It was a little strange that they kicked off the show with the men’s Royal Rumble match when there were a lot of things rumored about it. The Miz was the first wrestler to get eliminated who entered no. 3. Drew McIntyre eliminated Karrion Kross next, which was a big shocker. Kross’ early elimination cleared the fact that Vince McMahon is back in creative control.
Brock Lesnar made an early entrance as the entry no. 12 which was a little shocking. But as soon as Lesnar entered the ring, there was carnage. He eliminated three wrestlers in quick succession. But the very next entrance was Bobby Lashley who got into fight with Lesnar directly after entering the ring, and he shocked the entire world after he eliminated Lesnar quickly.
Lesnar was really mad after his elimination. He started attacking everyone in sight. One of the victims was Baron Corbin who was making his entrance. He even attacked the officials who attempted to stop him. Seth Rollins entered the ring and quickly made sure the entrance of Corbin who was still struggling to find his feet after being attacked by Brock Lesnar.
Rey Mysterio was scheduled to be entering no. 17 but he never showed up. Dominik Mysterio entered next with his father’s mask, which made it clear that Rey had been attacked by Judgment Day which prevented him from entering the Royal Rumble match. Meanwhile, Bobby Lashley was a shock elimination by the hands of Seth Rollins. Johnny Gargano was eliminated by the team of Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio.
Booker T turned out to be the first surprise entrant but he got eliminated quickly by Gunther. Damian Priest entered no. 22 and the Judgment Day teamed up to dominate the Rumble. Edge made his return as the entry no. 24 to seek his revenge on Judgment Day. He quickly eliminated Damian Priest and Finn Balor. When he was trying to eliminate Dominik, Finn Balor dragged him from outside, causing his elimination. Edge continued his fight with the Judgment Day outside of the ring. Rhea Ripley came out to attack Rhea Ripley and she got taken out by the returning Beth Phoenix.
Omos entered as the entry no. 26 and he started dominating everyone. The next entrance was Braun Strowman, and this was the fight we were waiting for. It did not take long for Braun to eliminate Omos. Gunther eliminated both Sheamus and Drew McIntyre together which was a big push for the Austrian professional wrestler. Cody Rhodes was the entry no. 30 so there was no Rock, neither Sami Zayn, which was pretty shocking.
Ricochet and Logan Paul had an amazing moment which could not be described in words. This is going to be one of classic moments in WWE history. Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes teamed up on Gunther and then they went head to head, the battle that everyone was waiting for. As they were fighting, Logan Paul made a surprise elimination of Seth Rollins. As Logan Paul attempted to attack Cody but Cody eliminated him.
The final fight was between Gunther and Cody Rhodes. The fight between entry no. 1 and entry no. 30. Gunther broke the record of Rey Mysterio as the longest survivor of Royal Rumble match. It was a huge push for the Austrian professional wrestler. The final fight went on for really long. But as expected, Cody Rhodes won.
It was not a bad Rumble match, but had been extremely predictable. This might have been the most predictable Rumble match. There were chances to make it unpredictable. Sami Zayn not entering the Rumble was really shocking. If he went on to be final wrestler with Cody in the Rumble, it could be unpredictable.
Match 2 – Pitch Black Match – Bray Wyatt defeated LA Knight
The Pitch Black match was nothing but just a No DQ match with a dark lighting setting. There was nothing special about this match. It was booked for only five minutes and it was totally dominated by Wyatt. After Wyatt pinned knight with a Sister Abigail, he attacked Knight again, This time he wore a mask. They went to the entrance stage where Uncle Howdy was seen. Howdy hit an Elbow Drop on Knight through the stage, breaking it.
Match 3 – WWE RAW Women’s Championship – Bianca Belair defeated Alexa Bliss to retain
Another predictable match. But honestly, we expected a better match. It was a pretty easy win for Bianca Belair. The match was booked for only seven minutes. Nobody in particular dominated the match but Bianca was always in control. She pinned Alexa with the KOD. After the match, Uncle Howdy appeared on the big screen and gave her a message which Alexa did not like.
Match 4 – Women’s Royal Rumble Match – Rhea Ripley won the Women’s Royal Rumble match
Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan started the match. Rhea continued her storyline with Beth Phoenix here as she looked hurt after receiving the Spear from Beth. B-Fab was the first wrestler to get eliminated from this match and she survived less than one minute. Roxanne Perez made a surprise entrance next and she had been pretty good in this match.
The Damage CTRL got an early advantage as they could team up and they started dominating the Rumble match. They caused three back to back eliminations in quick succession. Natalya made her return as the entry no. 11 and she sought for revenge on Shayna Baszler instantly. The domination of Damage CTRL continued as they eliminated Natalya and Shayna Baszler next.
Zoey Stark was the next NXT entrant of the match after Roxanne Perez. They kept on dominating the match until Becky Lynch entered as entry no. 15. Becky fought all three women alone but the three on one battle was pretty hard for Becky as Damage CTRL took her out. Although she was not eliminated. Asuka made her return as the entry no. 18 and she received as excellent ovation.
Asuka made an instant impact by eliminating Tegan Nox. The next entry was Piper Niven. Yes, you read it right, she is Piper Niven and not Doudrop anymore. Meanwhile, Becky was back in the match. Chelsea Green made her return to WWE as the entry no. 20. Her return was rumoured for pretty long time. And she set a new record of one of the earliest eliminations. Not a pretty impressive return.
Next we get some back to back eliminations. Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky got eliminated by Becky Lynch, Becky got eliminated by Bayley and Bayley got eliminated by Liv Morgan. They continued their fight outside. Michelle McCool was another surprise entrant who joined the match from the crowd. She quickly eliminated Tamina after entering the match. Indi Hartwell was the next NXT entrant in the match.
Shotzi made her return to WWE as the entry no. 28. Sonya Deville received a pretty strong booking as she registered two back to back eliminations by her name. Nia Jax was the entry no. 30. They botched the position as they played Nia’s entrance theme before the 10 count started. Nia started dominating the match but she could not survive for long as everybody teamed up to eliminate her.
After the elimination of Nia Jax, wrestlers started getting eliminated back to back. Piper Niven and Raquel Rodriguez received great pushes in this match. They were on the top six wrestlers of the match. Asuka, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley were the final three wrestlers. At the end, all three were standing on the apron. Asuka hit the Blue Myst on the face Liv Morgan. Rhea quickly eliminated Asuka and as Liv was blindsided, it was not very difficult for Rhea to eliminate to win the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Match 5 – WWE Undisputed Universal Championship – Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens to retain
The Universal Championship match was booked as the main event of the night. A title match being the main event of Royal Rumble is a really big deal. This match had a lot of chapters in it. Most of the fans were more interested to see the next part of the Sami Zayn and Bloodline storyline rather than the actual match, since everybody knows as Roman will not drop the title.
The Usos and Solo Sikoa did not accompany Roman Reigns to the ring. There were only Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman. The match was booked for 19 minutes. It was evenly balanced, nobody in particular dominated the match. Ultimately Roman Reigns won the match with a Spear and it was a clean win.
After the match, The Usos and Solo Sikoa joined the celebration and they started beating down Kevin Owens. It was a massive beat down. At the end, they handcuffed both of his hands and started super kicking him. Finally when Roman Reigns was about to hit Owens with the Steel chair, Sami stopped him and said it was enough.
Roman Reigns handed the chair over to Sami Zayn and ordered him to hit Kevin Owens. After a long pause, Sami Zayn made his decision and he hit Roman Reigns with the chair. Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa started beating him down. A little ater, Roman also started beating Sami. But Jey could not attack him. When everyone was beating down Sami, Jey decided to leave the arena. The Bloodline left, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens’ lifeless remained inside the ring as Royal Rumble 2023 went off air.
Overall it was not a bad event, just too much predictable. This years men’s Royal Rumble match might have been the most predictable Rumble match in WWE history. The women’s Rumble match was pretty predictable as well. The rest of the matches were also predictable.
The men’s Royal Rumble match could have been better with the wrestlers they had booked. It was a little lazy booking at some point. The final segment after the main event was just amazing. It was one of the best segments in the recent WWE history. Sami Zayn is finally out of Bloodline. The angle of Jey Uso was excellent as well. We give this year’s Royal Rumble 2.5 out of 5.
Sportzwiki Ratings – 2.5/5