WWE made loud Cody Rhodes statement to end safely played Royal Rumble
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Cody Rhodes fans can breathe easy.
He’s getting a chance to finish his story at WrestleMania after winning his second straight WWE Royal Rumble during what was a very safe show at Tropicana Field on Saturday night.
He is only the second man to win back-to-back along with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 1997-98 and ended the show by pointing at Roman Reigns in his skybox to set up their rematch for the Undisputed WWE Universal championship at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia.
It leaves how The Rock could fit in all of this a little murkier while adding confidence WWE will pay off Rhodes’ three-year story.
While Rhodes – who threw up some Bullet Club hand signs while celebrating – has been a made man since returning to WWE, Bayley earned her first women’s Royal Rumble win and is on track for her first-ever singles match at the company’s biggest show after nearly two years of helping other talent thrive.
Their wins as two of the favorites and the Rumble matches were the highlight of a good show that stumbled a bit during the other two clashes and didn’t deliver that same level of cool surprises on the men’s side.
Here are five takeaways from the 2024 Royal Rumble:
All Rhodes Lead to Philly
Rhodes said it during the post-show press conference: “I am the guy and I have been the guy.” It never seemed more certain after Saturday.
While the women’s match as a whole was better, the drama at the end of the men’s was gripping as WWE gave us a perfect final four of Rhodes, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre and Gunther – all of whom staked claim to winning coming in.
Rhodes dumped out Gunther just as he did a year ago – maybe setting up a WrestleMania 41 main event. Punk eliminated McIntrye, something that could spill over into the Elimination Chamber for the right to face World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins.
Punk and Rhodes — both former stars in AEW — gave us some compelling back-and-forth before “The Best in the World” said: “I didn’t wait ten years to lose to Dusty’s kid.” Rhodes immediately threw him out after. Punk did hit a Pedigree on Rhodes earlier to a big smile.
Having Jimmy and Jey Uso start the match in their first on-screen interaction since the former cost his brother the Undisputed WWE Universal championship at SummerSlam in what hopefully be the start of a WrestleMania storyline.
Andrade, who was eliminated by Bronson Reed to potentially start his first feud, returned at No. 4 after three-plus years in AEW and shared a brief moment with fellow luchador Santo Escobar. A bit of Judgement Day business played out as McIntyre eliminated Damian Priest, who tossed at R-Truth. Truth even tagged himself in at one point and went through John Cena’s comeback moves in the funniest part of the match,
Pat McAfee was back as a guest commentator and entered the men’s Royal Rumble for 38 seconds at No. 22. He ultimately eliminated himself instead of facing the imposing Bron Breakker from NXT – who was making his Royal Rumble debut – and Omos.
One could speculate, McAfee was a substitute for Brock Lesnar, whose potential presence on the show was rumored to be in doubt due to the allegation against him in the sexual abuse and trafficking lawsuit field against former WWE boss Vince McMahon.
In Total CTRL
Bayley, who entered at No. 3, earned her well-deserved Royal Rumble win and likely her first single match in a main event-level encounter at WrestleMania – doing with only a little help from Damage CTRL.
It’s what comes next that matters, now.
Does she initiate her babyface turn by immediately challenging Damage CTRL teammate Iyo Sky for the WWE women’s championship by pointing out how disrespectful the group has been to her as their leader the last few months or is it drawn out more that something eventually set her over the edge?
Bayley was in the final three with Jade Cargill after the former AEW star made her debut at No. 28 and Liv Morgan who had been out since July with a shoulder injury came in at No. 30. Becky Lynch, who was one of the favorites, was eliminated a few eliminations before the final three. She will need to win likely have to win the Elimination Chamber now to get a WrestleMania title shot.
Bayley did get a little help from Damage CTRL’s Asuka and Kairi Sane very early, but both were eliminated after Sane attempted an insane save that drew comparisons to Toby McGuire as Spiderman trying to stop a train. She had held herself up by her shoulder on the edge of the ring and her feet pinned against the side of the ring, but eventually hit the mat and Asuka followed after trying to help her.
Bayley’s win capped a fun and balanced women’s Rumble that contained surprises, some comedy, two deserving NXT stars in Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton and moments that elevated several performers.’
Naomi, who just finished up a 182-day run as the TNA Knockouts world championship, was the first surprise as the No. 2 entrant for her return to WWE after walking out on Raw with Sasha Banks over creative differences with regards to the women’s tag team championships.
Current Knockouts champ Jordynne Grace joined her in a nice add-on to their story from TNA. It was the second time in three years that the Impact/TNA women’s title holder has been in the women’s match. Grace was eventually eliminated with a KOD on the ring apron after a fun exchange with Belair. It’s something WWE can easily go back to should Grace ever sign with the company.
The match included some fun moments. Natalya tried to sucker friend Tegan Nox in with a hug before attempting to eliminate her, but Nox reversed it and tossed her out before ultimately being tossed herself by Bayley
Chelsea Green, who was eventually eliminated by Lynch, was tremendous in the comedy role, by constantly needing help from Nevin, her tag team partner, to stay in the match. Valhallas’s time lasted just five seconds – tying Green’s record for quickest elimination in a women’s Rumble after she was distracted by R-Truth mistakenly trying to enter the wrong match. Truth was tossed out in an elimination that didn’t officially count by Jax, who took his spot in the men’s Royal Rumble five years ago.
Long May He Reign
WWE accomplished what it needed to with Roman Reigns’ fatal four-way victory to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal championship. A.J. Styles took the pin, likely eliminating him from the world title picture. Randy Orton was kept out of the finish to protect him for a match against Reigns at a later date and set up a possible WrestleMania match between the Viper and Solo Sikoa.
Orton appeared to have the match won after hitting RKO’s on all of his opponents – including as a counter to Reign’s Superman punch, but Sikoa pulled the ref out of the ring before the three count.
Sikoa trying to fix things for The Tribal Chief delivered Samoan spikes to Orton and L.A. Knight and stacked them for Reigns.
Styles, however, moved out of the way as Sikoa tried to ram him into the barricade. It was Styles after a Phenomenal Forearm to Reigns from the top rope who nearly pinned all three men at the same time, but Orton kicked out from the bottom.
As it appeared the match was peaking, it quickly came to a weird halt. Knight was ready to hit his BFT finisher for a second time but Reigns — who had just speared Orton — pushed Knight into the ropes. Styles was set to leap for another Phenomenal Forearm but the impact left him perfectly face-planting on the rope.
Reigns seized the opportunity by delivering a Superman punch to Knight and a spear to Styles for the win — taking the air out of that stadium. WWE is just killing time with Reigns and the drama that once flowed through the Bloodline story feels gone. It could reasonably be Reigns’ last match until WrestleMania.
Brass Taxed
Understandably, WWE might want to extend Kevin Owens and Logan Paul’s United States championship feud, but what a weird way to get there.
Owens pried brass knuckles away from Paul after Austin Theory tossed them in the ring. Theory and Grayon Waller came out as the referee and security were trying to remove Paul’s real-life manager Jeff Levin from ringside. Levin had previously interfered to help Paul win the title from Rey Mysterio.
So wrestling veteran and former heel Kevin Owens hits Paul with the brass knuckles and magically leaves them right in the ref’s view to see just as he is about to hit three to award him the title. To me, it takes some of the heat off Paul and the sympathy from Owens, who beat up Paul in disgust after. The person he should be disgusted with is himself for not hiding the brass knuckles like every good wrestler knows to do. Owens did kick out of Paul’s regular knockout punch, so maybe they run it back on SmackDown or at Elimination Chamber.
Breakout performances
It was an excellent first night Jade Cargill. Nia Jax, who had eight eliminations total, had just tossed out a few more, prompting the former AEW star’s WWE debut.
She picked up Jax and slammed her and then lifted her up without help to eliminate her. Cargill also got her first face-off with Bianca Belair as the two both held women over their heads as the crowd buzzed as well as some interaction with Becky Lynch.
Bron Breakker had a standout night on the men’s side, doing exactly what you’d expect him to do – spearing and eliminating everyone in sight – including laying out Gunther. If you hadn’t seen the son of Rick Steiner before, you know who he is now.
Biggest Winner: Cody Rhodes
Biggest Loser: Kevin Owens
Best Match: Women’s Royal Rumble
Predictions: 2-2
Grade: B
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