All You Need to Know About the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble 

On January 27th, WWE kicks off its Road to WrestleMania with its annual Royal Rumble event. The show emanates from Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, in St. Petersburg, Florida. The marquee matchup on the card is the 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royal known as the Royal Rumble, with the winner of the match going on to receive a world championship match on the Grandest Stage of Them All. 

Just as there has been in each of the last few years, there will be both a men’s and women’s rumble matchup. And there are a number of frontrunners in each of them expected to be there or thereabouts when it comes to winning it all and punching their ticket to the Showcase of the Immortals. But who exactly are they?

The Most Open Men’s Rumble In Years?

For the majority of 2023, the consensus was that Cody Rhodes would become the first man since Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1997 and 1998 to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches. The American Nightmare was the odds-on favorite to win last year’s matchup despite the surge in popularity of the former Honorary Uce Sami Zayn. But the Canadian star didn’t even enter the match, clearing the path for Rhodes to lastly eliminate Gunther and punch his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania. 

He then faced off against reigning and defending Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and with the Tribal Chief reigning over the industry for the better part of three years at the time, many expected the challenger to emerge victorious. In a shocking twist though, the champion retained the gold, and he heads into this year’s Mania as champion once more, a championship he has held for over 1,200 days, the fourth-longest reign in company history. 

Rhodes has endured a turbulent year since the defeat. He conquered Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam after a bitter three-month feud, before briefly going on to hold the Tag Team championships with former rival Jey USo. However, in recent months, a pair of returns may well have scuppered not just his plans to win the Rumble, but also his plans to finally finish his story and dethrone Roman Reigns.

Could Two Returning Stars Delay Cody Even More?

CM Punk’s shocking return to WWE after a decade away poses the biggest threat to Cody’s Royal Rumble ambitions. The Second City Saint slandered Vince McMahon’s company for years following his January 2014 departure, making his return to his hometown of Chicago all the more gobsmacking. He is in the midst of a very real war of words with current World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, and many expect Punk to get the victory before opting to face off against the Visionary at Lincoln Financial Field on April 7th, night one of WrestleMania. 

However, an even bigger problem for Cody was the return of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, which may scupper Cody’s plans to finish his story altogether. The Great One made his triumphant return home on the New Year’s Day edition of Monday Night Raw and immediately set his sights on the Head of the Table, real-life cousin and reigning champion Roman Reigns. Many have speculated that they could actually face off at the Elimination Chamber event in Perth Australia in February however, that seems far-fetched. 

The only stage grand enough for a clash of generations is WrestleMania. So, could The Rock feature in the Royal Rumble and win it? Will it be Cody who gets the nod? Or will it be CM Punk?

Bayley Seeks Damage Control

The favorite to win the women’s Royal Rumble match is former champion Bayley. At SummerSlam 2022, she formed the Damage CTRL stable alongside Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai. At the same event a year later, the stable had its first champion, however, it wasn’t the group’s founder and leader, it was Japanese sensation Sky. And in recent weeks, she has taken over the stable by bringing in compatriots Asuka and Kairi Sane. 

Bayley has seemed uncomfortable with the recent additions, without uttering the words as such. Instead, it seems like her actions will speak louder, and the bookies’ odds indicate that she will win the women’s Rumble match before facing off with her stablemate on the grandest stage of them all.

Roman Reigns Defends Against Three Other Men

If Roman Reigns thought that his Road to WrestleMania would be a simple one, then he has been cruelly mistaken. He will face off against Randy Orton, LA Knight, and AJ Styles in a Fatal 4-Way match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. He is still expected to get the victory, however, some have suggested that Orton could in fact pull off the shocker, ending one of the greatest reigns of all time before facing Cody Rhodes at ‘Mania. 

That would clear the path for the Tribal Chief to battle The Rock without the gold on the line, but it would be one of the biggest shocks of all time should Reigns not walk out as champion.