WWE Royal Rumble 2026

The WWE events in Saudi Arabia are always a little weird. Never-mind the controversies that surround the Saudi regime, these events have, all too often, felt like glorified house shows, or have featured oddly slanted booking, with the wrestlers loved by the Saudi government often winning, even if it doesn't really make sense in the long-term. The very fact that Saudi Arabia received a major premium live event like the 'Royal Rumble', before countries like the United Kingdom or France, has upset a lot of fans around the world - but money talks. I digress, the match card for this event was at least every compelling, including the two titular Rumble matches.

The show began with the women's Rumble match, which didn't surprise me at all. Choosing to open with two talented and experienced women would have been a good decision, except... they didn't do anything for the first ninety seconds. Once other entrants arrived, the action quickly picked up, thankfully. There were some smooth moves, unexpected team-ups, surprise eliminations, and even two nice returns! I found the final eight really exciting, particularly once it got down to the last three women. In fact, I'd go so far as to call it the best final three in women's Rumble history. The final two made a lot of sense, and the ultimate winner was exactly who I hoped it would be.

In the second match of the night, GUNTHER looked to defeat AJ Styles, with the Phenomenal One's in-ring career on the line. With Styles freely admitting that his career would end in 2026, it felt like a very real possibility that this would be the end for one of the greatest of all-time. With two excellent in-ring performers such as these, it should be no surprise that this was a well-worked, smooth, and intense one-on-one match. They also told a really solid story, which emphasised the threat to AJ's career very effectively. I haven't felt this tense watching a match in a long time, including the Cena retirement match. Both that and the Goldberg retirement matches felt like foregone conclusions, but this one had a lot if doubt surrounding it. The match was excellent, I can have no complaints about it. The emotions before, during, and after the match, were immense. Styles has been one of my favourite wrestlers since I discovered TNA, and it felt surreal watching this match unfold.

The penultimate spot on the card saw Sami Zayn challenge Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The in-ring story was established early, and was worked extremely well. McIntyre looked like a beast - his intensity is, at times, unmatched - he has proven himself a worthy world champion. Zayn is the perennial underdog, and knows how to make a crowd believe he can pull off any miracle at any time. These two have good chemistry as performers, and were able to think of some creative ways to further the story of the match. The two best moments for me came very close to one another - the first was a very clever counter and subsequent near-fall, the other was the actual match ending. This was a very solid title match.

At last, it was time for the men's Rumble match, and I knew it would be good the moment Oba Femi came out in the number one spot, and Bron Breakker came out in the number two spot. I actually really liked the shock opening to the match - it was very exciting and surprising. From there, it was a very mixed bag, however. There were some really great moments, but I found this Rumble strange. The crowd weren't clued into the countdown, despite a Rumble earlier in the evening, some of the spots felt a little odd in the way they were executed, and the entrance of Jey Uso, and how long his annoying shtick lasted, completely killed the momentum of the match. It was a horrible spot that confused and distracted from the rest of the match hugely. From about entrant 22 until ablut the final four, the Rumble was a bit of a mess. Three of the final four were decently placed, but the person who finished fourth stuck out like a sore thumb, it was very annoying. Out of the final two, I think I would have preferred the runner-up to win, but the chosen winner wasn't the end of the world by any means.

Overall, I thought this was a strong event, let down by a very messy men's 'Royal Rumble' match. I liked the respective Rumble winners, especially on the women's side of things, and the two one-on-one matches delivered some great in-ring action. It'll be interesting to see how everything shapes up now that we're well on our way to 'WrestleMania'. I hope that WWE can wrangle some of the creative issues that have plagued them in the last year plus, especially when it comes to their biggest event of the year.