With the conclusion of the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble the "Road to WrestleMania" has officially begun! The winners of each of the Men and Women's Rumbles have earned a championship match at WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia!
While this year's rumble was somewhat lacking in surprise returns from WWE legends, we did see some incredibly impressive debuts from both Jade Cargill and Bron Breakker, each of whom I expect to appear on the WrestleMania XL card in Philadelphia. Since Jade signed with the WWE from rival company AEW way back in September of 2023, fans have been eagerly awaiting her debut and to say she was worth the wait would be an understatement. Cargill had quite an impressive performance eliminating the likes of Naomi, Becky Lynch, and Nia Jax from the Rumble, and in my opinion, was the best part of the women's Rumble match. WWE fans should be looking forward to any and all Jade Cargill appearances this year leading up to WrestleMania.
I can't forget to mention the surprise appearance of TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace making an incredibly impressive appearance in the Women's Rumble, and according to Grace, this won't be the last we see of her or TNA in a WWE ring. Let's hope she keeps that promise.
Match Results:
Women's Royal Rumble:
Winner: Bayley
Entering the Royal Rumble as the only member of Damage CTRL with no title, Bayley's intentions are clear. Win the Rumble and defeat Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship. Looking at the Women's roster no one deserved to win more than Bayley. Bayley was the first women's grand slam champion in WWE history, but never won the Royal Rumble until today and set a new Ironwoman record while doing it! Since returning from a torn ACL in 2022 Bayley has elevated every superstar she has worked with to new levels of popularity and superstardom; it only feels right that she finally earns her flowers and a chance at the Women's World Championship after eating pin after pin for the damage CTRL since her return.
Fatal Four-Way (No Disqualifications)
Roman Reigns (Champion) Vs. Randy Orton Vs. AJ Styles Vs. L.A. Knight
Winner: Roman Reigns
The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns, is still your Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Did we really think the title was going to change hands last night? No. Did we think Roman was going to win with no interference from the bloodline? No. Was the match at least entertaining? Kind of! In all seriousness, this match represents a lot of the issues with Roman's championship reign. Feuds that don't mean much to fans and interference from the bloodline which makes Roman look weaker than he should. At some point before WrestleMania Roman needs a big clean win over a worthy opponent, or else his rematch at WrestleMania XL against Cody Rhodes will seem too predictable. Roman is in the position he is in for a reason, he's an amazing talent, a box office drawer, and one of the best workers in the WWE today, unleash him! Randy Orton managed to land his signature RKO on every opponent in this match including a mid-air RKO on the champion Roman Reigns. Both A.J. Styles and Randy Orton didn't miss a beat all match long despite their long absences from the WWE. Despite their age, Orton and Styles seem to be in the best physical shape of their career.
Logan Paul (United States Champion) Vs. Kevin Owens
Winner: Logan Paul (Via disqualification)
In Logan Paul's first United States Championship defense since defeating Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio for the US belt, Paul managed to show that he is more than just a highflyer. Paul and Owens managed to blend a great amount of comedy into this match, with Paul fighting with the commentating team, taunting them for saying nobody can successfully suplex Kevin Owens, Paul then immediately fails to suplex Owens which results in a hilarious and still awesome bump. Austin Theory slips Paul a pair of brass knuckles which he intends to knock out Owens with while Grayson Waller distracts the referee but Owens counters Paul again and takes the brass knuckles for himself and delivers a swift blow to Paul allowing Owens to get the pin! Until the referee spots the brass knuckles on Owens' hands resulting in a disqualification for Owens and Logan Paul's first successful title defense. In the end, this was an entertaining match and did a lot to continue to sell Paul to WWE fans. As far as celebrity guest wrestlers go, "The Maverick" Logan Paul is cementing himself as one of the best ever.
Men's Royal Rumble:
Winner: Cody Rhodes
The highly anticipated main event of the night was full of amazing talent from NXT and WWE's main roster, but it was clear coming into this match who it would come down to. "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes vs C.M. Punk. Two of professional wrestling's biggest stars, two fan favorites who left the WWE for rival company AEW before each returning to WWE. This is what everyone was waiting for, and it was delivered. Rhodes counters Punk's GTS (Go to Sleep) finisher to send him over the top rope and becomes the first consecutive winner of the Royal Rumble since Stone Cold Steve Austin did so in 1997 and 1998. After losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, fans have eagerly awaited the moment when Rhodes would earn his rematch against the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Reigns and complete his self-proclaimed mission of "finishing the story". As of the Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns has been champion for 1,246 days and it seems like his title will be safe until at least WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia which is 69 days away. Reigns is now the fourth longest reigning WWE champion in history and is rapidly approaching Hulk Hogans's 2nd longest reign of 1,474 days as champion. If Reigns wants to surpass Hogan as the 2nd longest reigning champion in WWE history, then he will need to defeat Cody Rhodes in their rematch at WrestleMania, making this rematch the most important match of Rhodes' and Reigns' illustrious careers.
Now that the stage is set for Rhodes vs Reigns 2 at WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia wrestling fans are clamoring to find out what other feuds will fill the massive two-night card for what Paul "Tripple H" Levesque has declared to be "The biggest WrestleMania of all time".
This post is written by 94WIP intern Justin Dorazio. You can follow Justin on X @Justin32800.
