The 2026 WWE Royal Rumble event is in the books, and it was certainly a mixed bag. Liv Morgan outlasted 29 other women to earn a title shot at WrestleMania 42.
Roman Reigns joined the multiple winners club and got yet another main event spot at The Show of Shows. Gunther cheated again to beat AJ Styles, but Styles shouldn’t go out that way.
Thanks for the submission!
Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn again, making it seem like officials will never give Zayn a World title run. Triple H buried the next six WWE stars at the 2026 Royal Rumble.
#6. The Lucha Brothers are an afterthought
Rey Fenix and Penta were exciting additions to WWE in the early stages of 2025. After how both men have been booked lately, however, they may be rethinking their move to the company.
Penta has lost several times when going for the Intercontinental Championship. Rey Fenix has lost more matches lately than he’s won.
Fenix lost to Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown and was eliminated in under a minute. After claiming the Irion Man Spot last year, Penta had a forgettable showing in the Rumble.
#5. LA Knight fans are disappointed again
LA Knight is one of the most popular WWE stars, but he is always buried when it comes to big-time title opportunities. He returned to action during the Royal Rumble after missing the last month due to a Tsunami on top of a car.
The live fans cheered loudly for him when he entered in the 21st spot. Since he was out due to an attack and didn’t just take off for two months, he deserved a longer run or even a potential Rumble victory.
Neither happened. Knight got revenge by eliminating Bronson Reed and Austin Theory, but was eliminated after a 10-minute spurt.
Why do officials dislike The Megastar so much? The entire “he’s over enough on his own” argument isn’t viable because so is Jey Uso, and he won the Rumble and World Heavyweight title last year.
#4. Alexa Bliss & #3. Asuka didn’t last long
Alexa Bliss and Asuka are both multi-time former Women’s Champions. Each star held the WWE Tag Team titles at one point in 2025. Each woman’s short run in the 2026 Rumble makes it seem like WWE doesn’t consider them top performers.
Flair could have been the one eliminated quickly, but officials once again sacrificed Bliss to prop The Queen up. Little Miss Bliss entered second but was accidentally “eliminated” by her partner in less than 10 minutes.
Asuka won the 2018 Royal Rumble, but lasted around five minutes. Names like Sol Ruca, Lash Legend, and Kiana James lasted longer than both women. Bookers used the same trope with both the Kabuki Warriors and Flair and Bliss.
#2. Most of the full-time WWE roster
Triple H somehow buried full-time roster members who did and did not compete in the 2026 Men’s Royal Rumble. Roman Reigns was chosen for another Royal Rumble win and WrestleMania main event.
So much for creating other main-event stars, and ones that show up each week. The Tribal Chief has closed The Showcase of the Immortals 10 times, including last year’s non-title triple threat.
Bookers opted to use Mr. Iguana, who some fans are familiar with, and La Parka, from Lucha Libre AAA. The crowd had almost no reaction to La Parka, showing that the spot was wasted.
Any full-time star who wasn’t used, like Carmelo Hayes, Aleister Black, or even Finn Balor, could have attacked him backstage for the spot.
#1. Bron Breakker is treated like The Miz
Bron Breakker has been presented as one of the more unstoppable forces in WWE over the last year. He’s clearly a future World Champion, but it seems like Triple H and officials don’t want that future to happen soon.
The two-time NXT Champion was one of the favorites to win this year, but was quickly buried to push a narrative forward. A masked person attacked Breakker with a Superkick and a Curb Stomp as he was about to enter the ring.
The attacker then put him in the ring so Oba Femi could eliminate him. Breakker lasted about 20 seconds. The fact that it was done at that moment is the biggest issue.
Many fans hoped Breakker would have a good run and factor into the match longer. The spot could have been done 10 minutes later with the same outcome. It was a bad decision to do it so early instead of at a quiet point in the match.
Edited by Matthew Serocki