There was a little to like and a little to dislike about the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Most of the dislike had nothing to do with the actual show itself.
From a show perspective, they got a lot of things right. Both Royal Rumble matches lacked the significant surprises that were essentially promised by Triple this week, but the outcomes of each were exactly what WWE needed.
Liv Morgan and Roman Reigns aren’t sexy choices for victor, but both lead to major matches at WrestleMania. Reigns vs. Punk is the likely direction and that’s a marquee, night two main event. Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer or Jade Cargill isn’t going to be a main event, but will be an exciting match anywhere it is on the card.
As for what to dislike? What was with the crowd? Not only did the crowd reactions seem tempered, but the lights on the seats made it look like that 25,000 seat pop-up arena was 70% empty. The show didn’t have any sustained energy and that not only hurt the Royal Rumble vibe, but it makes you wonder about what WrestleMania will be like next year.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the event and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it and grade accordingly. Period.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Pretty much a standard Royal Rumble match. This had all the traditional rumble-style spots — multiple women working to eliminate Nia Jax, an iron woman with a lot of eliminations in Jordynne Grace, and a new rookie making a tremendous first impression with high flying in Sol Ruca. Ruca hit cool Sol Snatcher maneuvers at multiple points, which likely endeared her to WWE audiences now. The stand out performer was Lash Legend. She didn’t win, but got featured as the match’s bad ass. Liv Morgan winning makes perfect sense. The victory will create drama in The Judgment Day, she can have a strong match with Stephanie Vaquer, and if they run some kind of multi-person match she can fit a variety of different scenarios.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 3/4
AJ Styles vs. Gunther - If AJ Styles loses, his career is over
Styles lost and his in-ring WWE career is over. What a way to go out, though. The match was — pun intended — phenomenal. Gunther pummeling the chest of Styles with what felt like 100 vicious chops made you feel for Styles. It’s rare that you see an AJ Styles that’s beat down to the studs in a match, but that’s how he was selling those. Styles got enough in terms of comeback and hope spots, but The Ring General was too much. That is, has been, and will continue to be the story. Styles gave it a strong chapter. Styles faking leaving the gloves in the ring was a nice touch and at least keeps open the possibility for a match outside of WWE. Triple H may not want to admit it, but I don’t think he does that if it’s not at least somewhat on the table for him.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOOO
Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn - Undisputed WWE Championship
A good match, but one I thought would get a better crowd reaction. It’s as if the crowd was just too stubborn to fall for any of the drama or near falls that surrounded a potential Zayn title win. Look, McIntyre needed to retain the title and he did. Based on the audience, it seems like fans are done investing in a Zayn world title win. It’s not that they don’t want it, but they don’t want to chase it for it not to happen … again. The action was strong in this one and Zayn was great as the fighting underdog like he always is.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Disappointing. First, the lack of any real surprises made the match feel flat by the time all the entrants were in the match. That hurt energy. What also hurt energy was a key participant in the match — Bron Breakker — getting eliminated seconds into the action. There were numerous potential fun spots for Breakker and none of them came to fruition because he was out so darn soon. The match production left plenty to be desired. Brock Lesnar was eliminated from the match and pretty much nobody saw it because they were showing the Jey Uso “yeet” entrance instead. That’s a bad miss alone, but why was the Lesnar elimination treated as a ho hum moment? That should have meant something. Now, Oba Femi had a good run in there and had his time with Lesnar. As long as they go to that match at WrestleMania this year, I don’t have a problem with Lesnar eliminating Femi to get there. Reigns winning the match isn’t exciting, but it’s the right call. He’s a top star and now he’s certain to be in a premiere-level title match at the biggest show of the year. It’s easier to build a strong WrestleMania card when you stick that landing.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 1/4
What did you think of the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble? Let us know in the comments!
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media Newsletter HERE.
Follow Zack Heydorn on Bluesky @zackheydorn.bsky.social.
Really solid breakdown on the crowd energy issue. The optics of that 70% empty arena vibe is gonna be a real problem if WrestleMania looks anything like that next year. I remember going to a live event where the production tried to mask attendance with lighting, and it kills the energy faster than any bad booking decision ever could. Logistically its alot easier to fix booking than venue atmosphere tbh.