***2026 Royal Rumble 2pm EST***
There’s a betting pool thread, but feels like event chatter can go here.
referring to him as the man 'formerly known as Powerhouse Hobbs' was an interesting choice.
The name Royce Keys gives off Apollo Crews vibes to me. He'll be feuding with Rusev soon and then jobbing after that
Can't believe the year I drew Lesnar is the year he sucks. Figures.
Can’t say I understand the Gunther booking in the rumble event.
This should’ve been a celebratory night for him. He should be coming out on Raw giving one of those amazing gloating promos for retiring AJ like when he beat Cena.
Instead, the night ended in heartbreak and disappointment.
Feels strange and wrong
Haven't read any of the posts to avoid spoilers as I watch, but live thoughts: (I don't expect ANYBODY to read all this)
Women's Rumble
- All 30 women covering up just kinda looks odd and is just another reason to hate having big events in Saudi. It's also making it kind of difficult to tell soem of these women apart in the wide full ring shots.
- Weird start to the match, but at least they didn't have Charlotte & Alexa look stupid by fighting each other. That's what any smart people who are aligned would do when drawing the first two spots. Only took them nearly 40 years to figure it out.
- Why do the spot with a tag team in the ring first if you're going to have everyone who comes out after beat the shit after them. Shouldn't the 3rd and/or 4th women (Candice maybe) be easily dispatched? Someone must really like Kiana James to let her kick both their asses when they're fresh.
- If they're doing it, Alexa has to be the one to turn on Charlotte, since the expectation is the other way, no?
- Just realizing its so nice to have so many top players in the HHH era that we don't automatically know who's going to win anymore more most years. There are so many directions to go in.
- HOLY SHIT Natalia dumping Becky so casually! Makes me suddenly wonder about Becky/AJ for Mania.
- Chelsea would be my favorite person to win it that I know is not going to win it.
- Kinda the same for Giulia, but I don't think she's drawing as dead as Chelsea.
- #22 perfect number for Rhea to win. Or at least make fans think she is. I'd be thrilled right now if I had this in a pool, but expect to be disappointed.
- I know the NXT invites, who you can mostly predict (the NXT champs should always have an auto-invite) have taken the place of surprise entrants for the most part. I'd still like to see a couple of surprises in each match.
- Why does the company love Nikki Bella so much? She's a botchfest, not any more attractive than most of the other girls and the leader of the worst period in women's wrestling over the last 20 years, mostly receiving her push because of John Cena.
- Kyrie Saine running all the way down to the ring with the telescope up to her eye, thank god she didn't trip. One of the Kabuki Warriors eliminating the other was the one thing I felt pretty confident about in this match.
- Oh well, a surprise, but I should be careful what I ask for. An even bigger botch fest. I'd rather nobody come out at #29. Assuming AJ is #30, no Paige?
- Apparently no AJ either. Maybe they didn't want her losing. Feel Tiff is the favorite now.
- Is 14 the most they've ever had in the ring after the final entrant?
- The first this is awesome chant of the night when nothing is in fact awesome.
- The Soul Snatcher is actually awesome and that move alone is gonna make her a star. The only downside is you can't "out of nowhere" it because she needs the ropes.
- Not a big Legend fan, but eliminating both Bellas at once helps.
- Also surprised by the unceremonious exit of Rhea. Thought it would come down to her and Tiff.
- A blonde will be main eventing Mania. Obviously Tiff at this point, but won't edit if it isn't.
- Okay, very surprised Liv won. Does that mean Racquel beats Steph before Mania or, oh no...three way.
Have to break this mountain of useless information into three posts.
AJ vs Gunther
- They've done a good job of keeping this under wraps. On the one hand, they've rushed all these dream matches to make it seem like AJ is leaving, but it could totally be a swerve to set up his actual retirement match at Mania (or even later).
- Uh, oh. Mentioning Gunther's in the rumble means they may have other Mania plans for him. Slightly more concerned about AJ's chances here.
- Oh well, I guess he's going to go on an actual world tour for the rest of the year. Maybe show up in AEW for a few. At least he didn't smile and quit.
- Why did they cheer for AJ putting his gloves back on? The stip is still the stip.
- Heels 2-0 so far. Does Sammy have a chance? More likely if they put the Men's Rumble first.
Sami vs Drew
- Feels like the most predictable match of the night. I'm not giving Sami zero chance here because he has been on the Cody quest the last couple of months, but I would be massively surprised if they ripped it away so quickly from Drew again. Might make him too sympathetic.
Guess they can have Sami win and lose it right back too.
- They've been talking about how many times Drew has beaten Sami to try to make you think he has a shot. Then also Sami never losing in this country, but didn't he used to avoid Saudi? What's he got, like two matches?
- Oh shit! Sami legit injured? Welp, guess not. Nice job.
- Eh, it was fine. They did as well as they could considering the predictability I guess.
- Drew is the best instigator/agitator in the business. What a great job rebuilding himself after Vince murdered his momentum with that stupid sword gimmick.
Men's Rumble
- I had to google FAFO
- Bron #1, Seth #2 would have been a great way to start.
- OK, interesting. We know they want to make Oba a monster here. Don't remember if he and Bron mixed it up in NXT.
- Oh, wow! Crazy start. The entire plan for the Vision to protect Bron gone. What if it's not Seth?
- Poor Matt Cardona. Oba gonna eat him.
- Is this going to be the beginning of the heel turn for Cody? If he wins again, fans will start to get sick of him. If he loses, does it motivate a heel turn anyway?
- Gable...I mean OGA is jacked. Bringing him back as a face?
- Oh wow! Not at the entry, but they showed his AEW name first! And then just said they're going to call him something different. Lol. Not sending him to NXT though?
- What if Theory attacked Bron? He's working for Seth.
- Ilja going to make a great psycho heel at some point.
- This has to be a Rumble record for masked men. How come there's no masked female luchadors?
- Brock still gets a monster reaction.
- Beginning to realize the lack of substance in this match with all the masked men. Roman victory seems extremely likely without hijinx at this point (#25). Except that all the "analysts" were predicting Roman.
- What if Uso jsut stands outside and waves his arms until the entire thing is over?
- Hmm, Fatu has a chance, but that sets up another triple threat for Mania (Cody/Fatu/McIntyre)
- Nice spot with Fatu and bouncy boy.
- Jimmy gets right back up to be Roman's bitch after Roman sucker punched him.
- Seriously, how many masked guys? 1/3 the field?
- LA Knight getting a nice run her...oh well.
- #30 has to be a surprise? No NXT dudes? Oba and bouncy already part of main roster.
- Duh, forgot they already announced Gunther. At least gives another winning option.
- I guess the era of geriatric entrants is truly over.
- ESPN did not spoil the return of Seth?
- Of the 8 left, anyone other than Roman/Fatu/Gunther would be a major surprise (and perhaps disappointment).
- Roman or Gunther v Punk w/ the above mentioned 3-way for Drew's title.
- Didn't even see what happened with Roman and Logan. Was that a botch or just bad camera work?
- At least I really don't know which of these last two will win.
- I mean, having all the pre-game farts predict Roman and then actually having him win....but they probably didn't know.
- Not the worst Rumble. Not the best. Would almost rather see Drew/Roman than Punk/Roman again, but seems to be where we're headed. Gunther retires Brock at Mania? Thought I'd rather see Oba/Brock at this point.
- Lackluster reaction to Roman win, but better than his first Rumble win at least.
referring to him as the man 'formerly known as Powerhouse Hobbs' was an interesting choice.
The name Royce Keys gives off Apollo Crews vibes to me. He'll be feuding with Rusev soon and then jobbing after that
Think he chose the name as a tribute to some family member. Didn't realize he was 35 already. Guess that's why he's not going to NXT.
Wwe needs to stop going to Saudi Arabia. The crowds don't meet wwe standards.
Sol Ruca was the only one who didn't look out of place as that was an outfit I could have seen her wearing backstage at a random event and thought nothing of it.
The women's rumble was especially off due to no crowd involvement. These women are stars and deserve to be treated as such so plz no more SA and these bodysuit abominations.
