{"id":152346,"date":"2026-01-31T18:21:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=152346"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:37:16","slug":"wwe-royal-rumble-2026-review-with-match-rating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/01\/31\/wwe-royal-rumble-2026-review-with-match-rating\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE Royal Rumble 2026 – Review with Match Rating"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trucks rolled into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as WWE put together one heck of an impressive stage, followed by the 39th<\/sup> edition of their premier PLE, the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble<\/a>. The Rumble signifies the start of WrestleMania season and has become one of the most popular in WWE history.<\/p>\n

This year marks the first time that WWE has taken its show overseas. It’s a massive deal considering this is the first time Saudi Arabia has held an event of such magnitude. This was a historic evening for World Wrestling Entertainment, so let\u2019s take a look and see how WWE\u2019s Royal Rumble panned out.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Royal Rumble Match (2.75\/5)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Women\u2019s Royal Rumble match seems to forever be in the opener spot, and the crowd was all for it. Seeing Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss as the number one and two entrants was a fun way to start the match and sowed the seeds of dissension between the two \u201cbest friends\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ring filled up quickly, but there wasn\u2019t much action going on. Frankly, it appeared as if the first 10-13 minutes of the match were there to get to the next level. Some great young talents were entering that could have gotten a much larger rub. It felt like WWE stacked the first 10 entrants with wrestlers that no one wanted to see. It was also a bit unnerving to see Jordynne Grace get dumped fairly easily. She is going to be a star, and she wasn\u2019t treated as such here.<\/p>\n

Once we got past the first few minutes, the action picked up, and some of the bigger names made their way into the ring. The Judgement Day, Sol Ruca, and Lash Legend all got some great exposure here. It should also be noted that Chelsea Green was once again money with her character work. WWE needs to find more to do with her outside of the comedy bits.<\/p>\n

It was a nice touch to see the big names fill up the ring near the end. Having 14 litter the ring after Tiffany Stratton<\/a> entered added to the chaos and ambiguity surrounding who was going to walk away the winner. However, it was a disappointment to see that Brie Bella was the only surprise entrant that WWE lined up for the Women\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

The final four was a letdown, as it became very clear that Liv Morgan was going to win the match. It was a well-deserved victory for Morgan, but one that could have carried a bit more weight with it. It was a Liv Morgan<\/a>, Sol Ruca, and Lash Legend night with the three women getting the MVPs. Not the greatest Royal Rumble match, but certainly not the worst.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gunther vs AJ Styles (3.5\/5)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wade Barrett said it best during AJ Styles’ entrance that the world had a feeling of dread when Styles made his way to the ring. We were all worried that this could be the last time we see the Phenomenal One.<\/p>\n

Naturally, we would have a slower pace here, but the work done by both men kept everyone engaged. Gunther worked his physical style perfectly, swatting Styles to the mat at every chance. He reveled in the pain that he was causing Styles and hit every big move he could. It was a great way to build the drama as they moved into the deeper parts of the match.<\/p>\n

Once the wind was taken out of both men, we moved into an incredibly compelling contest. The fans were hanging on every move that Styles and Gunther dolled out. They worked in some great false finishes, and we really had no clue how this match was going to turn out.<\/p>\n

Honestly, this was a surprising finish. Seeing the career of AJ Styles end in such a way<\/a> was not what anyone wanted to see. It played to the viciousness of Gunther as he would not stop pounding away. A sad end to what was an amazing career. Cheers to AJ Styles.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs Sami Zayn (2.25\/5)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The build towards this match was centered around the “underdog” of Sami Zayn, and that\u2019s what the booking leaned heavily on. From the start of the match to the finish, it was Drew McIntyre working over Sami Zayn. The Ultimate Underdog would get his comebacks in, but the Scottish Psychopath swiftly put them down.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crafting a compelling match is not an easy feat, and it should have been an easy one with the talent that was in the ring. However, something was missing from this match that caused it to fall a bit flat. It was too much of Drew McIntyre beating Sami Zayn down with only small spurts of a comeback. There wasn\u2019t enough back and forth for it to appear as a competitive contest.<\/p>\n

The table spot and vicious side of McIntyre was great, but that\u2019s all this match highlighted. There was no point at which it looked like Sami Zayn was going to overcome the odds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Royal Rumble Match (3\/5)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Well, we can safely say that not a single person saw the Men\u2019s Royal Rumble starting in that fashion. Breakker getting eliminated within seconds ruined a lot of brackets, but did present many interesting prospects going forward. It also added intrigue to the start of the match that hadn\u2019t been there in previous years.<\/p>\n

There was a ton of fun stuff happening in the early goings of the Men\u2019s Royal Rumble. Oba Femi cutting through the first few competitors was awesome; having big names enter right off the bat was another great moment. It showed the depth of the field, and it was fun to see WWE work in some comedy with Mr. Iguana and the El Grande Americanos.<\/p>\n

All these things helped to make the first half of the match an entertaining one as we got into the more serious portions of the Men\u2019s Royal Rumble<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From number 20 on, the Royal Rumble ramped up, and it was great to watch. The tease of Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar squaring off was well played out, and we can only hope that this is going to lead to something bigger down the road. Outside of these two, each big name got a good chance to get its licks in. No one looked weak unless WWE intended it\u2014a very smart way to build each wrestler up.<\/p>\n

The lack of surprises down the stretch did hamper this match. When there were surprises, such as Brock Lesnar getting dumped when no one was paying attention, it didn\u2019t work. Why have him there if his elimination meant nothing? That being said, Drew McIntyre taking Cody Rhodes out was a great way to keep that storyline going.<\/p>\n

Roman Reigns winning<\/a> was not the worst of ideas, but it\u2019s still the argument of a part-timer coming back to win a big match. He will have a great main event match against either CM Punk or Drew McIntyre, so it is a safe bet. It was an inoffensive Royal Rumble match.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/amp-ad><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/a><\/u>\u00a0for more on WWE Royal Rumble 2026 and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/span><\/em><\/amp-ad><\/amp-fx-flying-carpet><\/amp-ad><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/span>Netflix<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Raw, WWE archives, WWE Unreal, and other specials),\u00a0<\/span>USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0The CW<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(NXT),\u00a0<\/span>ESPN\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(WWE PLEs),\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Tubi<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0A&E<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0Peacock<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Saturday Night\u2019s Main Event). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/span>YouTube.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trucks rolled into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as WWE put together one heck of an impressive stage, followed by the 39th edition of their premier PLE, the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble. The Rumble signifies the start of WrestleMania season and has become one of the most popular in WWE history. This year marks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4518,"featured_media":151763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2192,4,3],"tags":[145,217,77,9602],"class_list":["post-152346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-aj-styles","tag-liv-morgan","tag-roman-reigns","tag-wwe-royal-rumble-2026"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152346"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154089,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152346\/revisions\/154089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}