(Pacer Graphic by Sophia Phillips)

The WWE held its annual ‘Royal Rumble’ event on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. This time, the event was hosted by the Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The ‘Royal Rumble’ is always the first event to kick off the WWE’s series of PLEs (premium live events) leading up to their biggest event of the year, WrestleMania. Although there were only four matches on the card, they all had high stakes. The highest of these stakes was the career of a legendary professional wrestler, the phenomenal AJ Styles.

The first match on the card was the “Women’s Royal Rumble” match. There were many impressive performers in the rumble, plenty of which were relatively new superstars. To me, the two standouts in this match were Lash Legend and Sol Ruca. Legend was a dominating force of power after her entrance at number fifteen. She kept the entire crowd entertained with her impressive strength, eliminating big names like the Bella Twins and Charlotte Flair.

On the other hand, Sol Ruca was less of a strength performer and more of an acrobatics performer. Her jaw-dropping finisher, the “Sol Snatcher,” always managed to catch her opponents off guard. Although she only got one elimination, she was able to last until the tail end of the match. Ruca finished in third place after being eliminated by Tiffany Stratton in a triple threat struggle on the ring apron. The other superstar in the struggle was the eventual winner, Liv Morgan.

Not only was this Morgan’s first rumble win, but it’s also the first time that someone has won the “Women’s Royal Rumble” from the number fourteen position. With this win, Morgan solidified her spot in one of the main events of WrestleMania. All that’s left for her now is to choose who she wishes to compete against, the choice being between Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer and the WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill. 

The second match, AJ Styles vs. Gunther, was arguably the most defining moment of the card. The stipulation for the match was that if Styles lost, he would retire from in-ring competition. AJ made it clear in late 2025 that he intended to retire in 2026. Most fans thought that this meant that they would get at least a few more months with the “Face That Runs The Place,” but those hopes were dashed when he lost to Gunther via submission.

Gunther has begun building a reputation for ending careers. It began last summer when he retired Goldberg and continued into December when he ended the career of John Cena.

Now, with the career of yet another legend under his belt, Gunther has become a terrifying presence in the WWE that appears to grow stronger with each match. After being choked out like those before him, AJ stood in the ring and let the wave of emotions wash over him.

He gave one final pose to the crowd before heading backstage one last time. Styles’ decade-spanning career inspired many active professional wrestlers and changed the industry forever. The “Phenomenal One” has defined pro wrestling since his debut in 1998, building up the stock of multiple companies such as Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Now in 2026, 10 years after debuting in WWE at the 2016 ‘Royal Rumble,’ the phenomenal career of AJ Styles has ended. 

The third match on the card was the only championship bout to come out of this year’s “Royal Rumble.” The Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defended his title against the ever lovable underdog Sami Zayn. After defeating Cody Rhodes on Smackdown earlier this month, Drew McIntyre finally got his hands on the Undisputed WWE Championship. This is a title that he’s spent many years attempting to capture. Not long after, a tournament was held to determine who would challenge Drew at this year’s ‘Royal Rumble.’ The winner of this tournament was none other than Sami Zayn. Despite being an amazing talent that fans love, Zayn has never held a world championship in the WWE. This was a very important match in his career and he put his body on the line to deal as much damage as he could to McIntyre.

Many fellow superstars, including Drew, noted that something was different about Zayn heading into this match, a hunger like he’s never had before. However, this new hunger wasn’t enough. Although he put his best foot forward, Drew was just too much for the challenger. The champion retained the title after dealing two consecutive Claymore kicks to the head of Zayn. The reign of the “Scottish Psychopath” is just beginning, and it’s looking like no one will be able to stop him. 

The fourth and final match was the “Men’s Royal Rumble” match. This match began with an overwhelming performance from one of the main roster’s newest members, Oba Femi. Until Damian Priest came out at number seven, Femi eliminated every competitor that entered the ring. This includes superstars like Rey Mysterio, Matt Cardona and Rusev just to name a few.

Until now, Femi was a star on the WWE’s developmental NXT brand. His debut in this rumble also marks his debut on the WWE’s main roster. This means that he will now either compete on the RAW brand or the Smackdown brand in the near future.

Another exciting new member of the WWE also made his debut in this year’s ‘Royal Rumble.’ This superstar’s name is Royce Keys, formally known as Powerhouse Hobbs in WWE’s rival company, AEW. This would’ve been especially exciting had he won the event. Unfortunately for him, he did not.

That accolade goes to the “Tribal Chief,” Roman Reigns. Reigns entered the rumble at number twenty-six and had a decent performance. With his five eliminations in this rumble, Reigns became the wrestler with the second most eliminations of all time in the ‘Royal Rumble’ match.

Now, with forty-one eliminations, Reigns only trails Kane, who has forty-five eliminations overall. Other impressive performances include Je’Von Evans, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Ilja Dragunov. The final two competitors were Reigns and Gunther. Given his rising status as a heel, many fans were rooting against Gunther. He came out as the final entrant, giving him the edge over the rest of his opponents. Fortunately, Reigns was able to throw him over the top rope to eliminate him and earn his second win in the ‘Royal Rumble’ match, securing himself a match at WrestleMania this year. 

Although it’s not the best ‘Royal Rumble’ event ever, this year’s was certainly entertaining. Not only did the WWE Universe receive a closer look at upcoming superstars, but it was also able to say goodbye to a man who made wrestling fun to watch for many fans. The next and final premium live event on the “Road to WrestleMania” will be the ‘Elimination Chamber’ event, a match type that is built to break its participants. Afterwards, the stage will be set for this year’s “Showcase of the Immortals” WrestleMania.