The Road to WrestleMania 40 officially begins at the Royal Rumble. 30 male and 30 female superstars will compete in their respective Rumble matches to determine two world title matches at WrestleMania in April.
The Royal Rumble quickly became a fan-favorite event and one of WWE’s traditional “Big Four” pay-per-views after its debut in 1988. Superstars enter the match one by one in timed intervals to throw their opponents out of the ring. The sole survivor earns a one-way ticket to WrestleMania and a world title match of their choosing.
Two championship matches are currently in the works for this year’s event as well. Roman Reigns will defend his undisputed WWE universal championship against AJ Styles, LA Knight and Randy Orton in a fatal four-way match. Logan Paul will make his first United States title defense against top contender tournament winner Kevin Owens.
Take a look below at the confirmed matches for Royal Rumble and take a glance at the crystal ball of what may come. The event streams live on Peacock on Saturday with the main card starting at 8 p.m. ET.
2024 WWE Royal Rumble matches
Men’s Royal Rumble match: The winner of the titular 30-man match wins a world title shot of their choosing at WrestleMania 40. Two superstars begin the match. An elimination occurs when someone is tossed over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. Most wrestlers involved will be active roster members but expect a few surprises such as NXT call-ups, debuting superstars, returning legends or one-off appearances.
Confirmed entrants:
- Cody Rhodes
- CM Punk
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Bobby Lashley
- Drew McIntyre
- Gunther
- Chad Gable
- Otis
- Akira Tozawa
- Kofi Kingston
- Damian Priest
Women’s Royal Rumble match: The women’s Royal Rumble, which debuted in 2018, functions identically to its male counterpart. The winner of this 30-woman match can choose to pursue either the women’s world championship or WWE women’s title at WrestleMania.
Confirmed entrants:
- Bayley
- Nia Jax
- Becky Lynch
- Bianca Belair
- Maxxine Dupri
- Ivy Nile
Undisputed WWE universal championship — Roman Reigns (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. AJ Styles: A triple threat match on the special New Year’s Revolution episode of SmackDown was meant to determine Reigns’ challenger at the Rumble. The Bloodline sabotaged the match by laying out its three contenders: Orton, Knight and Styles. SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis informed Heyman that Reigns would have to face all three men in a fatal four-way match after preventing a clear outcome.
United States championship — Logan Paul (c) vs. Kevin Owens: A single elimination tournament took place on SmackDown to produce the top contender for Paul’s U.S. championship. Kevin Owens defeated Austin Theory, Carmelo Hayes and Santos Escobar to punch his ticket to a match with Paul at the Royal Rumble.
