Royal Rumble 2026 big takeaways: What’s next for Roman Reigns, Liv…

Royal Rumble 2026 big takeaways: What’s next for Roman Reigns, Liv…

The street to WrestleMania 42 formally kicked off Saturday night with the WWE Royal Rumble 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan punched their respective tickets again right into a WrestleMania main event, Drew McIntyre took care of enterprise to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship, and Gunther claimed the profession of yet another beloved 20-year veteran.

Let’s break down our 4 greatest takeaways as we kickstart the dash again to Las Vegas.

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1. There’s only one man for the job

There was one thing telling about Roman Reigns’ comments Friday that performed an excessive amount of foreshadowing into how this weekend’s occasions would go. Reigns shared on “The Pat McAfee Show” quite straight how the enterprise hadn’t developed since he handed over the reigns (no pun supposed) to WWE’s next era. He talked about leaving a gap to get new stars over, however shared frustration that the enterprise hadn’t saved up creatively in comparison with his run with the Bloodline.

Fast-forward 24 hours, and Reigns is again in the driver’s seat for the WrestleMania 42 main event, in what’s anticipated to be a showdown against World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. Without Paul Heyman or Seth Rollins round, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how Punk and Reigns build their story. Nearly nothing is assured over the coming months, however directionally this makes the most sense for a big-money match come April.

At the same time, it seems McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu are on a collision course for the other major title, with McIntyre taking Rhodes’ elimination into his personal fingers in Saturday’s males’s Rumble match. The trio have completed just sufficient to maintain issues attention-grabbing in latest months, and this elevation of Fatu is the excellent maturation wanted to get “The Samoan Werewolf” to the next level.

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That being said, after dispatching of AJ Styles earlier in the night, it was barely stunning to see Gunther fall brief along with his second-place end — until the “Career Killer” has grander ambitions for this year’s Showcase of the Immortals. He’s spoken at length about his dream matchup being Brock Lesnar, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at this point to see the two monsters face off in April.

2. The end of a (Phenomenal) era

This is the Gunther we’ve needed all along.

I can understand WWE playing the long game in the sense of being unable to embrace this gimmick before he retired John Cena. But Gunther never should’ve tapped to a sleeper hold against Jey Uso at WrestleMania 41, and he certainly never should’ve had a competitive match against Pat McAfee. But this vicious Gunther, who occasionally oversteps and gets caught in a move like the Calf Crusher at the hands of AJ Styles — that’s a logical moment that could transpire, and one more rooted in a villain’s overconfidence than weakness. All things considered, Saturday’s ending was perfect, with Gunther choking out another legend in what is hopefully a long-term character arc for “The Ring General.”

It wasn’t as much shocking as it is surreal that the WWE career of AJ Styles is over. Ten years after he debuted at the 2016 Royal Rumble, calling it quits on a career that candidly should’ve started much earlier in WWE — it’s a heck of a way to go out.

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The prevailing thought is that Styles’ WWE career is over, but his wrestling career has at least through the end of this year to continue. There’s endless opportunities for Styles on the open market, from a return to NJPW, to joining AEW, and perhaps even a short stint to tie up loose ends back home in TNA.

3. Out-Liv-ing the Judgement Day

What might be the best Women’s Royal Rumble in its short history expertly moved numerous long-term stories along in the build to WrestleMania.

The chess board type maneuvers saw Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss further break down the trust the duo had developed in their run up to becoming Women’s Tag Team champions, Tiffany Stratton made her grand return, Sol Ruca and Lash Legend took steps toward legitimacy as major players on the main roster, and perhaps the biggest story of them all was Liv Morgan eliminating Raquel Rodriguez to win the Women’s Royal Rumble.

With Rodriguez already slated to face off with Stephanie Vaquer in a Women’s World Championship match, there’s a real element of Diesel-Shawn Michaels in Morgan and Rodriguez’s sudden breakdown and the way the muscle might match up against a world title contender. The Judgement Day has been right on the cusp of a full implosion for about a year now, so what better way to tear it down than handing Rodriguez the title and squaring her off against Morgan at WrestleMania 42?

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4. Sami falls just brief

I’ll admit, this one was barely surprising. I wasn’t certain how they’d pair a possible Sami Zayn win with the WrestleMania story that was — and still is — unfolding between Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu, nevertheless it felt like future (or possibly wishful pondering) for Saudi Arabia’s favourite to lastly win the big one.

The prevailing narrative across latest months forged Zayn as the final underdog, a man who’s achieved a lot however never gained the world title. And with WWE holding back-to-back exhibits in Montreal and Saudi Arabia, it felt almost predetermined that the Canadian veteran would end Saturday night holding the Undisputed WWE Championship.

But maybe that’s feelings driving my thought course of and never actuality.

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Drew McIntyre retaining shouldn’t be a shock, contemplating there’s already a fully-baked story with him able to ship to WrestleMania alongside one in every of WWE’s greatest stars (Rhodes) and the man who’s next in line to turn into one in every of WWE’s greatest stars (Fatu). This was a second in time designed to offer just sufficient doubt at a major event, before seeing McIntyre defend his belt at the greatest present of the yr.

The query for Zayn, though, is after coming this shut, the place does he go from right here — and the way can he discover another second in 2026 that’ll really feel prefer it issues as a lot as this one did?

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