WWE closed the 2024 Royal Rumble by determining which competitor will challenge Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins at WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia. When the dust settled, Cody Rhodes officially gave himself a chance to finish his story, as he threw CM Punk over the top rope and secured his second consecutive win in the Rumble.
The match started with Jey and Jimmy Uso drawing 1 and 2, before Grayson Waller came out at 3 and held an impromptu episode of The Grayson Waller Effect. After eating a superkick from Jey, Waller and Jimmy Uso teamed up on the former member of The Bloodline before the first big surprise of the men’s match, the return of Andrade.
USO vs. USO at #RoyalRumble!
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
We’ve got a surprise @GraysonWWE Effect in the Men’s #RoyalRumble Match! pic.twitter.com/d9T3J4fKOo
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
ANDRADE!@AndradeElIdolo is back and competing in the Men’s #RoyalRumble Match! pic.twitter.com/MmL2jJHARv
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
WWE kept the surprise returns in the men’s Rumble to a minimum through the first two-thirds of a match, but at 22, Pat McAfee entered the ring after spending the night alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary. Unfortunately for McAfee, he immediately left the match after seeing that Omos and Bron Breakker in the ring.
LET’S GO! @PatMcAfeeShow competes in the Men’s #RoyalRumble Match! pic.twitter.com/WhdUFk8ssV
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
In maybe the funniest moment of the night, R-Truth entered the match, but acted like he was instead in a tag team match. He stood on the apron while Dominik Mysterio was in a sleeper hold from Gunther, but once he got “tagged in,” he attacked Gunther and started to give him John Cena’s Five Knuckle Shuffle. It did not go especially well for him after that, but it was very, very funny.
What is @RonKillings thinking?! #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/6Y004AYPOP
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
At 27, CM Punk made his highly-anticipated return to the Royal Rumble on the 10-year anniversary of his original departure from the company and quickly eliminated Dominik Mysterio.
IT’S ROYAL RUMBLE TIME!@CMPunk is entrant number 27 in the Men’s #RoyalRumble Match! pic.twitter.com/LBsA5NOlUr
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
The match closed with Gunther, Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes in the ring. McIntyre was the first go, as he delivered Claymore Kicks to everyone but got tossed over the top rope by Punk. Gunther then got hot, giving Punk a powerbomb before trying to throw out Rhodes. But his efforts were unsuccessful, as Rhodes was dropped onto the apron but kept on a headlock, eventually pulling Gunther over the rope and onto the floor.
WE ARE DOWN TO TWO!!!#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/sSLbFUcvgz
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
With only Punk and Rhodes remaining, the two exchanged blows in the center of the ring. Rhodes was eventually able to get the upper hand, but Punk caught him and gave him a trio of German suplexes. After hitting him with a running bulldog, Punk signaled that it was time to hit Rhodes with a GTS and picked him up onto his shoulders. Rhodes was able to reverse this and land a sequence of blows before a Bionic Elbow, only for Punk to then reverse an attempted Cross Rhodes.
THIS IS AWE-SOME!! #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/aOslZvqfhs
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
Punk went for the GTS once again, but Rhodes countered and finally hit a Cross Rhodes. As he picked him up and tried to get him out of the ring, however, Punk was able to get him up and nail a GTS. Punk got Rhodes up onto his shoulders again and tried to dump him over the top rope, only for Rhodes to land on the apron and roll back into the ring. A pedigree by Punk led to some trash talk towards, as he said, “Dusty’s kid,” and another attempt at a GTS.
#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/2htpkgQmTb
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
But Rhodes was able to wiggle his way off and threw Punk over the top rope to officially go back-to-back in the Royal Rumble. As the night came to an end, Rhodes stood on the turnbuckle and appeared to pick which champion he’ll face off against at WrestleMania, as he pointed directly to the box that held Roman Reigns.
DO THE WORK.
FINISH THE STORY.@CodyRhodes just won the Men’s #RoyalRumble Match for the second year in a row! The American Nightmare has his sights set on @WWERomanReigns as the Road to #WrestleMania is underway! pic.twitter.com/RkHT2oAsLT— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024
Order Entered
- Jey Uso
- Jimmy Uso
- Grayson Waller
- Andrade
- Carmelo Hayes
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Santos Escobar
- Karrion Kross
- Dominik Mysterio
- Carlito
- Bobby Lashley
- Ludwig Kaiser
- Austin Theory
- Finn Balor
- Cody Rhodes
- Bronson Reed
- Kofi Kingston
- Gunther
- Ivar
- Bron Breakker
- Omos
- Pat McAfee
- JD McDonagh
- R-Truth
- The Miz
- Damian Priest
- CM Punk
- Ricochet
- Drew McIntyre
- Sami Zayn
Order Eliminated
- Grayson Waller
- Santos Escobar
- Carlito
- Karrion Kross
- Bobby Lashley
- Carmelo Hayes
- Austin Theory
- Andrade
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Ludwig Kaiser
- Kofi Kingston
- Jimmy Uso
- Finn Balor
- Bronson Reed
- Ivar
- Pat McAfee
- Omos
- Bron Breakker
- JD McDonagh
- R-Truth
- Dominik Mysterio
- The Miz
- Jey Uso
- Ricochet
- Damian Priest
- Sami Zayn
- Drew McIntyre
- Gunther
- CM Punk