Trav’s 2024 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event Review

The 2024 Royal Rumble was one of the most anticipated events in a long time. There were a lot of rumors headed into the Royal Rumble. The biggest news revolved around Vince McMahon and his sex trafficking allegations. After losing a key sponsorship, he resigned from his position at TKO Holdings. Seeing this is the Road to WrestleMania, everything moving forward got a lot of implications. The card was only 4 matches with two of them being the Rumble matches. Roman Reigns defended his WWE Championship against Randy Orton, A.J. Styles, and L.A. Knight. In the other match, Logan Paul put up his United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Who punched their tickets to the main event of WrestleMania XL? Did Roman Reigns continue his historic championship reign? Did Logan Paul keep his United States championship? Let’s see how the 2024 edition of the Royal Rumble turns out.

The Women’s Rumble match kicked off in the evening. The first two entrants were Natalya, and we had the return of Naomi. Naomi left the WWE back in May of 2022 along with Sasha Banks due to creative differences. During her absence, she competed in TNA Wrestling and became their champion in the process. Bayley entered in at #3 and it felt like all three women shared a moment. Jordynne Grace was the 5^th competitor to enter the match. Grace is the current TNA Women’s Champion and she and Naomi had a stare down before hugging. Asuka entered the ring at 7 and Bianca Belair came in at #10. There were some eliminations, and the match was going smoothly until Nia Jax came in #19. Jax eliminated Xia Li, Ivy Nile, Piper Niven, and Katana Chance. Becky Lynch entered the match at #21.

Valhalla came in at #24, but R-Truth came out and looked confused thinking it was the men’s Rumble match. After being eliminated by Jax, Adam Pierce escorted Truth to the back. Roxanne Perez from NXT entered at #27 and we had Jade Cargill finally debuting after her. The fans went crazy for Cargill, as we all know she left AEW for WWE a few months ago. Jade came face-to-face with Nia Jax. They brawl as Cargill then powers up Jax and slams her down to the mat. She nails a big boot, lifts Jax, and dumps her out. Tiffany Stratton, the former NXT Women’s Championship entered at #29. Stratton makes an entrant with a Swanton which takes down many stars. She plants Lynch with a Spinebuster and Perez then getting slammed down to the mat. The entrant in the Women’s Royal Rumble saw the return of Liv Morgan.

Morgan has been on the sidelines ever since Ripley injured her shoulder a few months back. The finish saw Cargill eliminate Naomi while Bayley tossed Stratton & Belair. Liv Morgan eventually took out Cargill and Bayley eliminated her to win. 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble Winner: Bayley

Match Rating: 4.25/5– This was arguably the best Women’s Royal Rumble ever. We had Naomi returning to the company and Jordynn Grace representing TNA Wrestling. Liv Morgan returned, while we had Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton representing NXT. Jade Cargill had an amazing debut, and her tossing Nia Jax made her an instant badass. The stare down between Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair has money written all over it. Bayley winning was the right choice because she deserves it. This will also further her becoming a babyface when Damage CTRL turns on her.

Roman Reigns defended his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against three tough opponents. A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, and the megastar L.A. Knight all tried to end the historic championship reign of Roman. A.J. Styles returned about a month ago after being out for a few months after being attacked by the Bloodline. Randy Orton made his triumph return to the WWE at the Survivor Series after being out for a year and a half. L.A. Knight has quickly rose through the ranks but fell to Reigns at Crown Jewel due to the Bloodline. All three attacked Reigns at the beginning of the match. During the match, Reigns took the finishers from all three of his opponents. Orton hit a sick RKO on Reigns when Roman went for the Superman Punch. Orton went for the pin, but the official was pulled from the ring by Solo Sikoa.

Sikoa dropped Orton with the Samoan Spike and did the same to L.A. Knight. Sikoa took himself out by trying put Styles through the barricade, but Styles moved. Styles almost picked up the win with the Phenomenal Forearm to Reigns. Reigns fell on top of Knight and Orton, but they all kicked out at the same time. Styles attacked Knight and Reigns with a chair, but Orton poked him in the eye to stop it. Orton is then met with a spear from Reigns, but Knight went at Roman. Knight had his BFT reversed by Reigns as he was pushed into the ropes knocking down Styles. Reigns hits Knight with a Superman Punch and then Styles with a Spear. Winner and Still Champ: Roman Reigns

Match Rating: 3.75/5– This wasn’t a bad match at all, and it went like we expected it to. We all knew Reigns was going to win, but still a good showing by all four men.

Logan Paul defended his newly won United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Paul won the championship from Rey Mysterio at the Crown Jewel event back in November. Kevin Owens won the tournament to crown the new #1 contender. These two have been going at it for the last few weeks heading into this match. Owens came into the match with a broken hand. The fight immediately heads outside the ring, with Kevin Owens launching Logan Paul into the barricade repeatedly. They continued to fight until Paul slammed Owens into the barricade and targeted the broken hand. They fought on the outside some more, but when Owens tried to enter Paul stomped on his injured hand. Owens fought back and went for the Senton, but Paul got his knees up. Paul hangs Owens up on the top rope and then nails a Buckshot Lariat before connecting with a Frogsplash, but Owens kicks out.

Paul tries for a superplex but KO reverses with an avalanche brainbuster, which gets another near fall. Paul loads up the punch but instead eats a superkick. However, he does hit the KO Punch after reversing a Stunner, only for Owens to kick out once again! Austin Theory and Grayson Waller appeared after one of Paul’s friends jumped over the barricade. Paul tried to connect with Owens with the brass knuckles Theory slipped him. Paul tried to nail Owens, but Owens pulls the brass knuckles off Paul and nails a KO punch of his own. He starts pinning the champion, but the official sees he has the weapon and that leads to a disqualification. Winner by DQ & Still United States Champion: Logan Paul

Match Rating: 3.75/5- After the match, Owens attacked Paul and powerbombs him through the announcer’s table.

Last, but not least, we had the Men’s Royal Rumble match. Jey and Jimmy Uso started off as the first and second entrants. They have a stare down with each other and went at each other with them reversing their moves. Andrade returned to the WWE as entrant #4. Andrade spent the last three years in AEW and finished his obligations at the World’s End event. Carmelo Hayes came in at the 5^th spot and eliminated Grayson Waller. Bobby Lashley entered in at the 11^th spot, and he eliminated Carlito and Karrion Kross. AOP ran down to cause a distraction as Kross eliminated Lashley, which brought out the Street Profits. Cody Rhodes entered the Rumble at 15^th, and he tossed Austin Theory. Gunther eliminated Kofi Kingston after coming in at #18. Bron Breakker hit the ring at the 20^th spot and immediately went to work.

Breakker took out Jimmy Uso and Finn Balor quickly. Omos hit the ring in the 21^st spot and took out Bronson Reed. Pat McAfee was 22^nd and he left the commentator area to hit the ring. After seeing Breakker and Omos, he teased taking part in the match, but eliminated himself. To show his strength, Breakker eliminated Omos, but was tossed out by Dominik Mysterio. C.M. Punk entered the match at 27 and he eliminated Dominik Mysterio. Sami Zayn returned at #30 and went right after Drew McIntyre. It came down to McIntyre, Punk, Rhodes, and Gunther. Punk eliminated McIntyre and then Cody took out Gunther for the second consecutive year. It came down to Cody and Punk and they fought for a while. Cody reversed another GTS attempt and tossed Punk to win the Rumble match again. 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble Winner: Cody Rhodes

Match Rating: 3/5- This wasn’t the best men’s Royal Rumble, but it wasn’t the worst either. We found out the C.M. Punk tore his triceps muscle during the match and will miss WrestleMania XL. Bron Breakker had an excellent showing and we found out he filled in for Brock Lesnar. This could be great in the long run because he’s ready for the main roster. With Cody winning, they could go a couple of routes with him. Rhodes could challenge Reigns again, but if the Rock comes back he could challenge Seth.

Overall Rating: 7/10- I’ve never got too caught up in the hype or rumors heading into the event. Many people expected MJF, Sasha Banks, or even Kazuchika Okada to show up. The women’s Royal Rumble match was arguably the event of the night. Below are my top 5 happenings from the 2024 Royal Rumble PLE.