WWE today announced that tickets for Smackdown and Raw at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 17 and 20 during WrestleMania weekend will go on sale in two weeks’ time.
Special combo tickets will go on sale starting Friday, February 13 at 1PM ET via AXS.com. Fans can purchase tickets during an exclusive pre-sale by visiting AXS.com starting Wednesday, February 11 at 1PM ET.
To register to be the first to hear about pre-sale opportunities, visit http://wwe.com/wm42-week.
Ticket information for the Hall of Fame ceremony have not been announced yet. While it is usually held after Smackdown in the same arena, last year it was a separate ticketed event at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
No details for the NXT Stand & Deliver were announced either.
The Royal Rumble seems like it was a massive hit on Netflix as it has been in the top three spot worldwide (excluding the United States) since the show aired according to FlixPatrol.
It has charted in 66 different countries, reaching the number one or two spot in the majority of those countries and sits behind Bridgerton and HIS & HERS. It placed high in countries which don’t usually register anything for WWE.
Smackdown, which also aired from Saudi Arabia, was #9 in the chart worldwide, charting in many countries which it doesn’t usually hit.
Last year, the Royal Rumble was the most-watched WWE premium live event of the year on Netflix, beating even each night of WrestleMania.
WWE PLEs do not air on Netflix in the United States so they are not counted in the charts.
Just days after leaving the company, former NXT General Manager Ava posted an anti-government message on X, saying now she is free to do so.
“And now that i can say this with my full chest, [middle finger] ice and that entire administration,” she wrote.
Anyone in WWE steers clear of making such statements due to the company’s close ties with President Donald Trump and his administration.
Ava, real name Simone Johnson, decided that her time was up and did not want to continue in her on-screen role, and left when her contract was going to expire.
Her appearance on NXT last Tuesday was her last one and she was never written off television.
In a post on social media, Shane McMahon praised AJ Styles as one of the greatest in-ring performers ever following his loss to Gunther yesterday at the Royal Rumble.
“Thank you for your friendship and giving it your absolute best to entertain us all every single time you stepped through the ropes,” McMahon wrote. “You set the bar for current and future talent, let’s see if they can reach it.”
The two shared the ring together at WrestleMania 33, marking Styles’ first match at a WrestleMania. The 20-minute match kicked off the show on that night in Orlando.
“Congratulations on a Phenomenal career,” McMahon continued, tagging both Styles and WWE in his post.
The women’s Royal Rumble match lasted longer than the men’s match this year, with the ladies spending a total of 1 hour and 7 minutes in the ring while the men’s match lasted just 56 minutes and 10 seconds.
Four NXT stars were in the women’s match, with Lola Vice, Sol Ruca, Jacy Jayne, and Kelani Jordan involved. Ruca had an MVP performance in this match and also had one elimination.
Interestingly enough, there were no NXT stars in the men’s match, with Oba Femi classified as a free agent, but two from AAA – Mr. Iguana and La Parka – did appear.
This year’s ironwoman was Charlotte Flair, who drew #1 and lasted a total of 59 minutes and 49 seconds and was eliminated #23. Sol Ruca, who came in at #10 and eliminated at #28, was second with 50 minutes and 47 seconds on the clock. Liv Morgan, the eventual winner, rounded up the top three with 43 minutes and 50 seconds and came in at #14.
In the men’s match, Je’Von Evans was the ironman with 40 minutes and 58 seconds on the clock, coming in at #8 and eliminated #22. Oba Femi, arguably the men’s MVP, came in at #1 and eliminated at #18 and lasted 39 minutes and 4 seconds. Cody Rhodes was the third guy with the most time in the match, coming in at #11 and eliminated at #24 after 36 minutes and 50 seconds.
The opposite of ironwoman and ironman went to Kairi Sane and Bron Breakker. Sane was dumped out after 1 minute and 36 seconds while Breakker, surprisingly, was eliminated after 10 seconds after he was jumped by another masked man. The men’s match had two more under one minute, with Rusev and Matt Cardona lasting just 32 seconds and 55 seconds respectively.
Lash Legend had the most eliminations in the women’s match, with a total of five. Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, and Jordynne Grace each had three eliminations while Charlotte Flair and Raquel Rodriguez had two each. Sol Ruca, Iyo Sky, Nattie, Jacy Jayne, Giulia, Nikki Bella, Tiffany Stratton, Lyra Valkyria, Becky Lynch, Brie Bella, and Kairi Sane each had one elimination while the rest had nothing.
Oba Femi and Roman Reigns led the pack in the men’s match in terms of eliminations, both with five. Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, and Brock Lesnar had three each while Bronson Reed, Gunther, and Trick Williams had two each. Austin Theory, Royce Keys, Randy Orton, and El Grande Americano had one each and the rest had nothing.
AAA Mega champion Dominik Mysterio will be appearing on next week’s episode of AAA on FOX.
Mysterio has been out of action since the December 20 Guerra de Titanes event due to a shoulder injury he suffered on the show. With him, both the AAA Mega title and WWE Intercontinental title disappeared from television as well.
Dom was not part of the Royal Rumble yesterday and did not travel to Saudi Arabia for the event.
The man formerly known as Powerhouse Hobbs in AEW made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble yesterday in Riyadh, coming in at #14.
His introduction first had his AEW name on the video screen before it transitioned to his new WWE name, a combo of one of his son’s names and his mother’s maiden name.
The lower third graphic also had “formerly known as Powerhouse Hobbs” listed.
“He was once known as Powerhouse Hobbs,” Michael Cole said on commentary. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Royce Keys to WWE.”
Some of his former colleagues at AEW took to X to congratulate him on his debut, with Amanda Huber, Darius Martin, Wardlow, and Kevin Knight all mentioning him.
Tommaso Ciampa won the TNT title on Collision last night, landing the title in his first match on AEW television.
The match ended after Ciampa hit a knee strike on Briscoe, after several failed attempts to pin him following multiple Psycho Drillers.
Ciampa, whose WWE contract expired several days ago, made his AEW debut on Dynamite this past Wednesday and went face-to-face with Mark Briscoe when Briscoe announced an open challenge.
He also joins Mercedes Mone in winning an AEW title in their debut match.
The Esports Stadium crowd in Arlington celebrated Ciampa’s win and chanted “you deserve it” as Ciampa posed with the title.
Here are the results from the 2026 Royal Rumble premium live event which took place live from the Riyadh Season Stadium at KAFD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Liv Morgan won the 30-woman Royal Rumble match; Gunther defeated AJ Styles; Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn to retain the WWE title; Roman Reigns won the 30-man Royal Rumble match.
The entrants in the women’s Royal Rumble were Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Kiana James, Nia Jax, Ivy Nile, Lola Vice, Candice LeRae, Jordynne Grace, Becky Lynch, Sol Ruca, Roxanne Perez, Maxxine Dupri, Nattie Neidhart, Liv Morgan, Lash Legend, Zelina, Raquel Rodriguez, Chelsea Green, Giulia, Iyo Sky, Asuka, Rhea Ripley, Bayley, Jacy Jayne, Nikki Bella, Lyra Valkyria, Kelani Jordan, Kairi Sane, Brie Bella, and Tiffany Stratton.
The entrants in the men’s Royal Rumble were Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Solo Sikoa, Rey Mysterio, Rusev, Matt Cardona, Damian Priest, Je’Von Evans, Mr. Iguana, Trick Williams, Cody Rhodes, El Grande Americano, Original El Grande Americano, Royce Keys, Austin Theory, Bronson Reed, Ilja Dragunov, La Parka, Dragon Lee, Logan Paul, LA Knight, Brock Lesnar, The Miz, Rey Fenix, Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, Jacob Fatu, Penta, Randy Orton, and Gunther.
Roman Reigns won the 2026 men’s Royal Rumble match, the second time that The OTC has won this match.
Reigns entered the match at #26 and eliminated a total of five individuals. He was in the final four with Logan Paul, Gunther, and Randy Orton.
Paul was the first one to be eliminated and then Orton was dumped out before Reigns took out Gunther, who was looking for an epic night after defeating AJ Styles earlier in the broadcast.
The entrants in the men’s Royal Rumble were Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Solo Sikoa, Rey Mysterio, Rusev, Matt Cardona, Damian Priest, Je’Von Evans, Mr. Iguana, Trick Williams, Cody Rhodes, El Grande Americano, Original El Grande Americano, Royce Keys, Austin Theory, Bronson Reed, Ilja Dragunov, La Parka, Dragon Lee, Logan Paul, LA Knight, Brock Lesnar, The Miz, Rey Fenix, Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, Jacob Fatu, Penta, Randy Orton, and Gunther.
Collision will have its last show at the Esports Stadium which was part of a month-long residency at the Arlington, Texas property.
Five matches have been announced for tonight’s show, three of which are for a title.
The AEW Women’s Tag Team titles will be on the line as the Babes Of Wrath will defend against Sisters Of Sin. Also, Kazuchika Okada battles Adam Priest with the AEW International title on the line and Mark Briscoe defends the TNT title against newcomer Tommaso Ciampa.
Plus, Clark Connors takes on Darby Allin and The Rascalz battle CRU.
Collision airs at 8PM ET on TNT and also streams on HBO Max.
AJ Styles lost his career threatening match against Gunther at the Royal Rumble, and while he did not tap out, Styles went to sleep after Gunther applied the sleeper hold, with the referee calling off the match, stunning the crowd.
The stipulation for this match was that Gunther was only going to take on Styles if AJ put up his WWE career on the line, something that AJ agreed to.
After the match ended, Styles took his time in the ring and removed his gloves to be placed in the middle of the ring, but he put them back on and saluted the crowd instead, posing for all four sides of the arena.
The departure of AJ Styles was somewhat expected heading into the show, with Styles applying to trademark terms related to his name for a post-WWE life. Shinsuke Nakamura also posted a reel on his Instagram last week saying that Styles told him he would be retiring at the Rumble.
Styles brings down the curtain on his WWE career exactly 10 years following his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, where he was the surprise entry coming in at #3.
He won the WWE title twice, the WWE Intercontinental title once, the WWE United States title three times, and the WWE World Tag Team titles twice, becoming the 32nd Triple Crown champion and 15th Grand Slam champion.
In the only surprise of the women’s Royal Rumble, Brie Bella returned at the Royal Rumble, marking her first WWE in-ring appearance since the 2022 Royal Rumble.
Bella entered the Rumble at #29 and the Saudi crowd exploded with Yes! chants as soon as her theme song kicked in.
She hit the ring and immediately landed several Yes! Kicks on Raquel Rodriguez much to the enjoyment of the fans, who responded with the usual chant.
Brie was eventually eliminated with her sister Nikki by Lash Legend.
Bella has been advocating for a return for quite a while, with many believing that her husband’s role in AEW was a major stumbling block in making it happen. WWE Shop already has her first t-shirt up for sale although it’s unclear if she has signed a new WWE deal or if this was a one-time deal.
Liv Morgan has booked her ticket to WrestleMania after she won the 2026 women’s Royal Rumble match.
Morgan entered #14 in the match and had three eliminations in total. She finished in the final four along with the returning Tiffany Stratton, Sol Ruca, and Raquel Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was eliminated by Morgan in a major surprise, leaving Stratton and Sol fighting on the apron, with all three gone over the top rope. Stratton eliminated Ruca before she hit her finisher and then Liv took out Tiffany with the Oblivion for the win.
This is Morgan’s first Royal Rumble win.
The participants in the order of entrance were Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Kiana James, Nia Jax, Ivy Nile, Lola Vice, Candice LeRae, Jordynne Grace, Becky Lynch, Sol Ruca, Roxanne Perez, Maxxine Dupri, Nattie Neidhart, Liv Morgan, Lash Legend, Zelina, Raquel Rodriguez, Chelsea Green, Giulia, Iyo Sky, Asuka, Rhea Ripley, Bayley, Jacy Jayne, Nikki Bella, Lyra Valkyria, Kelani Jordan, Kairi Sane, Brie Bella, and Tiffany Stratton.
The Royal Rumble premium live event has started and Chris Jericho, who many believe will be part of the 30-man over-the-top rope Royal Rumble match, is still listed as part of the AEW roster on the AEW website.
While the company is usually very active in making sure that those who have departed are no longer listed as part of the roster page, Jericho has remained there even after his alleged contract expiration on January 1.
The multi-time champion is rumored to be joining WWE after six years with AEW where he was the inaugural AEW World champion but there have been no reports or sightings of him being in Riyadh.
If he is there, WWE is going to great lengths to prevent spoilers and making sure there are no leaks for their planned surprises at the Rumble.
In a video posted on X, Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced that this year’s Backlash premium live event will take place from the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, May 9.
There were rumors that Backlash was returning to Puerto Rico this year but the show eventually went to Tampa.
The Benchmark International Arena is the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team and hold up to 21,500 fans in a hockey setting.
A premium live event in Italy is also scheduled for May, although that has not been confirmed yet.
Hello everybody! It’s @TheMagnumDA with yet another installment of the Wrestling-Online Pick’em report.
This will be my 10th year with Wrestling-Online…that calls for a celebration! It seems like only yesterday…I started here writing for 205 Live (remember that show?! it was freaking awesome until the Enzo/Goldust stuff near the end), but I digress! It’s been an awesome ride and I’ve made a great friend along the way in Colin. Thank you BROTHER!
Now, let’s do battle for the WOPC Championship the only way we know how…WITH A RUMBLE. A ROYALLLLLLL RUMBLE!!!
Today, from Riyadh, WWE will present the 2026 Royal Rumble live on ESPN/Netflix around the world. Colin and I will be joined by our guest Brother Bull, and we are going to make our picks for the four main card matches, but we will also answer a couple of bonus questions along the way. Whomever has the most points at the end of this thing will be the Pick’em Champion going into the Elimination Chamber. Will Colin escape the Rumble with the WOPC title? Will a new Champion be crowned? Let’s find out right now!
ON WITH THE PICKS!
Women’s Royal Rumble Match – Winner faces the WWE/World Champion at WrestleMania XLI
Colin: I’m drawing a blank. Literally, this year, I have zero idea who might be winning both this. It’s going to be interesting to see 30 women in Power Ranger outfits this year. It’s something that WWE has to work with the Kingdom to allow the women to wrestle as they see fit. Granted, the outfits are usually really cool-looking, but that needs to change. Anyway, back to the winner, I’d like to see Tiffany Stratton win. Will she? Probably not, but that’s my pick.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Liv Morgan
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Iyo Sky
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Chelsea Green
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Jordynne Grace
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Roxanne Perez’s record? (1 hour, 7 minutes, 47 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. False
Magnum: What makes this challenging is that most of the top names are fighting in the Tag Team Division these days, so it’s going to be tough to decide who will break away from that to be the #1 Contender for the Women’s Championship. Ultimately, only because she has been SO CLOSE on numerous occasions, I’m going to run with Liv Morgan on this one. I would still love to see a Roxanne/Liv program over Dirty Dom sometime in 2026.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Becky Lynch
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Charlotte Flair
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Nia Jax
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Raquel Rodriguez
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Roxanne Perez’s record? (1 hour, 7 minutes, 47 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. True!
Bull: In one of these Rumbles, I would expect a returning Superstar to win it. I don’t feel like that’s going to happen with the Men, but I do believe it could happen with the Women. Specifically, I’m thinking of the return of Bianca Belair, who has some unfinished business with Jade Cargill. Look for Bianca to make a spectacular comeback by winning this year’s Royal Rumble.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Iyo Sky
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Kairi Sane
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Rhea Ripley
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Raquel Rodriguez
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Roxanne Perez’s record? (1 hour, 7 minutes, 47 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. True!
Career Threatening Match
AJ Styles vs. Gunther
Colin: Can’t believe AJ’s career in WWE is just going to wrap up just like that. I mean, almost zero build, the whole thing came out of nowhere. Surely it’s a swerve, right? I mean, they’re making it so obvious that he’s leaving that…it makes me think he is not. But what do I know? I hope this is not the end. Would be great if Cena interferes and helps AJ win LOL. Anyway, f*ck it, I’m going with the signals that they’ve been giving, Gunther wins, bye AJ.
Magnum: AJ’s had an awesome run in WWE – 2016 to 2026. I think his time has come – Gunther is quickly developing the reputation as a new “Legend Killer” of sorts, and this is no different. He’s slayed Goldberg, he’s slayed John Cena, and at the Rumble, he’s going to take down The Phenomenal One. Gunther wins.
Bull: I don’t think this is necessarily the end of AJ’s run – I think he’s got something left in him for TNA later this year. For WWE, though? This is it – he’s going to put up one hell of a fight, but in the end…Gunther wins.
WWE Championship
Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Sami Zayn
Colin: Did they mention Sami is 0-11 against Drew McIntyre? Yeah, this is going to be 0-12. Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, Sami is only there because of the location and nothing else. This is not the same Sami that was part of The Bloodline storyline with the big payoff. Nothing against the man who is a tremendous wrestler, but I just don’t see him going into WrestleMania as the champion. Drew wins.
Magnum: Wow, this is a tough one. I just can’t see how you can have Sami lose in Riyadh! At the same time, Drew JUST won the title. Something has to give!! Which means something screwy is going to happen. I’ll take Drew to retain.
Bull: I keep going back and forth on this! I could see a Fatal 4 Way at Mania between Zayn/Drew/Cody/Fatu. I am not sure how Sami gets in the title picture unless he wins this match…or maybe…the Rumble? Either way, Drew retains tonight.
Men’s Royal Rumble Match – Winner faces the WWE/World Champion at WrestleMania XLI
Colin: Watching Roman Reigns troll WWE creative last night on the Pat McAfee Show was something else. But you know what? He’s right. There’s no new main eventers and it’s time for WWE to fix that. Is Bron Breakker ready for it? Who knows. Was Brock ready for it way back when? Was Randy ready? Time to take that leap of faith and see what happens. Breakker wins.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Cody Rhodes
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Jacob Fatu
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Chris Jericho
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Bron Breakker
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Gunther’s record? (1 hour, 11 minutes, 40 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. False
Magnum: For some reason, the WWE Championship match has been messing with my mindset going into this match. I can’t see a world where they’d have Sami lose in Riyadh without getting his heat back in a major way. I do not believe he’s billed as a participant in the match, but I’m going to come right out and say it – Sami Zayn is winning the Royal Rumble.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Bron Breakker (if SmackDown was any indication – LOL)
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Finn Balor
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Sami Zayn
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Oba Femi
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Gunther’s record? (1 hour, 11 minutes, 40 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. No
Bull: After what we saw on Monday, it looks like The Vision have a plan for Bron Brekker to win this match. I can’t go against it – similar to Legacy in 2009, The Vision will be there at the end to make sure Bron goes over, and he will. Bron Breakker wins the 2026 Royal Rumble.
Bonus Question #1 – Who will draw #1? Ilja Dragunov
Bonus Question #2 – Who will draw #2? Carmelo Hayes
Bonus Question #3 – Who will draw #30? Chris Jericho
Bonus Question #4 – Who will have the most eliminations? Oba Femi
Bonus Question #5 – Yes or No – Will anyone surpass Gunther’s record? (1 hour, 11 minutes, 40 seconds) No
Bonus Question #6 – True or False: At least three WWE HOFers will enter this match. No
There you have it folks! Thanks for checking out another edition of the Pick’em report – we will see you in February for the Elimination Chamber from Chicago!! @TheMagnumDA signing off.
A lot of fans in Saudi Arabia have complained online about the tickets for both Smackdown and the Royal Rumble, where ticket resellers look like they bought a large chunk of tickets only to put them on sale just days before the event for way more money than the face value.
While Michael Cole said at the start of Smackdown that it was a late-arriving crowd at the arena, the Riyadh Season Stadium at KAFD remained with a lot of empty seats throughout the three-hour broadcast as fans could not afford the price for the resold tickets.
The Webook.com reselling website has an incredible amount of Royal Rumble tickets up for sale, with general admission tickets which originally sold for 80 Saudi Riyal, or the equivalent of $21, now selling for a minimum of 1,102 Saudi Riyal, or around $245.
A platinum ticket for 700 Saudi Riyal face value, or $155, is now at 2,656 Saudi Riyal, or the equivalent of $600.
Thousands of tickets remain available for resale at time of this writing, which will have a great impact on the number of attendance at tonight’s show.
WWE is not getting any gate money from these shows as they received a fixed fee, rumored to be in the $200 million range, for Smackdown and Royal Rumble. But while the tickets were originally all sold out, having empty seats thanks to resellers will affect the way the show is filmed and lit up.
2K officially announced that the WWE 2K26 video game will be released on March 13 for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.
Four editions of the game will be available for purchase, with the Standard Edition at $69.99, King of Kings edition at $99.99, Attitude Era at $129.99, and Monday Night War edition at $149.99. The special editions of the game will be out on Friday, March 6, one week prior to the Standard Edition release.
The game will feature the biggest roster in franchise history with over 400 playable characters, four new match types, offensive tools, gameplay upgrades, plus Create-A-Superstar, MyGM, MyRISE, MyFACTION, WWE Draft, and The Island.
Full details about the release can be found on the 2K website.
Hulk Hogan’s former home in Clearwater, Florida, is going on the market for just under $11 million. It is the same home where Hogan passed away in this past July.
Realtor.com reports that while his son Nick was named as the sole heir to his estate, the Clearwater house was not included in the list of assets left to him. The house is registered to an LLC owned by Hulk and his ex-wife Jennifer.
A cottage which is next to the property also owned by Hulk is not listed for sale.
The five-bedroom, 5,400 square foot home will hit the market on February 2, with the listing held by Martha Thorn of The Thorn Collection at Coldwell Banker Realty.
