Key stats and info to know before the 2026 Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble, the third-longest-running annual WWE premium live event, returns Saturday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN Unlimited). The event, which will take place at the KAFD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, began in 1988 and is traditionally the first PLE of each year.

The show will feature a men’s and women’s Royal Rumble match, with the winners having the opportunity to challenge for the World Championship at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas in April. The card also includes the Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre will try to defend their title against sami zayn And aj styles Will put his in-ring career on the line against gunther.

As the road to WrestleMania begins, here’s a look at the history of its first stop.

men’s royal rumble match

WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan won the first Royal Rumble match in 1988. He recorded three eliminations in the match, including the final elimination of the One Man Gang. The first Royal Rumble elimination occurred when Jake “The Snake” Roberts sent “The Natural” Butch Reed over the top rope.
This weekend, Jey Uso will try to become the next wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches. This feat has been accomplished four times: by Hulk Hogan (1990, 1991), Shawn Michaels (1995, 1996), “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (1997, 1998) and Cody Rhodes (2023, 2024).
The Miz has the most Royal Rumble matches (16) on the active roster. The all-time leader in Rumble match appearances is Kane with 18 (he had two more appearances under different personas). Kane also holds the record for most eliminations with 45.
Gunther set the record for the longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble match in 2023. He entered first and finished runner-up after spending more than 1 hour, 11 minutes in the ring. In contrast, the shortest time spent in a Royal Rumble match was 1.9 seconds by Santino Marella in 2009.
While 10 Superstars have won two men’s Royal Rumble matches, there is only one who has won three – Austin. He won the 1997, 1998, and 2001 Rumble matches. Other multiple-time winners are Hogan, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Batista, Triple H, Randy Orton, Edge, Brock Lesnar, and Rhodes.
This will be the eighth Royal Rumble match of Roman Reigns. He only has one Rumble win (2015), but no one has been runner-up more times (4).
No one has achieved more Final Four finishes in Royal Rumble matches than Orton (8). Two of them were wins (2009 and 2017).
Only one Superstar has accumulated more than five hours of total time spent in Royal Rumble matches – Chris Jericho. He participated in 11 Rumble matches, finishing runner-up once and reaching the finals four times.
As one would expect, the lucky number is to be the last entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match (number 30). Five superstars (Lesnar, The Undertaker, Rhodes, Cena and Triple H) have won by entering last. Only three Superstars (Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Edge) entered the match first and went the distance to win.

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women’s royal rumble match

The first women’s Royal Rumble match took place in 2018 and was won by Asuka, whose final elimination was Nikki Bella. The win earned Asuka a SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34.
Liv Morgan and Natalya are tied for the most Royal Rumble appearances among women. Both participated in their eighth Rumble match in 2025.
At the 2025 Rumble, Nia Jax eliminated nine wrestlers, giving her a total of 27 eliminations, the most ever.
Jax is the only woman in history to enter both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches in the same year. In 2019, after competing in a women’s match, Jax ambushed original entrant R-Truth and entered the men’s match at number 30. He recorded an elimination (Mustafa Ali) before being eliminated by Rey Mysterio.
Roxanne Perez’s 1 hour, 7 minutes in the ring during the 2025 Rumble is the longest time spent in a women’s Rumble match.
Flair is the only multiple-time Women’s Royal Rumble Match winner (2020, 2025). She has participated in five Rumble matches and has been one of the final four participants in all of them.
In 2023, Rhea Ripley became the only Superstar to win the Women’s Royal Rumble match as the first contestant. In reality, the match came down to Ripley and the second entrant, Morgan. Both wrestlers spent more than an hour in the ring.

Undisputed WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (Captain) vs. Sami Zayn

The first WWE Championship match to be held at the Royal Rumble took place in 1991. Sergeant. Slaughter defeated The Ultimate Warrior to win his only championship in what was then known as the WWF.
This will not be McIntyre’s first WWE Championship title defense at the Royal Rumble. He defeated WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg in less than three minutes to retain the title in 2021.
Zayn has never defeated McIntyre in a singles match. Starting in 2023, they have had six head-to-head matches on television.
Zayn will be looking for his first win at the Royal Rumble. Seven of his eight losses were in Royal Rumble matches. The exception was in 2018, when he and Kevin Owens teamed in a handicap match versus AJ Styles for the WWE Championship.

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Singles Match: Gunther vs. AJ Styles (Styles’ career at stake)

It has been over three years since Styles won a match in WWE PLE. His last PLE win was over Finn Balor at Survivor Series: WarGames in 2022. During that time period, Gunther earned 10 PLE wins. His most recent performance was on Pat McAfee at Backlash 2025.
Styles’ WWE in-ring career could end at the same event where it began. Styles debuted in the 2016 Royal Rumble. He was the third entrant in the Royal Rumble match, which lasted approximately 30 minutes and featured two Superstars being eliminated before being eliminated by Kevin Owens.
This will not be the first dangerous match of his career to be held in Royal Rumble. In 2008, Ric Flair’s career was at stake against MVP. Flair won the match.
Gunther could end another career in several months. At “Saturday Night’s Main Event” in December, he defeated Cena in his final match.

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