For the first time, the Royal Rumble is stepping outside North America and into Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and that alone gives the 2026 edition a different kind of edge. The Road to WrestleMania 42 runs through the King Abdullah Financial District, and WWE has loaded this card with legacy, uncertainty, and a few careers and coronations on the line.
Setting the Stage in Riyadh
Royal Rumble 2026 will unfold Saturday, Jan. 31, from a temporary outdoor stadium in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District, the centerpiece of a major Riyadh Season showcase. It’s the 39th Rumble in history, and the first time the event has been exported beyond North America, a statement about how global WWE’s ambitions have become.
In the U.S., the show streams on ESPN, while Netflix carries the event in several international markets, underscoring how WWE’s new media deals are reshaping how fans consume tentpole shows. As always, the Rumble will orbit around two 30‑superstar matches, but the undercard this year is anything but filler.
Gunther vs. AJ Styles: Career vs. Coronation
On paper, Gunther vs. AJ Styles is just a singles match; in practice, it feels like a crossroads for both men. Gunther has graduated from dominant midcard destroyer to full‑blown main‑event monster, fresh off a statement win over John Cena that cemented him as one of the company’s standard‑bearers. Styles, meanwhile, has made it clear that 2026 is his final year in the ring, and that sense of last‑chapter urgency hangs over everything he does now.
The hook here is that Styles is effectively putting his career aura on the line against the most unforgiving stylistic matchup imaginable. Gunther’s bruising, methodical offense is tailor‑made to pick apart Styles’ speed and creativity, and WWE has been careful not to undercut “The Ring General’s” momentum on his way into a possible WrestleMania world‑title program. It’s telling that many projections lean Gunther’s way; a clean win over a future Hall of Famer in a featured singles match in Riyadh would be the kind of result you circle in his eventual career retrospective.
For Styles, the emotional play is obvious: one more miracle, one more classic, one more night where he bends time backward and steals the show. If he’s truly on the farewell tour he’s hinted at, this is the first of what could be several big‑match gut punches before he ultimately takes that last bow.clutchpoints+1
Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn: Chaos Around The Undisputed Crown
Drew McIntyre walks into Riyadh as the new Undisputed WWE Champion, having ripped the title away from Cody Rhodes in a brutal Three Stages of Hell match on SmackDown earlier this month. That win came with a massive asterisk: Jacob Fatu’s shocking return and attack on both men, injecting another wild card into an already crowded WrestleMania title picture.
Now McIntyre defends against Sami Zayn, who has been circling the world‑title scene for much of the last two years and carries with him the residue of unfinished business from his saga with The Bloodline. Zayn’s underdog energy plays well in a Rumble setting, and he’s the kind of sympathetic babyface who can credibly eat heartbreak here and bounce back into the Rumble later—or, alternatively, pull off the upset and walk into WrestleMania 42 with a rocket on his back.
What complicates this is the sheer number of sharks circling the top belt. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and rising names like Bron Breakker and Gunther all loom as potential WrestleMania dance partners, and Jacob Fatu’s attack suggests interference is never far away. This feels less like a tidy one‑on‑one and more like chapter one of a title story that could stretch all the way through April.
Women’s Royal Rumble: The Comeback Lane
The women’s Rumble, now entrenched as a yearly staple, carries a different kind of intrigue this year: the possibility of big returns. Bianca Belair has been sidelined since WrestleMania 41 with a finger injury, and her name sits near the top of almost every list of potential surprise entrants and winners. A Belair comeback win would instantly set up a blockbuster collision with Jade Cargill, who currently sits atop the WWE Women’s division as champion.
Liv Morgan is another name sitting in that “it has to happen eventually… right?” tier, having repeatedly come up short in Rumble environments and title programs. A Riyadh victory would give her long‑running pursuit of a signature moment the payoff it’s been missing and offer a different flavor of challenger for Jade or the Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer.
Beyond the obvious headliners, WWE has room for a few genuine surprises in the women’s field, especially with the company’s expanded relationships with international promotions. A late‑entry return for someone like Tiffany Stratton, who has also been mentioned as a possible injured star ready to re‑emerge, would give the match another fresh jolt. A wildcard legend cameo—think a Trish Stratus type—would play well to the global audience without hijacking the outcome.
In terms of a pick, Belair feels like the most logical choice: a proven Rumble winner, a crossover star, and a ready‑made foil for Jade Cargill on a WrestleMania stage hungry for marquee attractions. But if WWE wants to zag, Liv Morgan finally getting over the hump is the kind of emotional payoff the Rumble has historically delivered.
Men’s Royal Rumble: Star Power and A Global Spotlight
The men’s Rumble is loaded with name value even before you start fantasizing about the countdown clock. Confirmed or heavily discussed names include Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Jey Uso, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, Penta, Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Austin Theory, Oba Femi, and Randy Orton. That’s a mix of established main eventers, crossover draws, and young monsters being groomed for the next era.
The internal logic suggests two main lanes: the “finish the story” path with Cody Rhodes, or the “make a new made guy” route with someone like Breakker, Oba Femi, or even Gunther finally getting over the line after his previous deep Rumble runs. Reigns entering adds a layer of Bloodline drama that could splinter across multiple threads—especially with Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in the mix—but it’s hard to see him needing a Rumble win to justify another WrestleMania main event.
Then there are the possible shocks. Two of the buzziest outside names are Chris Jericho and Powerhouse Hobbs, both of whom have been away from WWE but are reportedly free or at least loosely speculated about in rumor circles. Jericho’s last AEW match came in April 2025, and if “Break the Walls Down” hit in Riyadh, it would be the kind of cross‑promotional shock moment that defines an entire era. Hobbs, recently absent from AEW programming, would bring a different sort of surprise: not a nostalgia pop, but a new slab of heavyweight threat dropped into WWE’s ecosystem.
You can also pencil in a couple of NXT or international wildcards—names like Oba Femi have already stepped into that spotlight—and maybe a regional nod tied to Saudi Arabia’s own growing wrestling footprint. The Rumble is as much about those 30‑second jolts of possibility as it is about the last man standing.
When the smoke clears, Cody Rhodes remains the safest, cleanest pick to win, especially if WWE wants a straightforward route back to the Undisputed title picture after losing the belt to McIntyre. But there’s a very real argument for Bron Breakker—presented as a dominant up‑and‑comer—to shock the field and punch his ticket to WrestleMania 42, planting a flag for the next generation in a stadium designed to showcase WWE’s future on a global stage.c
Whatever direction WWE chooses, Riyadh is getting more than just a traveling big‑four show. It’s an inflection point: the night when the WrestleMania 42 card starts to take shape, when careers tilt one way or another, and when one man and one woman will climb through 29 other bodies and point at a sign that now represents a truly worldwide brand.
