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WWE Royal Rumble 2023 PLE results, recap and highlights

Apart from choosing the WrestleMania Hollywood main-eventers, WWE also had some interesting returns set for the night.

Sami Zayn turned on Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble (image courtesy Twitter)

Bengaluru, January 29: The 36th annual event under the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view chronology was delivered, last night crowning the winners of the Men's and Women's Rumble matches.

Apart from choosing the WrestleMania Hollywood main-eventers, WWE also had some interesting returns set for the night. Plus, a couple of championship match and the first-ever Pitch Black Match were there on the match card.

Check out the recap and results from the 2023 Royal Rumble 2023 WWE Premium Live Event that took place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas:

- Cody Rhodes won the 2023 Men's Royal Rumble Match to kick things off in the PLE. The American Nightmare entered the fray as the final seed, eliminated five to secure a main-event spot at WrestleMania 39.

The participants' list of the Rumble match is given below:

• Gunther

• Sheamus

• The Miz

• Kofi Kingston

• Johnny Gargano

• Xavier Woods

• Karrion Kross

• Chad Gable

• Drew McIntyre

• Santos Escobar

• Angelo Dawkins

• Brock Lesnar

• Bobby Lashley

• Baron Corbin

• Seth 'Freakin' Rollins

• Otis

• Rey Mysterio

• Dominik Mysterio

• Elias

• Finn Balor

• Booker T

• Damian Priest

• Montez Ford

• Edge

• Austin Theory

• Omos

• Braun Strowman

• Ricochet

• Logan Paul

• Cody Rhodes

Gunther delivered the performance of a lifetime by remaining 1 hour and 11 minutes in the match. He was the first entry of the match and the 1st elimination by the winner Cody Rhodes.

Brock Lesnar entered the match only to be eliminated by Bobby Lashley. Rey Mysterio never had the chance to enter due to a backstage attack by his son, Dominik.

Speaking of Dom, he and his Judgment Day cohorts, Damian Priest and Finn Balor were eliminated by the returning WWE Hall of Famer Edge. Rhea Ripley attacked Edge outside the ring but Edge's wife Beth Phoenix took care of her.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and Logan Paul were among the surprise entrants. Paul again impressed the WWE Universe with some incredible moves before Seth Rollins eliminated him on the 28th spot.

- Bray Wyatt defeated La Knight in a Pitch Black Match. This was basically a match under No DQ scenario with dim lights and neon ropes.

After some back-and-forth going, Wyatt hit the Sister Abigail to pick up the easy pin-fall win. After the match, Wyatt showed his new mask and attacked Knight Mandible Claw. Uncle Howdy also appeared to pose on Knight.

- Bianca Belair (c) defeated Alexa Bliss to retain her Raw Women's Championship. Bliss hit Belair with the DDT followed by a Senton but the champion kicked out of it.

Belair tried to use her hair but Bliss aimed for a Sister Abigail but Belair reversed it into the KOD for the pin to win. After the match, the lights flickered as Uncle Howdy appeared to scare away Bliss inside the ring.

- Rhea Ripley won the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble Match to earn a championship shot at Wrestlemania 39.

The participants' list for this Rumble match goes as follows:

• Rhea Ripley

• Liv Morgan

• Dana Brooke

• Emma

• Shayna Baszler

• Bayley

• B-Fab

• Roxanne Perez

• Dakota Kai

• IYO SKY

• Natalya

• Candice LaRae

• Zoey Stark

• Xia Li

• Becky Lynch

Tegan Nox

Asuka

Piper Niven

Tamina Snuka

Chelsea Green

Zelina Vega

Raquel Rodriguez

Mia Yim

Lacey Evans

Michelle McCool

Indi Hartwell

Sonya Deville

Shotzi

Nikki Cross

Nia Jax

The winner Rhea Ripley was undoubtedly the best performer of the match as she lasted 1 hour and 1 minute (same as Liv Morgan) from the number-one position to secure one of the biggest wins of her career.

The Nightmare also had the most number of eliminations in the match, that's 7 followed by Becky Lynch (5) who was obviously focused on taking out DAMAGE CTRL members rather than winning the Rumble.

Asuka, Piper Niven (fka Doudrop) returned to action in the Women's Rumble match while surprise entries were WWE Legend Michelle McCool, Nia Jax, NXT Stars Roxanne Perez, Indi Hartwell and Zoey Stark.

None of these managed to feature in the top 3, however. Asuka was eliminated Ripley after which it came down to the two women, Ripley and Morgan who started the gauntlet.

Morgan almost did the unthinkable of eliminating Ripley as the latter had both of her legs dangling above the floor but even in that position she grabbed Morgan and threw her out using the legs to win the match.

- Roman Reigns (c) (with Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman) defeated Kevin Owens to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of Royal Rumble 2023.

Owens hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb on Reigns but there was no official for the pin count. Sami tried to help Reigns by giving him a chair but Reigns managed to kick out.

The chaos aided Reigns in delivering a spear through the barricade on Owens. Upon coming back to the ring, Reigns connected with another spear before pinning Owens to retain.

After the match, The Usos and Solo Sikoa appeared in the ring to beat down Owens. Sami was handed a chair but he instead hit Reigns with it. As a consequence, The Bloodline also attacked him in the ring.

Jey Usos interestingly left the ring as he just couldn't hit Sami with a chair. Reigns and Sikoa put down Owens and Sami in the ring. Reigns posed with Jimmy Uso and Sikoa to send Royal Rumble 2023 off the air.

Story first published: Sunday, January 29, 2023, 11:55 [IST]
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