Connect with us

Recaps

WWE Royal Rumble 2026: ‘Ones to the Sky’ as Roman Reigns Wins Title Shot at WrestleMania in a Night Full of Unsolved Mysteries

By Michael Fairman

Published

on

Photo: WWE

The road to WrestleMania 42 began by turning back to the OTC1, Roman Reigns, to lead the WWE into their Super Bowl of the year, when he survived the 30-man Royal Rumble on Saturday night, January 31 at the 2026. This year’s Rumble emanated for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the week, Reigns made a guest appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in a bit of foreshadowing where he put the WWE creative and roster on notice, that in his absence, they were not getting things done since none of the young guy’s stepped up, so now he needs to step back in and right this wrong.

Reigns survived the final four of the stacked Men’s Rumble. When the smoke cleared it was down to Gunther, Randy Orton, Logan Paul and the OTC. In the end, Reigns tossed Gunther over the top rope to secure the victory. Now, he has his pick of which WWE champion to face at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas come April.

If the championship picture stays as it is until then, Roman could go back after the belt he held for an historic four years, the Undisputed WWE Championship, now held by Drew McIntyre or the World Heavyweight Championship held by CM Punk. 

CURB STOMPS

Reigns’ victory was only a part of the story coming out of Riyadh as the Royal Rumble left the WWE Universe with much to ponder. Let’s run back these mysteries.

As entrant #2 Bron Breakker headed to the ring to face off with entrant #1 Oba Femi, a black hooded figure came out of nowhere tossing him outside the ring and giving him the ‘Seth Rollins’-like patented Curb Stomp. Next, he was tossed into the ring for Femi to then officially throw Breakker over the top rope and thus eliminated.

The hooded figure to us was slighter in build than potential suspects: Seth Rollins, Adam Pearce or even Austin Theory, who were all suspect. However, what if it is the ‘Vision’s’ own Logan Paul? Remember, earlier in the week, he was part of a backstage vignette saying that the clique will all help Breakker win the rumble.

Brock Lesnar came out accompanied by his former manager, Paul Heyman. Although, the two in Lesnar’s recent appearances seem to have aligned. Femi, who has tossed out the first several participants easily, came up against the “Beast Incarnate” and went to Suplex City and was then eliminated. Eventually, Lesnar was taken out by L.A. Knight and Cody Rhodes.

Speaking of Roman Reigns, he was all for himself, eliminating his own cousins, Jey Uso and Jacob Fatu. Before Fatu was sent home, he was about to toss Rhodes over the top rope, when Drew McIntyre (who is not in the Rumble) came out of nowhere and Claymore’d him and thus he was eliminated too! Now, Cody’s only current way back to WrestleMania is a win at the ‘Elimination Chamber’ later this month

In the arrivals and returns department: AEW’s former Powerhouse Hobbs entered the Rumble with his new WWE in-ring name of Royce Keys, Chad Gable returned as the Original El Grande Americano, La Parka (who had a run in WCW, but with the running gag of someone different in the skeleton leotard attire) showed up which felt very odd. Kudos to former NXT star Je’Von Evans who has now been called up to the main WWE Men’s roster for a solid first Rumble performance.

LIV IT UP

Photo: WWE

The Women’s Rumble kicked-off the card and in an intriguing plot twist, tag-team partners Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were the number #1 and number #2 participants causing some drama. While they never really went “at” each other, things took a turn during the Rumble when Flair accidentally eliminated Bliss.

In the end, it was Judgment Day’s Liv Morgan who took out the returning-from-injury Tiffany Stratton to win the Women’s Rumble. After two previous second-place finishes, Morgan is heading to WrestleMania with a title shot in the very near future. However, on her way to victory, she double-crossed her former tag partner, and stablemate, Raquel Rodriguez by eliminating her from Rumble contention.

The big stars of the Women’s Rumble were Lash Legend, who while getting so boo’d by the crowd, eliminated several key women and put on quite a show. In addition, props have to go to Sol Ruca, who wound up in the final three with Morgan and Stratton, and delivered her patented Sol Snatcher, only for it to fall apart from there when she was eliminated by Stratton.

The huge pop of the match came when Brie Bella entered at #29. She has been out of in-ring action since 2022’s Rumble. Along with her sister, Nikki, they eliminated Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. Will the Bellas make another run for tag team gold? Stay tuned.

However, most everyone thought the #30 entrant would turn out to be Bianca Belair. The EST did not appear, raising questions and concerns if she will ever be able to be cleared to wrestle again, or if the WWE is holding her back for a huge pop on an upcoming RAW or SmackDown, or if she will be in Chicago later this month at Elimination Chamber.

STYLE

Photo: WWE

AJ Styles, just like the Taylor Swift song lyric from her hit song, Style, says “Will Never Go Out of Style,” and that holds true for the Phenomenal One. Sadly, AJ lost with his WWE career on the line via a sleeper hold to “career killer” Gunther in their singles match up.

In the follow-up to last month’s shocking end of John Cena’s legendary career, where the 17-time champ tapped out to the “Ring General,” Styles just passed out. In a shocker, Style came too and was told by the ref, he lost. AJ received a standing ovation from the crowd.

However, this did not feel like the “official” end to Styles career. When it was time for him to remove his wrestling gloves or boots, as is customary when a wrestler says farewell and is retiring from in-ring performance, Styles stopped himself short of doing that. Time will tell if he moves on for another run at TNA or comes to AEW, or if some other thing is at play here.

It should be noted that multiple WWE superstars past and present took to social media including Cena himself, acknowledging Styles incredible work or how emotional it was backstage at the Rumble after he lost to Gunther.

THE WAITING GAME

Photo: WWE

In the weakest match of the night, Syrian-born Sami Zayn, for all intent and purposes the hometown favorite, lost another bid for the world championship to Drew McIntrye, who threw everything at the kitchen sink at Zayn to make him give up or stay down. It was hard to watch Zayn take the beat down, but it also was so monotonous.

With WrestleMania 43 coming to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2027, that may be the time that Zayn captures the big prize if the WWE can figure out an engrossing long-term storyline for him, that would give us all the feels around the world and not just in Saudi Arabia a year or so from now.

OVERALL 2026 ROYAL RUMBLE GRADE – B

Now below, check out the highlights from the Royal Rumble 2026, followed by the Michael Fairman Channel’s “What’s Up? Wrestling” post-show.

Then let us know, what did you think of Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan as this year’s Royal Rumble winners? AJ Styles being retired by Gunther? What was your high and low point of this year’s card? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

Click to comment

0 Comments
oldest
newest

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Did the ABC Soap Opera Just Tee Up a Jason and Serena Pairing?

Published

on

By

Jason and Serena

The Tuesday, October 6 episode of General Hospital kicked-off with Serena Baldwin (Kelly Kruger) literally turned upside down and stuck on the Quartermaine roof in front of Jason (Steve Burton), who came to her rescue.

This marked the first time that Kelly Kruger and Steve Burton shared any substantial screen time together since Kruger debuted on the ABC soap opera back in July.

In story, Serena was trying to save the peregrine falcons’ nest that Tracy (Jane Elliot) wanted exterminated. Jason agreed to help Serena relocate the nest to the nature preserve. Said relocation would be put in the preserve adjacent to the property, think where Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) buried Brennan (Chris McKenna)!

Later, when they returned to the Quartermaine mansion, the two have more banter where Serena told Jason they should both check themselves for ticks. Serena has done a full body check in the bathroom, but then asks Jason to go through her hair and look for any signs of ticks. Clearly, one or both may have ticks prompting suspicion if they wind up at GH with Dr. Isaiah Gannon (Sawandi Wilson) as their doctor who previously treated Ava for the tick stuck in her hair!

Serena and Jason

Courtesy/ABC

ROMANCE SWITCH-UPS

While initially General Hospital fans suspected that the character of Serena was being brought back to the canvas in the form of Kruger as a love interest for Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson), in recent weeks and in admission by Tanisha Harper, it appears that GH is teasing a Michael and Jordan romance. The two have been spending more time together at Aurora, and Michael helped her get accepted into the burn clinic in Germany to treat her facial scars from the car accident.

Meanwhile, after Steve Burton returned to GH after his extended hiatus this June, it was clear that the writers were heading in the direction of a Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) and Jason break-up.

Eventually, a few weeks ago, the duo called it quits after Anna (Finola Hughes) tried to kill Britt, and Jason would not help Britt press charges against his friend, who was suffering from delusions after being mentally gaslighted by Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) and Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and company.

So, what did you think of the scenes between Jason and Serena on today’s GH? Do you think Kelly and Steve have on-screen chemistry that you would be open to be seeing how it plays out? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Sonny Tells Dante, “I Don’t Want a Son Like You,” While Michael Tells Brook Lynn to Bide Her Time Till Chase and Willow Have an Affair

Published

on

By

Sonny, Dante, Michael, Brook Lynn General Hospital

On the Thursday, October 1 episode of General Hospital, both Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) had some things to say and what they had to say didn’t go over well with whom they were talking to!

Sonny had a confrontation with his son, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), while Michael leveled with Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) over Chase (Josh Swickard).

GH is setting up a scenario where everyone is going to make it look like Sonny was responsible for having Sidwell (Carlo Rota) beat up in Pentonville; while viewers already know Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) were behind it.

Sonny and Dante

Courtesy/ABC

A VISIT WITH DAD

Now, Dante comes to Sonny’s house. He wants to know straight up from his dad if he ordered the attack at Pentonville. Sonny flatly denies any culpability or responsibility, but Dante refuses to believe him.

Dante informs Sonny he has video footage of Sully and Vito at the prison. Sonny explains to Dante he doesn’t know why Sully beat up both Curtis and Dante. Things escalated when Sonny was deeply hurt that Dante refused to believe him. Dante says he was disappointed that his father didn’t respect him enough to be truthful with him!

Sonny asks Dante to consider that he was being set up. He says all he did was to tell Vito to instruct Sully to keep a watchful eye on Sidwell, not to harm him. No matter what Sonny said, Dante continued hammering him with how he knew deep down, even though he said he left the mob, he had to finish off Sidwell for himself.

Next, Sonny explains everything he has ever done was to provide for and to protect his family. Dante fired back that he doesn’t want to deal anymore with Sonny’s half-baked truths. As the two men argue, Gio (Giovanni Mazza) shows up at Sonny’s front door and overhears Sonny losing his temper and shouting at Dante, “Get out of my house! I don’t want a son like you!”  The scenes featured an excellent performance by Maurice Benard.

Michael and Brook Lynn

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL THE MANIPULATOR

While this is going down, outside the Quartermaine boathouse, Brook Lynn opens up to Michael about living at the Q’s with Chase being there, since he only came back due to legal advice from his lawyer, Monet Mitchell (Blythe Howard).

Brook Lynn questioned whether they should get legally separate. Michael insisted that would be a big mistake. When she asks why, Michael tells Brook Lynn to bide her time until Chase and Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) have an affair; then she’d have full custody of Phoebe.

An angered Brook Lynn pushed Michael into the water and accuses him of moving Willow back into the gatehouse with intent on putting Chase and Willow in closer proximity and sacrificing Brook Lynn’s family in the process.  As the two cousins bicker, Chase shows up asking Brook Lynn if she is OK. Michael punctuates their talk with “You know, I’m right.”

CURTIS FIGURES OUT A WAY TO GET OUT OF THE SLAMMER

At GH, Willow visits Curtis (Donnell Turner) in his hospital room. Curtis wants Willow to get him pardoned and keep him out of jail, and in return, he will help her nail Sonny.

Next, Willow tells Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) she wants Curtis held for observation for three more days. He agrees to do so under one condition, that she understands that he may need to call in a favor from a congresswoman.

So, what did you think of how Dante accused his father and refused to believe Sonny’s answers? Is this the end of their father and son relationship for good? Is Michael the most manipulative person of all, except for Willow? Do the two deserve each other? Do you want Chase and Willow to have an affair? And what of Curtis? Does he have many redeeming qualities left? Share your thoughts via the comment section,  but first check out the talk Michael had with Brook Lynn.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Ava and Drew Revealed to be Behind Framing Sonny for Sidwell’s Prison Beatdown

Published

on

By

Drew and Ava

If you thought that the person responsible for the Pentonville brawl that saw Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and Curtis (Donnell Turner) taken to General Hospital was Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) or even Sidwell himself, you were dead wrong! On the Wednesday, September 30 episode of GH, it turned out that the culprits were actually Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison).

In story, Drew apparently bankrolled the attack on Sidwell and framing Sonny. He told Ava their planned worked (she came up with it!) but was horrified when Drew informed her that Curtis got caught in the crosshairs. Ava is visibly upset because of her longtime friendship with Curtis’ daughter, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali). Drew tried to make Ava see the bright side. Curtis was witness to it and his presence will cast doubt on Sonny’s claims to that he had gotten out of the mob and gone legit.

Later, Vito shows up at Drew’s. They informed him that his guy on the inside of the slammer made a big mistake by hurting their friend and ordered him to leave town.

Maura West

Courtesy/ABC

BOATHOUSE BRAWL

In other major developments, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) and Rocco (Finn Carr) have a blow out fight as Danny blames his “brother” for the reason Charlotte was sent off to boarding school.

Rocco told off Danny for Charlotte’s (Bluesy Burke) reckless behavior and he explains he had to protect his sister. He went in on Danny saying that his mother Lulu (Alexa Havins) has been right to send Charlotte to boarding school and far away from Danny.

However, Rocco went a bit too far when he shouted, “And if your mom was alive, she would send you away too!” Next, Danny punched out Rocco, leading to a terrible brawl. An angered Danny yells at Rocco to, “Stay away from me and everyone in my family. And don’t you ever mention my mom again!” Danny storms off.

Rocco

Courtesy/ABC

Now alone outside the boathouse, Rocco flashes back to his first kiss with Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarksi), hoping that his fight with Danny will not escalate and ruin their budding romance. Meanwhile, a bloodied-mouth Danny heads over to Sonny’s and Jason (Steve Burton) is there at the same time. He then admits that he has a bad fight with Rocco and they are both beaten up.

WILL SCOUT WISE UP?

At the end of the episode, Scout, who had a fight with Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) over Drew, and who keeps telling everyone how good a man her dad truly is, comes upon a suspicious scene.

Scout hides behind the wall outside Drew’s. She sees her dad, Ava and Vito talking. Next, Scout seems to overhear Vito assuring Drew and Ava that their business dealings are done, and he’ll be leaving Port Charles for good.

So, what did you think of the reveal that Ava and Drew were behind framing Sonny for the prison beatdown of Sidwell (and Curtis)? Do you think Danny and Rocco’s relationship can be repaired, or do you think the teenagers will continue to be at each other’s throats? Finally, do you hope Scout gets a clue and stops thinking her dad walks on air? Weigh-in via the comment section, but first check out how Ava and Drew conspired below.

Continue Reading

Video Du Jour

Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Heather Tom

The Bold and the Beautiful

Airdate: 7-24-2026

Popular

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x