WWE Royal Rumble 2020: Live results and reactions
The road to WrestleMania 36 is a 70-day journey, from late January through early April. The 2020 Royal Rumble kicks off that most important stretch of the WWE calendar, and Sunday’s show from Minute Maid Park in Houston will go a long way in shaping the key WrestleMania matches we’ll see on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Three of the top four singles titles on Raw and SmackDown will be defended Sunday night. Daniel Bryan gets a second chance at Bray Wyatt’s Universal championship in a rarely utilized stipulation — a strap match. Bayley defends her SmackDown women’s championship against Lacey Evans. And in a bit of deja vu, Becky Lynch and Asuka square off for the Raw women’s championship at the Royal Rumble, one year after Asuka successfully defended her SmackDown women’s title against Lynch at the very same event.
The United States championship will be on the line, and Roman Reigns faces King Corbin in a “Falls Count Anywhere” bout. But outside of the title matches, all eyes will be on the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches, which will crown a pair of WrestleMania world title contenders in two eponymous 30-participant battle royals. Of particular note is that WWE champion Brock Lesnar has entered the Royal Rumble match — just the second time in the event’s history that a reigning WWE champion will take part in the Royal Rumble. He’ll enter the match at No. 1.
Marc Raimondi, Tim Fiorvanti, Matt Willis are breaking down all the action as it happens throughout the night, while ESPN Stats & Info’s Sean Coyle rates each match on a scale from 0-5 based on a customized formula.
Match in progress…
Still to come:
(c) – indicates defending champion | * – Indicates match is on Kickoff Show
Strap match for the Universal championship: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Raw women’s championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Asuka
SmackDown women’s championship: Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans
30-man Royal Rumble match
Announced entrants: Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar (No. 1), AJ Styles, Erick Rowan, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Elias, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Otis, Tucker, Rusev, Bobby Lashley, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Braun Strowman, Shinsuke Nakamura, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, Big E, R-Truth
30-woman Royal Rumble match
Announced entrants: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Sarah Logan, Natalya
Falls count anywhere: King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns
*United States championship: Andrade (c) vs. Humberto Carrillo