The fairytale is alive and well as Cody Rhodes returned to WWE after seven months out injured and won the Royal Rumble to book his place at WrestleMania.
A torn pectoral muscle last June saw the hottest babyface in the company come to a grinding halt following his momentus return to WWE just three months earlier.
However, in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, Rhodes entered the Rumble in the coveted number 30 spot and won the whole battle royal.
In doing so, Rhodes has earned an undisputed universal heavyweight title match at WrestleMania. Roman Reigns is the current champion, reigning for over 900 days.
The Rumble match itself was peddled as one of the best ever by WWE themselves following Rhodes win. While that is generous, it was a fun, entertaining affair.
It started with Gunther in at number one and his great nemesis of 2022, Sheamus, in second.
Cody Rhodes’ ambition to win the WWE title that his father Dusty never did, is back on!
The pair would battle for close to an hour among the field with Gunther making it all the way to the final two before losing out to Rhodes.
The next major moment saw Brock Lesnar make his presence felt. The Beast Incarnate arrived and blew the Rumble wide open quickly eliminating the tactically amassed field.
Bobby Lashley then made his entrance just in time to prevent the titanic clash between Gunther and Lesnar. It’s smart to save that encounter, but not for WrestleMania 39, it appears.
If there was any doubt that Lashley and The Almighty were on a collision course for Hollywood in April, the former chucked the latter out of the Rumble in shockingly quick fashion to write another chapter in their story.
Rey Mysterio was meant to arrive at number 17, but the future Hall of Famer never showed.
Dominik Mysterio was next, but the son of the lucha legend, made his entrance wearing his father’s mask, suggesting he had attacked and dealt with his dear old dad before entering the Rumble.
Edge made a shock return after nearly four months away from the company at 24.
The Rated-R superstar returned like a ball of fire, tearing through The Judgement Day who had put him and his wife, Beth Phoenix, on the shelf with con-chair-tos.
Brock Lesnar couldn’t believe that he was chucked out of the Rumble in just 3:34
However, after a brief stare-down with Rollins that was a nod to their electric 2021 feud, Edge was pulled over the top rope by the men he had just eliminated – which is technically legal.
Once he chased Balor and Priest up with ramp – with Mysterio still in the match – Rhea Ripley turned up to take Edge down from behind, only for Phoenix to make the save and spear Ripley.
Logan Paul, who had appeared to suffer MCL and ACL injuries in November, made a superhuman recovery to a cascade of boos in Texas.
The WWE roster ganged up on Paul, but the YouTube sensation managed to make jaws drop by meeting Ricochet in the middle of the ring after both men had springboarding in.
Paul would fall victim to Rhodes when The American Nightmare tore through the field on the home stretch.
After a series of close calls, Rhodes managed to get Gunther over the top rope and book his place in L.A. this April.
Royal Rumble Results
1. Gunther, eliminates Woods, Booker T, Sheamus, McIntyre
2. Sheamus, eliminates Miz, Otis, Elias
3. The Miz
4. Kofi Kingston
5. Gargano
6. Xavier Woods
7. Karrion Kross
8. Chad Gable
9. Drew McIntyre, eliminates Otis, Elias
10. Santos Escobar
11. Angelo Dawkins
12. Brock Lesnar, eliminates Escobar, Dawkins, Gable
13. Bobby Lashley, eliminates Lesnar
14. Baron Corbin
15. Seth Rollins, eliminates Corbin, Lashley
16. Otis
17. Rey Mysterio
18. Dominik Mysterio
19. Elias
20. Finn Balor, eliminates Gargano, Edge
21. Booker T
22. Damien Priest, eliminates Ford
23. Montez Ford
24. Edge, eliminates Priest, Balor
25. Austin Theory, eliminates Ricochet
26. Omos
27. Braun Strowman, eliminates Omos
28. Ricochet,
29. Logan Paul, eliminates Rollins
30. Cody Rhodes, eliminates Dominik, Strowman, Theory, Paul, Gunther
***
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