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WWE Royal Rumble grades: Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns heading to WrestleMania, Drew McIntyre retains, AJ Styles retires
WWE Royal Rumble grades: Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns heading to WrestleMania, Drew McIntyre retains, AJ Styles retires originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026 Road to WrestleMania is underway. The first PLE of the year is in the books, and we now know that Liv Morgan and Roman Reigns will main event one of the nights of this year's WrestleMania in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April.
The card overall was only four matches, and lasted four hours. The women's Royal Rumble led off the show, followed by Styles vs. Gunther, then the title match, before the men's Royal Rumble closed the show.
The crowd was up and down throughout the event, but the show was solid overall. There wasn't anything necessarily bad from the show, but overall, it felt like it lacked oomph to really make it one of the better rumbles ever.
Both Royal Rumble matches created plenty of storylines to pursue to WrestleMania and beyond. Seeing AJ Styles pass out and have to retire from the WWE was tough to watch. The McIntyre-Zayn match may have been the match of the night, with McIntyre surprisingly retaining over Zayn on his "home" turf.
Here are our match grades for the 2026 Royal Rumble.
MORE: WWE Royal Rumble 2026 results
WWE Royal Rumble 2026 match grades
Men's Royal Rumble
- Grade: A-
The men’s Royal Rumble hooked viewers from the jump. Bron Breakker, who was widely considered the favorite, was taken out by a masked assailant. When he was rolled into the ring, Oba Femi eliminated him instantly, creating intrigue early in the match. From there, Femi was dominant until he came toe-to-toe with Brock Lesnar. It was an excellent tease, and WWE needs to pull the trigger on that matchup.
Powerhouse Hobbs, rebranded as Royce Keys, debuted and looked solid, though it will be interesting to see where WWE goes with him. As far as surprises go, Mr. Iguana and La Parka appeared from AAA. Later, after El Grande Americano entered, “The Original” El Grande Americano followed as the next entrant, creating a possible storyline.
The Royal Rumble is tough to nail because fans’ attention can wander. While I don’t think Chris Jericho would add much in one final WWE run, it was still disappointing that he didn’t return. Je’Von Evans was outstanding and helped create several wild spots.
While the match was good, and Reigns is a fine winner, but it felt like something was missing. Maybe the crowd wasn’t as into it as expected, but down the stretch it felt like it lacked a bit of oomph. Still, it was a very good Royal Rumble and a solid ending to an overall strong show.
Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre (c) (United WWE Championship)
- Grade: A-
The crowd was obviously behind Zayn the whole match. This game moved pretty quickly, which was nice, sandwiched between two rumbles and the methodical Styles-Gunther.
McIntyre worked well, and the spots were good. Zayn really sold his back injury and the trip through the table. His continuing to fight really sold that he was going to keep going until he won. McIntyre was not going for the pin after his second-to-last Claymore kick seemed like it was going to come back to bite him. But he landed his final Claymore and picked up the win.
Zayn should be given a spotlight at WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia next year. For now, this was a good match that didn't go how I thought it would and allowed McIntyre to continue his much-needed title reign.
AJ Styles vs. Gunther (Career Match)
- Grade: B
It's always tough to grade a match where the fan favorite has to say goodbye to their career. Gunther and Styles started off slowly, with the former methodically wearing down his opponent. Styles forced the match tempo to pick up, but Gunther adjusted. Just like with the Cena retirement match, Styles kept getting put into sleeper holds.
Styles fought out twice, but he wasn't able to do anything with the momentum as Gunther clinched the hold back. Styles fought until he "passed-out," which was admittedly a better ending than Cena smiling and tapping.
Styles then got the ovation he deserved as his WWE tenure came to a close. He will likely do a farewell tour around the wrestling world this year, so it shouldn't be the last that we see him.
Overall, the match was good, and there were times that Styles made it seem like he may pull a shocking upset, but it wasn't to be. It told the story that it needed to, and was a solid match.
MORE: Every Royal Rumble winner in WWE history
Women's Royal Rumble
- Grade: B+
Morgan was the last woman standing, but the pacing of this match was interesting. There were stretches of more than 10 minutes with no eliminations, and this was one of the first Rumbles I remember where the entrances felt faster than the usual 90 seconds.
Still, the match did what you want from a Royal Rumble. It had memorable spots and planted seeds for future storylines, with tag teams eliminating each other—whether on purpose or not. Lash Legend got a big chance to shine with some high-profile eliminations.
The Rumble had surprises at No. 29 and No. 30 with the returns of Brie Bella and Tiffany Stratton. The final three—Liv Morgan, Sol Ruca, and Tiffany Stratton—could have honestly had a longer run together. WWE should make that a triple-threat match down the road. Even though the pacing was a little fast, the ending was great.
The match had some slow spots, and by the time Stratton entered, there were about 14 women still in the ring, making it feel cluttered. Overall, it was good, but not the best women’s Royal Rumble we’ve seen.
