Latest / The K.B. Radio Network / Royal Rumble: Riyadh Recap & Reaction

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Royal Rumble: Riyadh Recap & Reaction · The K.B. Radio Network

0:09
WWE Universe we are officially on the road to WrestleMania welcome to faces in heels this is your podcast for professional wrestling here on the KB radio network I am your host Kevin Reed in
0:26
the Royal Rumble.
0:28
of 2026 has come to an end as the Royal Rumble took place in Riyadh,
0:35
Saudi Arabia.
0:37
And we all know who will be headlining
0:42
WrestleMania in both the men's and the women's side of the spectrum.
0:48
We had four matches today,
0:52
four taking place in the middle of the day.
0:55
I hope everybody knew that.
0:58
and not looking for this uh premium live event to take place at night like it normally does being as though it was in saudi arabia it took place at one o'clock at least central here in the united states as
1:13
we had the women's royal rumble match we had the undisputed wwe championship match.
1:21
We also had a career on the line match and the men's Royal Rumble match.
1:27
And,
1:28
you know,
1:30
let me start off by saying this.
1:32
I think we all can agree that wrestling as a whole,
1:36
not just in the WWE,
1:38
but you can look at TNA,
1:39
you can look at AEW,
1:41
around the pro wrestling community,
1:45
a stratosphere that it has been suffering,
1:50
man.
1:50
It's been such a law over the last couple of years when it comes to pro wrestling.
1:56
And in WWE,
1:58
you can kind of pinpoint the moment that it just took a took a nosedive.
2:05
You know,
2:06
it hasn't really excited at least me.
2:09
I'm only talking from my perspective here.
2:12
I have not enjoyed pro wrestling like I used to.
2:17
It could be because I'm getting older.
2:18
Maybe I'm growing out of it.
2:20
It only took 47 years to do it.
2:22
But it.
2:24
hasn't been as exciting and if you look on social media no matter which platform you look at i think a lot of people feel that way it has not been that exciting in wwe at least that's what we're talking about today and you can pinpoint it probably back when wwe
2:43
uh merged or was bought out by TKO and it became this corporate giant that it is now.
2:53
It's more.
2:54
pageantry than it is pro wrestling it's more of a spectacle than it is pro wrestling and now granted pro wrestling has always been a spectacle it has that's part of the charm part of the allure to it but it's just i
3:13
don't know man it's more of a showcase than it is pro wrestling you know stories have been suffering uh the wrestling has been
3:23
all right but it's been suffering for the most part as well and now i will say nxt is probably the last pro wrestling real pro wrestling that i grew up on remembering you know because it's raw it's kind of it's kind of uh fresh in
3:42
nxt and i'll be completely honest here it it hasn't been delivering on all cylinders.
3:50
You have some stars there.
3:51
At least used to be because all of the really good ones been called up to the main roster over the last few months.
3:58
But overall,
4:00
man,
4:01
pro wrestling has not been exciting in the build leading up to the Royal Rumble was not good.
4:08
This has been the weakest build to the Royal Rumble in ever.
4:16
As long as I can remember,
4:18
I was not.
4:19
Super excited for the Royal Rumble,
4:21
and this is my favorite
4:24
PLE.
4:26
The Royal Rumble has always delivered.
4:29
No matter what was going on,
4:31
you can always count on the Royal Rumble to give you some excitement,
4:36
some surprises,
4:37
some out-of-the-blue eliminations and things of that nature,
4:42
setting up
4:44
WrestleMania that's coming down the line.
4:47
and getting you excited for WrestleMania.
4:50
Well,
4:50
this year,
4:52
I didn't get that.
4:53
I didn't get none of that.
4:54
Now,
4:55
with that being said,
4:56
I did enjoy the Royal Rumble Riyadh.
4:59
I did enjoy this year's Royal Rumble for the most part,
5:04
but still.
5:05
I'm not like over the moon excited leading up to WrestleMania.
5:10
Now we got a couple of months to get excited.
5:13
Oh,
5:13
actually,
5:14
it's more than a couple of months.
5:15
I think,
5:16
what,
5:16
it's in April this year again,
5:19
WrestleMania.
5:20
So we got a few months to get to
5:23
WrestleMania. So in between that time,
5:26
the build can get better and grow to the excitement.
5:30
But right now,
5:31
not super excited.
5:33
But...
5:35
That's besides the point.
5:36
We're looking too far ahead.
5:38
Let's focus on what took place today in Riyadh.
5:42
Let's focus on the Royal Rumble.
5:46
And going into this,
5:48
you had a few storylines to talk about,
5:51
to kind of look forward to in this PL League.
5:57
You had the undisputed heavyweight championship match between
6:03
Our
6:03
WWE champion,
6:05
Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn.
6:08
Sami Zayn winning the number one contender four-way match.
6:15
What,
6:16
two weeks ago?
6:17
No,
6:17
Yeah,
6:17
two weeks ago at
6:19
Saturday night's main event in
6:22
Montreal, his hometown.
6:24
Only to challenge for the championship in Saudi Arabia,
6:28
which is like his de facto home country.
6:32
Being as though he's a Muslim and this is a country that backs him.
6:38
And so that was exciting to a degree.
6:42
So can
6:43
Sami Zayn conquer the monster?
6:47
Can he finally capture that championship that has been eluding him since he's been in
6:56
WWE?
6:58
Going up against an individual who he has never beaten.
7:02
They have wrestled 11 times before we got to this match.
7:05
This is the 12th time that they fought each other.
7:10
And he is
7:12
0-11 against
7:15
Drew McIntyre.
7:16
But he is undefeated in Saudi Arabia.
7:21
So one of the
7:22
0's has got to go.
7:25
And that was a really interesting storyline going into this.
7:31
even though
7:32
wasn't super excited i'm not i'm not a huge sammy zane guy i like sammy zane loved him in the blood line but i'm not like oh man he should be wwe champion now if he ever becomes wwe champion cool i
7:48
wouldn't be mad at it i wouldn't be mad at it if he wins tonight but i was like i'm not a sammy zane guy like that you know but cool i'm interested in it at least there's a
8:02
story going into this match then you have the the big one in my humble opinion for the uh Royal Rumble
8:11
PLE today and that was Gunther versus AJ Styles and AJ Styles putting his career on the line against Gunther in this match and
8:22
AJ Styles made it no secret he said that 2026 will be his final year in the ring.
8:30
We thought,
8:31
at least I thought,
8:32
and a lot of people thought,
8:33
that it was going to go deep into 2026.
8:37
And
8:39
I still stand by that after the results of tonight.
8:41
But
8:43
I didn't think it would come to this point where his career would be on the line tonight against Gunther.
8:49
Now,
8:49
Gunther has built the reputation of being somewhat of the career killer.
8:56
He put down Goldberg.
8:58
In his final match,
8:59
he put down John Cena.
9:01
In his final match,
9:03
will he put down AJ Styles?
9:05
Well,
9:05
everybody with a set of eyes and at least two of your five senses know that nine times out of ten,
9:14
Gunther was going to win this match.
9:16
But
9:17
I was hopeful.
9:19
I was on the edge of my seat,
9:20
hoping and praying that AJ Styles could pull it out.
9:24
The two.
9:25
Royal Rumble matches,
9:27
the women's and the men's.
9:29
Not too much there.
9:31
Not too much excitement there on my end.
9:35
I did not care who won those two matches.
9:41
I was more curious to see any surprise entries in those matches than who would actually come out pointing at the WrestleMania sign at the end.
9:55
And so,
9:57
like I said,
9:59
my interest in the matches.
10:02
did not really get me there.
10:04
Normally,
10:04
I did.
10:06
You know,
10:06
go back to the
10:08
Attitude Era and think about Stone Cold Steve Austin.
10:12
It was a storyline when Stone Cold Steve Austin entered the Royal Rumble because he was fighting to get back to that championship that he lost or whatever the case may be.
10:22
And in other instances,
10:24
we saw that as well throughout the years.
10:27
You really didn't get a sense of that in this
10:30
Royal Rumble.
10:32
Rather,
10:32
it's the men's or the women's.
10:33
It wasn't none of that.
10:35
You had little storylines in there.
10:38
Like in the women's,
10:39
you had the Judgment Day.
10:42
Their beef with Rhea and Io and things of that nature.
10:47
All that was there.
10:49
But not like WrestleMania.
10:51
We need to get to the main event to challenge for the championship vibe.
10:57
And the same thing with the men's.
11:00
Other than maybe Cody and Jacob Fatu.
11:03
But even with that,
11:05
Cody is really beefing with
11:08
Jacob Fatu as opposed to trying to get back to Drew.
11:12
And so I don't know who is really scrapping and scraping to get to the main event of WrestleMania like we used to feel.
11:23
But that's neither here nor there.
11:27
Let's jump into this recap.
11:29
Let's jump into this.
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p l e beginning with the opening match of the p le and that was the women's raw rumble match and this is normally the match that steals the show normally
11:47
the women steal the show in their raw rumble matches at least uh the last couple of raw rumble matches well not last year to a degree but historically
11:59
Since Dave incorporated the Women's Royal Rumble,
12:03
it has stolen the show,
12:05
in my opinion,
12:06
once again.
12:07
So,
12:08
I was excited.
12:09
Okay,
12:09
we're jumping off first.
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Ladies first.
12:12
And our number one entry was
12:15
Charlotte Flair.
12:16
Charlotte Flair,
12:18
she is the reigning
12:20
Royal Rumble winner.
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She won it last year to a lot of people's chagrin.
12:25
But she comes in at number one.
12:29
this year and coming in at number two is her bestie alexa bliss who made her return last year at the royal rumble very awkward to have those two start off the
12:44
royal rumble and i was confused from jump and it really just sucked all the joy out of the uh uh match going into it i wasn't super excited.
12:58
At that point,
12:59
because I knew they weren't going to fight each other,
13:01
you know,
13:02
even though there was some drama at the end between those two.
13:06
But to start it off,
13:09
it just it didn't work.
13:11
It did not work.
13:13
Now,
13:14
it probably could have worked worked if the third and the fourth entry were a rival tag team,
13:22
you know,
13:23
like a
13:25
Rio or EO or.
13:28
Roxanne Perez and Raquel.
13:30
Now that would have been interesting.
13:31
You know,
13:32
because you got two rival tag teams.
13:36
You know,
13:36
and they're fighting each other in the first four entries into the match.
13:41
But we didn't get that.
13:42
Coming in at number three was Kiana James.
13:45
And Kiana James had a good showing.
13:48
She had a really good showing.
13:49
And she didn't eliminate anybody.
13:51
But she was rolling.
13:53
She was rolling early on.
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Taking on both.
13:56
alexa bliz and charlotte flair in holding on and she was in there a minute and she was in there a while and uh good on her really good on her uh because she she hasn't looked all
14:12
that great on smackdown you know uh teaming with julia but this was a good this was a good outing to show that she's actually a threat in the women's division and so good the
14:25
it was a good showing for her uh naya jacks came in at uh number four and business picked up at that point it started rolling at that point because it was a law those first three entries because it was two against one it
14:42
wasn't any one woman for themselves type feel it was it was two against one um kiana james looked dominant and then you have naya jacks come in and just just
14:54
bolo all three of them ivy now entered at number five uh lola vice entered at six
15:02
Candice LeRae at seven,
15:04
Jordan Grace entered at eight,
15:06
and she's another one.
15:08
She's one that I feel they kind of fumbling with her.
15:11
I know it was early on.
15:12
She just got moved up to the main roster,
15:15
but
15:16
Jordan Grace was a dominant force in TNA,
15:20
and she's,
15:21
I mean,
15:22
look at her.
15:23
She should be a dominant force,
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and she wasn't used well,
15:27
I feel,
15:28
in NXT.
15:29
I don't think she ever won a championship in NXT,
15:32
which is mind-boggling to me.
15:34
But whatever.
15:36
She gets to the main roster.
15:38
We see that her and Jade Cargill is having a little back-and-forth beef behind the scenes there backstage,
15:47
possibly setting up a championship match between those two.
15:51
So that made her kind of a dark horse pick to win it,
15:56
to challenge for the championship.
15:59
against uh jay cargill okay cool but no to no avail to no avail then you have coming in at number nine becky lynch pretty early for becky lynch but i
16:14
i got it once the match went on you know because she had to run through some of the participants that she's been beefing with you know namely maxine dupree who came in at 12 but in that
16:28
natty who was right behind her but it was uh it was interesting but once she came in early like that i really thought we was going to get another surprise entry i'm gonna save my uh disappointment uh predictions that didn't go over well at
16:47
the end but uh yeah becky lynch came in at nine so Ruka,
16:52
who is,
16:54
I don't know why she's still in NXT.
16:56
She is over.
16:58
She is ready.
16:58
She is roster ready.
17:00
And she proved it tonight.
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She came in at 10.
17:03
Roxanne Perez at
17:05
11. Coming in at 12,
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as I mentioned before.
17:08
Maxine Dupree and Natty at 13.
17:11
She's not Natalia no more.
17:12
This is Natty.
17:13
This is the MMA just bulldog
17:18
Natty who is going to rip people's head off.
17:21
I'm glad that they brought this version of her into
17:24
WWE.
17:26
I'm excited to see where they go with that.
17:28
Coming in at 14,
17:29
you had Liv Morgan.
17:31
15,
17:31
Lash Legend.
17:33
At 16,
17:35
Zelina.
17:35
At 17,
17:36
Raquel Rodriguez.
17:38
At 18,
17:39
Chelsea Green.
17:41
At 19,
17:42
Julia.
17:43
At 20,
17:44
Eosky.
17:45
21,
17:46
you had Asuka.
17:47
At 22,
17:49
you had the Eradicator,
17:51
Rhea Ripley.
17:52
At
17:52
23, Bayley.
17:54
yet.
17:55
24,
17:56
a bit of a surprise.
17:57
Didn't expect to see this one.
18:00
JC Jane,
18:01
NXT
18:02
Women's Champion.
18:03
At 25,
18:04
you had Nikki Bella enter the fray,
18:08
and she got a big pop that
18:10
I did not expect.
18:12
I was shocked by that pop she got in Saudi Arabia.
18:16
At 26,
18:17
you had
18:18
Lara Vakaria.
18:20
At 27,
18:21
Kiana James,
18:22
another NXT talent.
18:24
Not Keanu James.
18:27
Keanu Jordan entered the fray.
18:30
At 28,
18:31
you had Kairi Sane.
18:33
At 29,
18:35
our big surprise.
18:36
The one surprise in this entire
18:40
Royal Rumble match.
18:42
Brie
18:43
Bella. Yes,
18:44
Mrs.
18:44
Danielson herself.
18:47
She returned for the Royal Rumble.
18:50
And at number
18:52
30, we had...
18:53
tiffy time tiffany stratton uh rounding out our 30 women for this match this um the first half of this match was so boring i did not enjoy not one part of the first half it started it was slow sloppy
19:14
botchy uh it was just it just was not exciting
19:22
The crowd was dead.
19:25
Nobody was interested.
19:26
It was just,
19:28
I was to the point.
19:29
I was ready to stop watching.
19:31
I was to the point.
19:32
I was like,
19:33
man,
19:34
this is typical WWE for this day and age.
19:38
I am done.
19:38
I am out.
19:39
And then all of a sudden,
19:41
it just clicked.
19:43
I want to say literally around the midway point when
19:47
Lash Legend came in,
19:49
around when Chelsea Green came in.
19:51
It started getting a little better,
19:54
and...
19:54
the elimination started happening a little more frequently it wasn't so congested in the ring uh it was it was it was super super exciting towards the end you had uh some competitors that lasted longer than i thought and some that
20:11
exited pretty quickly uh too quick in some instances but uh they were there for one purpose and one purpose only and that's just to fill out the 30,
20:23
but...
20:26
It was all right.
20:28
The ending part of this match,
20:30
the last half of this match,
20:31
saved it from being the worst
20:35
Royal Rumbles match of all time.
20:37
And,
20:38
man,
20:39
in the end,
20:40
it came down to the final four who were random.
20:45
And you can look at all four women and say,
20:48
okay,
20:49
I can see them challenging.
20:52
I can see this being their moment.
20:54
And that's pretty much what you want in a Royal Rumble match.
20:59
When you get to the final four,
21:00
you want to look at all four,
21:02
whether it's the men or the women,
21:04
and say,
21:04
okay,
21:04
I can see that.
21:05
I can see where they throw a curveball at this moment.
21:10
I can see this person winning.
21:12
I can see the other way.
21:15
This is what made it exciting at the end.
21:18
And so that's why I say it saved it.
21:20
Our final four was so ruker.
21:23
You had Liv Morgan,
21:25
also
21:26
Tiffany Scraton,
21:27
and wait,
21:29
who was the fourth?
21:30
Was it Raquel?
21:32
Yeah,
21:32
Raquel Rodriguez.
21:33
Those were your final four.
21:35
And Liv Morgan eliminated Raquel,
21:38
which was a swerve.
21:41
That was a swerve.
21:41
They both judgment date.
21:43
And so it's going to beg the question,
21:46
what's next,
21:47
man?
21:48
How is that going to play out
21:50
Monday night when these two?
21:52
when these two are on raw but uh the final three so ruka live morgan and tiffany stratton i thought i had a feeling it was going to be live morgan i thought tiffany would be the one i thought she would come in and
22:08
challenge for the championship that she lost we hadn't seen her since she lost that championship i thought she would come back and challenge for that but ultimately it was live
22:21
Morgan.
22:22
our winner of the 2026 women's
22:25
Royal Rumble match.
22:27
She will go on to
22:29
WrestleMania to challenge for the championship of her choosing.
22:33
And we all know it will not be
22:37
Jay Cargill.
22:39
She will be challenging
22:40
Stephanie Vickare.
22:42
That will be our WrestleMania match for the women's championship.
22:49
So I am.
22:51
You know,
22:51
I'm not shocked by that,
22:53
but I am also happy that they went in this direction.
22:56
Liv Morgan is,
22:59
I don't know,
23:00
man.
23:00
It's funny to think that she is to this level now.
23:06
I never saw her being a main eventer,
23:10
a WrestleMania main eventer when she came up from NXT,
23:14
when she started out in,
23:17
what was that faction she was in?
23:19
I can't even remember now.
23:21
but i didn't see her going to wear because she was the little the little one you know that the little throwaway doll and the little pritzy one but now she's just a beast and she is one of the best women on the roster hands down i gotta give her her props uh
23:38
she she was solely missed when she was out injured and this was a big moment man uh for her to come back from injury uh that shoulder injury last year and now.
23:50
here she is standing on in the corner pointing at the wrestlemania sign uh big ups to her uh the winner of the royal rumble match uh the disappointing predictions that i had going into this i thought we would get a return of bianca bellaire i
24:09
don't know i don't know what happened with this knuckle injury because that's what she broke it wasn't a finger she broke her knuckle
24:19
And I think what happened was she went to have the surgery to repair it and they fused it wrong or something like that.
24:26
I forgot.
24:30
I forgot what article I read because I was curious.
24:32
I was like,
24:33
what's taking so it's a finger.
24:36
And that's when I found out it was a knuckle.
24:38
And then that's when I found out that the surgery went wrong or something like that.
24:43
But she's been out since WrestleMania.
24:45
That's when she broke it at WrestleMania last year.
24:49
And I was hoping and praying and wishing that she returned for the Royal Rumble,
24:55
but to no avail.
24:57
But even with that and.
25:00
Just to go off on a little tangent here with her,
25:03
even with the finger thing,
25:05
she can still come and appear,
25:07
She can still come on camera and probably set up some things,
25:12
some feuds or whatever,
25:14
or be a mouthpiece for somebody in the meantime.
25:18
But she has been incognito.
25:21
I mean,
25:22
secluded,
25:23
bro.
25:24
I don't know if it's a mental thing.
25:27
a little devastating to her mental health.
25:29
And it can be,
25:30
man,
25:31
especially if you get surgery and it goes wrong.
25:35
It's devastating.
25:35
So I don't know,
25:37
but I'm praying that she does return soon because that's just another dynamic to this women's division that will just catapult this division to the scratus field.
25:49
It's already one of the best divisions in pro wrestling,
25:53
but I want to see it grow even.
25:56
bigger than what it is i mean naomi is out but she's out with the pregnancy so we know she's coming back soon but at least after the birth uh well it'll be a couple of years but now that i think about it so we're already missing her we're missing bianca and you know i
26:15
i just thought that would have been a bit uh a good element to add to this match another one who i was kind of hoping it was a long shot but i was kind of hoping aj lee
26:26
I thought AJ Lee would pop up in the
26:30
Royal Rumble.
26:31
AJ Lee has popped,
26:33
showing up only twice since her quote unquote return at WrestlePalooza.
26:39
And then at the
26:41
Survivor Series,
26:42
the War Games match.
26:44
Haven't seen her since.
26:46
I don't know if she was hurt or if the long break and coming back and she,
26:53
it dawned on her like,
26:55
nah.
26:55
Nah,
26:56
I really don't need this.
26:57
You know,
26:57
it's one of those things.
26:59
But
27:01
I was hoping to see her.
27:02
I was also kind of banking on maybe seeing a Soraya.
27:08
A Soraya.
27:10
Or what we,
27:11
or who the WWE Universe know her as,
27:13
Paige.
27:14
I thought maybe she would return in this match.
27:17
But no,
27:19
this is who we got.
27:20
Now,
27:22
it's cool who we got.
27:23
You know,
27:24
no surprises other than Brie Bella,
27:26
who I don't know if she's permanent,
27:29
if she's back for good to be with her sister.
27:32
If she is,
27:32
that's good because,
27:34
you know,
27:35
that'll give them something to do,
27:37
you know,
27:37
to kind of build up the women's tag team division.
27:40
And we see that they're focusing on that a lot more lately in WWE.
27:46
So that's just another element to add to it,
27:49
which is cool.
27:50
But
27:51
I...
27:52
I doubt that she's back full time.
27:54
I seriously doubt it.
27:56
It isn't like her husband is going to come back.
27:59
I don't see that happening either.
28:01
But that was it.
28:04
That was it for that.
28:05
I didn't see anybody else returning.
28:08
But as far as surprises,
28:10
those were the only three that I was really hoping to see.
28:15
But we didn't get to see it.
28:17
All right.
28:17
We move on to our second match of the night.
28:21
And it was a career-threatening match.
28:27
It is Gunther versus AJ Styles.
28:31
This was a banger,
28:33
and it wasn't even in question that it wasn't going to be.
28:37
Gunther is one of the best professional wrestlers currently working today.
28:42
AJ Styles is a legend.
28:44
And those two put on a heck of a match.
28:48
I was...
28:50
So happy with how that match went.
28:52
It was clearly the best match of the night.
28:55
Not even a question.
28:56
Spoiler alert.
28:57
I know we got two other matches to go,
28:59
but this was the match of the night.
29:03
Awesome match.
29:05
You didn't really know.
29:06
In the way the match was structured,
29:08
produced,
29:09
you didn't know who was going to win this match.
29:12
All the way up to the very end,
29:13
you did not know if it was going to be Gunther once again putting a career.
29:20
down a storied career down or would aj styles continue on you know defeat gunther revenge all of the legends that he has retired it was really really exciting i think aj put on a clinic i think gunther once
29:38
again just did gunther he did gunther things man he was he was uh uh so good in this match.
29:48
I really have no bad thoughts about this bet.
29:51
It's nothing that went wrong here.
29:54
It was the story was told.
29:57
And in the end,
29:58
unfortunately,
30:00
AJ Styles'
30:02
WWE career has come to an end.
30:05
And I want to put emphasis on
30:07
WWE career because I don't think
30:10
AJ Styles is done this year.
30:14
I think he's going to go to TNA.
30:18
I think he's going to wrap it up in TNA.
30:22
Don't see him going to AEW.
30:24
I don't know why he would go to AEW.
30:26
I don't know why anybody would go to AEW,
30:29
but in any event,
30:31
TNA is probably where he's going to end up after this.
30:35
And I think this was a way to kind of do that so he can wrap up his career there,
30:44
if that's the case.
30:45
I think that's my theory,
30:47
of course,
30:47
but I don't think he's done.
30:49
I really don't think he's done.
30:50
And he could end up in AEW,
30:52
which just doesn't make sense.
30:54
It doesn't make sense.
30:56
But as far as WWE,
30:59
that's it for him due to the outcome of this match.
31:03
He didn't tap out.
31:05
He definitely didn't tap out smiling like other people,
31:09
but he went out.
31:11
He went out out.
31:13
He was choked out by Gunther.
31:15
He faked out the putting the gloves and the shoes in the middle of the ring.
31:22
And that's what really convinced me that.
31:24
Oh,
31:25
he's not done.
31:25
He's going to TNA.
31:28
Because they kind of teased it in TNA's debut episode on AMC.
31:34
That he's,
31:35
you know,
31:37
going to be back in TNA when him and Frankie Azaria had that little face-to-face backstage.
31:46
And AJ Styles looked at the TNA title.
31:50
He kind of glanced at it like,
31:52
okay,
31:53
I will take that back.
31:54
And that kind of planted a seed there,
31:57
even though Frankie Azaria ended up losing that match that night,
32:00
and he's no longer the champion.
32:02
But the title,
32:04
the title.
32:06
So I can see him going there.
32:08
But we'll see.
32:10
We'll see what the future holds for AJ Styles.
32:12
But if he is truly retired,
32:14
if that's it for him,
32:15
I will say this.
32:17
AJ Styles is...
32:19
hands down one of the greatest in-ring talents to have ever stepped foot in a wrestling ring and i say one of i'm not i'm not you know fueling a debate here oh no uh uh bret
32:35
hart is better and all this other stuff i didn't say he was better than bret hart i didn't say that i'm just saying he's one of the greatest man uh storytellers in the ring just go back and look at some of his tna matches.
32:48
You know,
32:49
WWE,
32:50
he was a little toned down in WWE.
32:53
But back in TNA,
32:56
he held,
32:56
he truly is the man who put it on the map.
32:59
He was the one thing that was consistently good in TNA through all of their horrible years in existence.
33:08
In New Japan,
33:09
he was awesome.
33:10
And so my hat goes off to one,
33:14
AJ Styles.
33:16
What a career.
33:17
And what a career in
33:19
WWE. He came,
33:22
he debuted at the Royal Rumble,
33:24
I think,
33:25
what,
33:25
10 years ago,
33:26
11 years ago?
33:28
And he wraps it up at the Royal Rumble.
33:31
So a good bookmark for him.
33:34
We move on to the undisputed
33:36
WWE championship match between the champion
33:40
Drew McIntyre and
33:42
Sami Zayn.
33:43
Sami Zayn,
33:44
as I mentioned before.
33:46
um got the the weight of the muslim community on his back at least at least in saudi arabia he he came in here with with so much baggage man slaying
34:02
this beast of drew mcintyre the one man he has never beaten uh winning a championship that he has never won um a lot of story going into this
34:17
the match was fine it was okay it wasn't it wasn't a bad match it was a it was a typical sammy zane match and drew mcintyre he works well with anybody big small whatever whatever style hot flyer ground and pound that he can work with anybody drew is one
34:36
of the most consistent wrestlers man he he can work with anybody i i really have not seen drew mcintyre work a bad match
34:46
honestly bro it's it he is he is that good him and gunther you can put them in a ring with anybody and they work a good match i mean hell when they worked a match against each other when they fought
35:00
I think in that triple threat match at WrestleMania with
35:04
Sheamus as well.
35:07
Best match of that WrestleMania.
35:09
Those three went at it,
35:11
bro.
35:11
It was awesome.
35:13
But this was a fine match.
35:15
Decent match.
35:17
Pretty much went the way I thought.
35:19
No part of me thought Sami Zayn was going to win this match.
35:22
No part.
35:23
But I will give them this.
35:25
They did give us a little drama,
35:28
a little tension throughout.
35:30
that maybe Sammy might pull it off,
35:32
but it was gone pretty quick with me when
35:38
Sammy faked the back entry thing.
35:40
When he started playing the back thing,
35:42
I was like,
35:43
okay,
35:43
he's going to lose.
35:45
He's going to lose because the excuse is going to be he wasn't 100%,
35:50
and pretty much that's what it was.
35:54
Drew McIntyre comes out victorious in this match,
35:58
and
35:59
stays retained the undisputed wwe championship so we move on to the final match of the night the main event the men's raw rumble
36:15
match once again just like the women's wasn't super excited i was excited for some of the entries in this match and for some of the participants in this match
36:28
Because I wanted to see just absolute carnage in this match.
36:38
But it didn't really go that way.
36:42
This wasn't clearly was not the best
36:47
Royal Rumble match.
36:48
And let me say this.
36:50
I don't
36:53
I'm trying to say this without being offensive of anything.
36:56
But.
36:57
this this really showed this ple as a whole really really shows that wwe does not need to make saudi arabia a priority i get it i get the money aspect of it all i understand but
37:14
as far as the excitement of it all the crowd is dead the crowd is not into it like
37:27
America would be into it.
37:28
And once again,
37:30
not trying to be offensive to Saudi Arabia.
37:32
I have nothing against Saudi Arabia.
37:36
I'm just looking at the presentation,
37:39
the crowd.
37:41
That adds to it.
37:42
It's that element that adds to the excitement.
37:46
It wasn't there.
37:47
Now,
37:48
they popped for certain wrestlers.
37:50
For a lot of them,
37:51
really.
37:52
They were into it,
37:53
but they weren't into it like we would be into it,
37:55
if that makes any sense.
37:57
So,
38:00
I don't know,
38:01
man.
38:01
I'm not looking forward to WrestleMania next year,
38:03
let alone this year,
38:04
but next year when WrestleMania goes to Saudi Arabia.
38:09
It just,
38:09
if it's going to be this tone from the audience,
38:13
I don't care to watch it.
38:15
It's just not exciting.
38:16
It's not exciting.
38:17
It doesn't amp up anything.
38:20
But you had some entries in this match that.
38:27
I think if it was in the United States somewhere,
38:30
this PLE,
38:31
it would have got a bigger reaction that possibly would have added to the gravity of this certain individual being in the match.
38:42
But
38:43
I didn't get that sense in this particular PLE.
38:47
But with all that being said,
38:49
at number one,
38:50
you had Oba
38:52
Femi.
38:53
I was excited.
38:55
And then me.
38:56
super sense to put him at number one why would you put over femi at number one to showcase this is how you build stars triple h finally did something right here they
39:12
did they did the right thing this is how you build stars you you put him in number one have him last as long as he can and eliminate as many as he can and not only Thank you.
39:27
as many as he can,
39:28
but who he eliminates.
39:30
You know,
39:31
if he runs the table with some top talent and throw him out the ring,
39:37
okay,
39:37
you done built him up.
39:40
Because this is the next big thing,
39:41
man,
39:42
literally.
39:42
He is the guy
39:44
I think everybody universally wants to see main event WrestleMania.
39:50
It don't have to be this year.
39:51
We don't have to rush it.
39:53
But...
39:54
In the future.
39:55
He is the future of the WWE.
39:57
So he enters at number one.
39:59
Braun Breaker enters at number two.
40:02
Which is setting up a really good collision between these two behemoths.
40:07
But.
40:09
but we had an element in this uh uh entry before braun breaker could even get in the ring we had a hooded masked figure come out and beat him half to death and curve stomps him you
40:26
hear paul hayman outside the ring screaming that it is seth rollins we don't know who it is we were saying the same thing when it was austin theory we don't know who this masked figure is Hey
40:38
is it seth rollins most like most likely but he didn't take his mask off or the hood off so we don't know for certain but but uh i don't know man i don't know they playing they doing this too much they're
40:53
milking this uh hooded figure thing too much we just saw this beat you just we just went down this road and so why are we going back to it if anything you should have just had seth rollins come out and beat him beat him up
41:07
But we want to play this game,
41:10
whatever.
41:11
So now you have a broken brawn breaker gets thrown in a ring by this hooded figure,
41:17
only to be immediately eliminated by
41:21
Obafemi. And so we didn't even get to see that match or that face-to-face beatdown between those two.
41:30
I'm a little disappointed with that,
41:33
but
41:34
I get it storyline-wise.
41:36
At number three,
41:37
you had Solo Sokoa,
41:38
another big man.
41:40
Want to see him face Obafemi,
41:43
go face-to-face with him.
41:44
And they had a good little back-and-forth for a while.
41:47
Rey Mysterio enters the match at number four.
41:51
Rusev enters at number five and is immediately taken out by Obafemi.
41:57
Obafemi took out all four of these men,
42:01
eventually.
42:03
He took them all out.
42:06
And look,
42:07
I like Rusev.
42:09
I liked him when he was in WWE.
42:11
The first go around,
42:12
went to AEW,
42:14
he came back.
42:15
But since he's been back,
42:19
it's been horrible.
42:21
Aside from his series of matches with
42:25
Sheamus,
42:27
I don't know why he's back.
42:29
I bet you he questioned.
42:31
Well,
42:31
actually,
42:32
I don't think he questions because AEW was just as bad.
42:35
they didn't know what to do at least he's doing something because aew had him doing nothing but it it is it is horrible bro rusev was a monster man he was the bulgarian brute bro he had a wrestlemania match with john cena i mean he was at the peak rusev day we had we
42:57
he was it was something man he was up at the top and
43:03
Here he is.
43:04
I wouldn't even call him a mid-caller at this point.
43:08
It's almost embarrassing.
43:11
It is embarrassing.
43:12
It ain't almost.
43:13
It's embarrassing.
43:14
I hate to see that for Rusev,
43:16
but did like to see Ove Femi just toss him out the ring.
43:20
Coming in at number five,
43:21
we had Matt
43:23
Cardona, who was also eliminated at that point by Ove Femi.
43:30
and uh good to see mcdonald uh cartona why i keep saying that but uh back in wwe coming in at number seven damian priest number eight javon evans baby uh good to see him in the royal rumble to see how he uh can
43:48
be showcased in this match coming in at number nine mr iguana and number and number nine it was it was weird uh
43:59
It was weird.
44:00
Triple A's on
44:01
Mr. Iguana.
44:02
I know WWE is high on him,
44:05
and I know he's over in a lot of places.
44:08
He wasn't in Saudi Arabia.
44:10
Let's just say that.
44:12
At number 10,
44:13
Trick Williams,
44:14
baby.
44:15
The Lemon Pepper Stepper.
44:17
He enters the match.
44:19
At number 11,
44:20
Cody Rhodes.
44:21
At number 12,
44:23
El Grande Americano
44:25
II.
44:27
the second version the reason i say the second version because at number 13 you have el grande americano the first version who looks like chad gable he looks like the real el grande americano uh i
44:45
don't know i think that's played out i know it's over in uh triple a the el grande americano gimmick but it's time to let that go at least for
44:57
No,
44:57
it's time to let it go because Louie Kaiser is a heck of a wrestler.
45:02
And y'all got him doing this crap.
45:05
And the same thing with Chad Gable.
45:08
Same thing with,
45:10
Oh my God,
45:10
now I'm blanking on their names.
45:12
Talibate and,
45:13
oh my God.
45:17
Oh boy,
45:17
he was Butch,
45:18
but he went back to his original name.
45:20
But anyways,
45:21
you're wasting these guys.
45:25
But anyways,
45:27
that was your 12 and 13.
45:30
Coming in at 14,
45:32
our surprise,
45:33
our first surprise of the night.
45:35
And it is none other than Powerhouse.
45:39
Hobbs.
45:39
Oh,
45:40
never mind.
45:41
Royce
45:42
Keyes.
45:44
He has changed his name over in WWE.
45:48
Former
45:49
AEW powerhouse Hobbs.
45:51
Good to see him.
45:52
Good to see him here in WWE.
45:56
Had a pretty good showing as well in this match.
46:01
Coming in at 15,
46:02
Austin Theory.
46:03
16,
46:04
Bronson Reed at 17.
46:07
Dragunov at number...
46:09
18,
46:10
LaPaka from
46:12
AAA coming in at 19,
46:14
Dragon Lee.
46:15
20,
46:16
you had Logan Paul.
46:18
At 21,
46:19
you had your,
46:20
I guess you could say surprise because I wasn't looking for him to be in this match because I hadn't heard from him in a couple of months now.
46:27
It is none other than
46:29
L.A. Knight.
46:30
Yeah,
46:31
he returned at number 21 and went straight at the Vision who took him out for that.
46:38
period of time at 22 you had brock lesnar at
46:43
23 the ms wasted spot at 24 you had ray phoenix 25 jay uso let me stop right there for a bit let me stop right there for a minute i'm over it i
46:59
am so over the jay uso thing i'm over the yeetin i am over it they ruined
47:08
this Royal Rumble with Jey Uso.
47:11
And
47:12
I like Jey Uso.
47:13
I always did like Jey Uso.
47:15
But this main event Jey Uso thing,
47:18
I'm over it.
47:19
I am done.
47:22
The yeeting,
47:23
going through the crowd,
47:24
playing the music for 20 minutes straight.
47:27
It is stupid because during that time,
47:30
during that time,
47:31
he's going through the crowd,
47:32
yeeting,
47:33
getting blown up.
47:35
Brock Lesnar got it eliminated.
47:39
you had brock lesnar get eliminated drag it off get eliminated you had about three eliminations during this entrance and it was so dumb it was dumb but the cameras weren't even showing it because they're showing jay
47:53
uso coming through the crowd eating with the audience and all this here and then they hurry up and flash back and you see brock lesnar on the ground like what happened what happened we come to find out
48:06
And they just said it.
48:08
Thank God for Michael Cole.
48:09
Oh,
48:09
Cody Rhodes and
48:11
LA Knight threw him out.
48:13
We didn't see it.
48:14
It's like,
48:16
my God,
48:16
they ruined it.
48:17
They just ruined the entire match for me.
48:21
And at this point,
48:23
I was kind of checked out.
48:24
I'm going to be honest.
48:26
I was checked out.
48:27
I was so mad at that point.
48:30
At 26,
48:31
you had the OTC
48:33
Roman Reigns enter.
48:35
27,
48:36
Jacob Fatu.
48:36
28,
48:38
Penta.
48:38
29,
48:39
Randy Orton.
48:40
And at 30,
48:42
fresh off of killing
48:44
AJ Styles'
48:45
career,
48:46
you had
48:47
Gunter.
48:48
Now, like I said,
48:50
I was blown up after that,
48:51
out after the Jey Uso deal.
48:54
Just like,
48:56
why,
48:57
Just why?
49:00
Look,
49:00
I get it.
49:01
The song is exciting.
49:03
It hypes up the crowd.
49:05
I get it,
49:06
but you do it every single event.
49:10
I don't care if it's Raw.
49:12
I don't care if it's a PLE.
49:14
I don't care if it's a house show.
49:15
We got to go through this.
49:17
Oh,
49:18
yeeting fest.
49:20
For 10 minutes,
49:21
it feels like.
49:22
It's like,
49:23
my God,
49:24
just cut it off.
49:25
And then when he gets in the ring,
49:27
we got to run it back.
49:28
Because the audience want to run it back.
49:32
I know why WWE is pushing him.
49:34
I get it.
49:35
I know how professional wrestling works.
49:37
He pushes merch.
49:38
He is exciting.
49:40
People want to dance with him.
49:42
People want to sing his song.
49:43
People want to do that.
49:44
I get it.
49:45
He's over.
49:46
I understand.
49:47
But I'm over it.
49:49
I'm over it.
49:50
It doesn't play well on television.
49:52
And it definitely didn't play well on this match.
49:55
It ruined the match.
49:57
Completely ruined the match.
50:00
Anyways.
50:02
so let's just fast forward to our final four here you had roman reigns gunther uh randy orton
50:09
and for god knows what reason logan paul i don't know why they feel logan paul is main event word i don't get it but whatever now logan paul he's awesome in the ring i'm not taking it away i don't like him personally but
50:28
he's awesome in the ring i get all that but he's not a main eventer he's not he is not a main eventer anyway those were your final four They got,
50:39
Roman Reigns threw out Logan Paul,
50:42
which made it so much better.
50:44
It just saved everything for me.
50:47
It got me back invested in the match.
50:50
So,
50:51
our final three was
50:54
Roman Reigns,
50:55
Randy Orton,
50:56
and Gunther.
50:57
Gunther eliminated Randy Orton,
51:00
coming down to Gunther and Roman Reigns.
51:02
Now,
51:03
once again,
51:05
didn't know how it was going to go.
51:07
Kind of...
51:07
Okay.
51:08
Common sense told me Randy Orton,
51:10
but
51:11
Gunther,
51:13
Gunther is,
51:16
how can I put this?
51:18
Gunther,
51:19
I can see challenging
51:23
Drew McIntyre.
51:24
Like I was saying earlier,
51:25
you know,
51:26
they,
51:26
you know,
51:27
they will put on a banger for the world championship for the,
51:32
not the world,
51:32
the
51:33
WWE championship.
51:35
the one title that he hasn't had he said the heavyweight championship it would make sense for him to go after the wwe championship so okay i'm cool with that then you have roman reigns roman reigns uh he's the tribal chief he needs his crown and so him
51:52
and drew would be a nice match it will be it will be a banger but but there's also that element of cm punk
52:02
you know with the world heavyweight championship so there's some question marks there so it kind of kept me guessing with these two they were getting some good good spots off of each other ultimately
52:15
Roman Reigns comes out victorious he is your winner of the 2026 Royal Rumble and he will be heading to Wrestlemania to challenge for the title of his choosing which one I think I think he's going to have to see him punk
52:29
The reason I think he's going after the World Heavyweight Championship,
52:33
there's still a story there with Cody and Drew McIntyre and
52:41
Jacob Fatu.
52:42
Because it was Drew McIntyre who,
52:46
quote-unquote,
52:48
eliminated
52:49
Cody from this match,
52:51
even though he wasn't a part of the match.
52:53
So that's still there.
52:55
Now,
52:55
granted...
52:56
they can have their match at Elimination Chamber or something to that effect.
52:59
I don't know if they,
53:00
I'm pretty sure they have a Saturday night main event somewhere in between,
53:05
but that's still there.
53:07
But
53:08
I really think,
53:09
and plus,
53:10
and plus,
53:12
if Cody wins,
53:13
if Cody beats Drew before WrestleMania,
53:16
do we really want to see another
53:19
Cody
53:20
Roman
53:22
WrestleMania match for the title?
53:25
I don't.
53:27
I'm over that too and so
53:30
I would love to see I would love to see
53:33
Roman versus CM Punk but that's my thoughts I'm pretty sure they're probably find a way to swerve that but who's to say that CM Punk will have the title at Wrestlemania something can happen in between that time there's so much time in between it's
53:50
not guaranteed no more there's another element that
53:54
they changed over the years it used to be a couple of months you know uh wrestlemania was in march and so it was elimination chamber then boom wrestlemania was right there but now no it you got you got three months in between so anything can happen but
54:13
we shall see uh but uh this was decent it wasn't as disjointed as the women's but at the same time
54:24
it wasn't as exciting as previous Royal Rumble matches my prediction entries that didn't go according to plan I think the big one is
54:39
Chris Jericho I was looking for Chris Jericho in this match maybe he's the hooded figure who knows who knows but why would he attack
54:51
Braun Breaker
54:53
But,
54:54
no,
54:54
he wasn't in this match.
54:59
I had a,
55:00
why is it,
55:00
why am I blanking on it?
55:02
I'm blanking on it.
55:06
It wasn't important.
55:07
It didn't matter.
55:08
It didn't matter anyway.
55:10
But,
55:11
yeah,
55:12
this pretty much went according to plan.
55:14
Like I said,
55:14
it was no surprises.
55:15
It was no shock and awe in any of these matches.
55:20
You know,
55:21
it pretty much went according to plan.
55:24
And that's one of the biggest complaints I have with WWE,
55:27
with the creative over the last couple of years.
55:32
There's no element of shock.
55:36
in the storyline they are playing it safe bro it is it is so cookie cutter what triple h right now it is and it's shocking and what makes it so upsetting triple h is awesome with the shocks and odds man go back to black and gold nxt
55:57
that was peak creative in pro wrestling so him coming to the main roster you you
56:05
thought you would bring some of those elements no it's completely different it's not even as i know i already know i already know but look you can come at me all you want but the truth is vince mcmahon was better vince
56:21
was better even though it was bad even though he did some stupid stuff at least he did something different every now and then at least he'll switch it up now on
56:34
Most of the time,
56:35
he will switch it up to something stupid,
56:37
but at least he'll throw you off,
56:39
keep you off guard.
56:41
You know what I'm saying?
56:42
Keep you interested.
56:44
Not now.
56:45
Not now.
56:45
Triple H,
56:46
bro.
56:46
Come on,
56:47
bro.
56:47
Step it up,
56:48
dog.
56:49
This ain't working for me.
56:51
This ain't working.
56:52
I need some sense of suspense here.
56:58
Anywho,
56:58
that was the Royal Rumble.
56:59
Did you enjoy the Royal Rumble?
57:01
I'm not grading them anymore.
57:04
I don't even,
57:05
I ain't even wasting my time grading them,
57:07
but like I said I'm not mad at it,
57:09
it wasn't bad,
57:11
it was just safe it was super safe,
57:14
no excitement nothing new it was what it was,
57:19
but I want to know your thoughts,
57:21
did you enjoy the
57:22
Royal Rumble,
57:23
did your early predictions come true,
57:27
or did you think that Trick Williams was going to whoop that trick and shock the world or whatever the Thank you.
57:33
Did you have a dark horse in any of these matches?
57:37
And this is the big one.
57:39
Do you think truly AJ Styles is done with wrestling?
57:45
I want to know your thoughts.
57:46
Email the show,
57:46
kbradiopodcast at gmail.com.
57:49
You can also search for the show on all social media platforms.
57:52
Just search for the KB Radio Network.
57:54
Also,
57:55
don't forget about YouTube.
57:56
Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel and like this video if you don't mind.
58:02
Don't forget about the five stars,
58:03
the reviews,
58:04
and sharing this show if you're listening on Apple Podcasts,
58:07
Spotify,
58:07
iHeartRadio,
58:08
wherever you are listening to Faces and Heels here on the KB Radio Network.
58:15
Everybody,
58:15
thank you for joining me for this recap and reaction to
58:20
WWE's Royal
58:23
Rumble
58:24
Riyadh. Then y'all be cool.
58:28
Anyways,
58:28
y'all be cool.
58:29
Take it easy and I'll see you after the Elimination Chamber.