2023 features Triple H’s first Royal Rumble at the helm of WWE creative–does he deliver? Greg DeMarco’s analysis is here for you!

If you ask the average wrestling fan, they’ll likely tell you the WWE Royal Rumble is their favorite pay-per-view event of the year. There’s something magical about the format that captures the imagination of fans all over the world.

Was the 2023 edition any different? Read on for Greg DeMarco’s 2023 WWE Royal Rumble Results, Reaction & Analysis!

Also check out:

• Steven Mitchell’s 2023 WWE Royal Rumble Results & Report
• Entrance Times For The 2023 Men’s WWE Royal Rumble Match
• Entrance Times For The 2023 Women’s WWE Royal Rumble Match

Show Opening

• Before the build to the Royal Rumble, I had no clue who Hardy was. I knew Matt Hardy, I knew Jeff Hardy, and I knew a local indy wrestler that we all call “Hardy” backstage. But the recording artist? New to me.

Men’s WWE Royal Rumble Match

• Pat McAfee, after feigning ignorance during his own show, is now here to commentate on the Royal Rumble Match! I totally expected him to be IN the match, and not at the commentary table. But I’ll take it.
• It appears he’s there for the whole show…we’ll see.
• I will try to keep these going, but I am also tracking entrance times as a little experiment of my own.
• Cole is happy to tell us that 3 men have won the Rumble from #1, but I have a feeling he’ll never tell us who!
• (Nor should he.)
• Welp, with him coming in at #2, I don’t see Sheamus making my WrestleMania dream a realization and him facing Roman. There’s always Money In The Bank.
• These two (GUNTHER and Sheamus) need way more than 2 minutes.
• Is this the first time the Men’s Royal Rumble has ever opened the show?
• Way to go Applebee’s!
• That corner spot with Miz is hilarious.
• Anyone else think that was gonna be Big E?
• It truly is great to have Pat McAfee back on the call.
• There’s your trivia question answer: The Miz is the first man eliminated from the 2023 Men’s WWE Royal Rumble Match
• Star studded Rumble through the first 6 entrants.
• NEW DAY COLLIDES!
• Lol, nope.
• Oh yay, Karrion Kross is here.
• Cole tells us no one has ever won from #7. Let’s keep it that way.
• 9 entrants in, and the time span between entrants is all over the place
• Interesting that The Banger Bros has more to deal with copyrights than anything.
• So long to Karrion Kross!
• Mil Mascaras reference!
• Santos almost suffered Mil’s fate, too.
• Good eye on the feet!
• And there goes Woods!
• Kofi out???
• Maybe not.
• STAY DOWN, KOFI. BROCK IS HERE!
• Yes, Pat, The Alpha Male Of Our Species.
• San Antonio has become Suplex City!
• DOWN GOES BROCK!
• Guess we’re getting Brock vs. Bob at WrestleMania after all!
• Brock goes mad, and here’s Seth Freakin Rollins!
• Rollins would be a hell of a winner.
• I really thought Corbin was gonna get The Stomp, but this also works.
• I don’t think we’re getting a ton of surprises as the early graphic had over 20 faces on it. But I think we still get one or two, here. The roster is stacked, we don’t need a lot of surprises on the men’s side.
• #17 is Rey’s music, but no Rey! Obviously we’re getting an angle our of this.
• Meanwhile, Lashley is gone!
• You knew if anyone was getting Banger Bros in there, it was McAfee
• Beautiful corner powerbomb to Gargano by Rollins!
• Sheamus and GUNTHER still alive and well after 30 minutes.
• I am guessing Dominik had something to do with Rey not appearing?
• Hell of a night for Elias.
• CAN YOU DIG THAT, SUCKAAAAAAAA!
• SPINAROONIE!
• That’s all we needed, Booker.
• All three of The Judgment Day’s men are now in the match–can they dominate?
• “From Dom? What the hell has been going on since I left?”
• What if Montez won?
• That’s a serious question.
• Interesting apparatus in the floor right there. Must be for the Pitch Black Match.
• Welp, Montez is out.
• Quite the pop for Edge. Not surprised at all. He likes to make a triumphant return in Texas.
• Edge eliminates all of The Judgment Day from this match.
• Well, not Dominik. And instead, Edge is gone.
• BETH PHOENIX! Obviously setting up something for later tonight.
• “Humans come in that size, huh?” – McAfee on Omos
• “The Brothers Of Bang” – Patrick McAfee is a national treasure
• Imagine if this was Braun’s return to the company right here.
• Thank goodness Braun got rid of the red pants.
• Braun vs. Omos at WrestleMania?
• I am shocked Dominik is still in this. I think Rey is gonna come out and toss him at some point.
• 52 minutes for Sheamus!
• Not quite the reaction you’d expect for ol’ Logan Paul.
• BUCKSHOT LARIAT MY LOGAN PAUL!
• I totally forgot about Cody Rhodes and was thinking a big surprise for #30. Oops.
• Take note Young Bucks… THAT is how you do a contrived spot.
• Hell of a moment for Logan Paul and Ricochet.
• Our final four is Cody Rhodes, GUNTHER, Seth Freakin’ Rollins, and Austin Theory.
• Logan Paul dumps Seth Rollins??? Rollins vs Paul at WrestleMania?
• So that was absolutely NOT the final four lol.
• #1 Gunther vs. #30 Cody Rhodes for the WrestleMania Main Event.
• Win or lose, Gunther has t have the greatest Royal Rumble performance by an Intercontinental Champion ever.
• Cody with the Goldust Spot! SHATTERED DREAMS!
• “The sack?” – Pat McAfee.
• And Cody Rhodes wins–the Dream continues!
• GUNTHER lasted 1:11:41 (I don’t care what Michael Cole said).

Winner of the 2023 Men’s WWE Royal Rumble Match: Cody Rhodes

Pitch Black Match – LA Knight vs. Bray Wyatt

• I really hope we get some more storyline development for Bray Wyatt tonight. I know he has a ton of influence over what we are seeing, but it is moving SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWLY.
• So the rules are that this is No Disqualification, Anything Goes, Pinfall or Submission Only. Doesn’t seem that special to me, let’s see if there are any effects in the arena.
• I saw Huskus, I am assuming I missed others? Or they missed them going to crowd shots?
• I see we have a Mountain Dew canvas logo as well.
• And we get black lights. I wonder how this looks for the fans in the Alamodome.
• “Happy I washed these pants!” – Pat McAfee
• I almost forgot… CORPORATE SYNERGY!
• Well, that was a quick one. Not sure if Bray Wyatt had much more left in the tank, either.
• The visual was good, match was just fine.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

• And now Bray’s….. A LUCHADOR?
• “WHAT IS THAT THING?” – Pat McAfee
• Uncle Howdy dove onto LA Knight (or towards his general direction, anyway) and we got some fire.
• He missed.
• #UncleHowdyMissed

Raw Women’s Championship Match – Alexa Bliss vs. Bianca Belair (c)

• Well, you gotta imagine Uncle Howdy won’t get involved here. But you never know.
• When I went to the 2019 Royal Rumble here in Phoenix, the Raw Women’s Championship Match went on right before the Women’s Royal Rumble. I assume we are getting that here as well.
• To be fair, I ran to grab a drink and a snack during the first part of this match.
• Apparently I went downstairs for most of the match.

Winner and STILL WWE Raw Women’s Champion: Bianca Belair

• And now Alexa is being haunted, and she looks scared of it.
• I’d be pissed at ol’ Uncle Howdy if he haunted me AFTER I lost. Can’t you at least give me superhuman powers for the match?!?!

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

• We continue the trend of having major stars at #1 and #2.
• Rhea Ripley being third all time for eliminations is kinda awesome.
• Rhea looking at that sign awfully early, tbh.
• Michael Cole acknowledging Emma’s WWE release tells me Vince is definitely in charge (yet).
• We are definitely getting the women to the ring quicker than the men, at least so far.
• “Future Endeavor Stomp from Shayna!” – Pat McAfee
• Bayley has legit done it all except win a Rumble.
• Bye bye B-Fab. She sucks anyway.
• Roxanne Perez!
• “Lotta damage from Damage CTRL?” – Pat McAfee
• Dana Brooke looked like an idiot there.
• NOT ROXANNE?!?!
• Zoey Stark definitely looks like she belongs in a main roster match.
• Not a great Rumble for Candice LeRae
• EVIL ASUKA IS OVER IN SAN ANTONIO!
• PIPER NIVEN?!?! Good for her!
• Tamina here to make sure we have a Samoan in one of the Rumbles.
• Here comes Chelsea Green!
• And there goes Chelsea Green.
• All of Damage CTRL and Becky Lynch are out. Makes sense, honestly. I hope we get Becky Lynch vs. Bayley at WrestleMania in Hell In A Cell.
• CORPORATE SYNERGY!
• “Me uh think Michin’s gonna do well.” – Pat McAfee
• Great showings for #1 and #2 in both Rumbles tonight.
• Aaaaaaaaaaaand Lacey Evans is here. She literally peaked in her first ever WWE main roster match (2019 Women’s Royal Rumble Match)
• Michelle McCool enters from the crowd?!?!
• How does someone not know they’re in the rumble?
• Sonya Deville is such a bad ass. I’d love it if she got treated as one.
• Can we give Shotzi her last name back?
• So they screwed up Nia Jax’s music, but she got one of the biggest pops of the night.
• Seriously, she got a bigger pop than Logan Paul.
• Final three; Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Asuka.
• Would love to see Asuka take this, but it is likely Rhea’s to win.
• And there it is! Creative finish, I liked it.

Winner of the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Rhea Ripley

• No Beth Phoenix involvement, and most of the spots occupied by the current roster. Triple H really made a statement with these Rumbles, and I am 100% behind it.

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns (c)

• For a  guy who wrestles in a t-shirt and gym shorts, Kevin Owens now main events at WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble all in the past year.
• Roman Reigns enters with just Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn. No Usos, no Solo Sikoa.
• Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
• “Don’t be a mark, Cole!” – Pat McAfee
• Been a while since I’ve seen Roman hit the Drive By!
• “Because I’ve been told for 25 years to watch my monitor…” – Michael Cole
• I always thought the “OOOO WAHHHH!” was going to give Roman’s opponents too much of a warning that the Spear is coming.
• The problem with having Sami Zayn out there is we’re all just sitting here waiting for something to happen.
• Btw, no Sami Zayn or Solo Sikoa in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match was the right call.
• I actually wonder if there’s too much focus on Sami Zayn. Roman Reigns the performer might be better off with less focus on Sami.
• Those shots to the stairs were BRUTAL.
• We get the win, but no real movement in the Sami/Bloodline storyline.

Winner AND STILL Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

• We’ll have to see what happens on Raw or Smackdown this week, but maybe the chair comes into the conversation, maybe the reactions.
• Ah, wait a minute–NOW the true test comes.
• We’ve had a beatdown, solo with the chair, and now handcuffs.
• Sami is TORN. This is a damn movie. Such good shit.
• Roman hands Sami the chair–and I almost expected Sami to just take it and waffle Owens himself.
• “Otherwise, go and do Jackass shit!” – Roman Reigns
• THAT WAS PERFECT.
• Did you hear that pop? THAT’s how you tell a story.
• Solo and Jimmy attacking Sami, and Jey is just watching.
• Jey leaves, and this has officially passed Daniel Bryan Danielson’s WrestleMania 30 ascension as the greatest story in wrestling history.
• FUCK YOU ROMAN chants from the crowd, and he’s right back to being the heel he is.
• Commentary hasn’t said a word.

Winners and NEW Greatest Storyline In The History Of Professional Wrestling: Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso, and Paul Heyman!

Well done. Well done.

This has officially passed Daniel Bryan Danielson's WrestleMania 30 ascension as the greatest story in wrestling history.
cc: @WrestlngRealist #RoyalRumble

— Big Daddy Greg (@gregdemarco44) January 29, 2023