Roman Reigns Wins 2026 WWE Royal Rumble for Historic Title Shot at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas

Roman Reigns won the 30-man 2026 men’s Royal Rumble match Saturday at the same-titled premium live event in Saudi Arabia, earning a world title opportunity at WrestleMania 42.

Reigns will headline the main event at The Show of Shows for a record 11th time.

The final two were Reigns and Gunther, who had beaten AJ Styles earlier in the evening. In the end, The Tribal Chief won after spearing The Ring General and throwing him over the top rope.

Reigns has the choice of challenging for either the Undisputed WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship on The Grandest Stage of Them All on April 18-19. Drew McIntyre is the current undisputed WWE champion and CM Punk is the reigning world heavyweight champ.

Oba Femi entered the ring at No. 1, and Bron Breakker was about to join him at No. 2 with Paul Heyman by his side.

However, a masked figure came out of nowhere and attacked The Badass before throwing him into the ring. From there, a dazed Breakker had no chance, and Femi eliminated him easily.

Femi was fantastic in his first-ever Rumble, amassing five eliminations (tied with Reigns for the match-high) and lasting 39 minutes before Brock Lesnar took him out.

Other noteworthy moments included the debut of Royce Keys, formerly Powerhouse Hobbs in All Elite Wrestling.

LA Knight made his return after being out since December, when he was attacked by The Vision. He eliminated two members of the group (Bronson Reed and Austin Theory) on the evening but got knocked out by Cody Rhodes.

Speaking of Rhodes, he was eliminated by someone not even in the Rumble, undisputed WWE champion Drew McIntyre, who hit him with a Claymore from the outside to send him flying.

This year’s men’s Rumble was as stacked as any in recent memory, featuring a mix of top stars and past winners, as well as up-and-comers looking to make a massive statement.

A couple of multi-time WrestleMania main eventers in Reigns and Rhodes were widely viewed as the guys to beat entering Saturday’s show.

Reigns, who previously won the Rumble in 2015, was announced as an entrant a couple of weeks ago. As soon as his participation became official, The Tribal Chief immediately emerged as the odds-on favorite.

Saturday marked Reigns’ first on-screen appearance for WWE since Survivor Series in November when he was part of the losing team in a WarGames match.

One of Reigns’ teammates in that match was Rhodes, and he too entered the Royal Rumble as a clear and obvious contender to win it all.

Rhodes, who was seeking to join WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as only the second wrestler to win three career Royal Rumble matches, had added motivation to come out on top after recently dropping the WWE title to McIntyre.

Several Superstars who had never won a Rumble before also felt like legitimate threats to break through, including Gunther, Breakker, Femi and Jacob Fatu.

There was also the looming possibility of a surprise entrant winning, with Knight and Dominik Mysterio among the top candidates.

Reigns returned to WWE programming in grand fashion Saturday, joining an exclusive group of Superstars who have won multiple Royal Rumble matches.

The Tribal Chief has history with both Punk and McIntyre, but given the direction of the Undisputed WWE Championship, it seems likely Reigns will target the world heavyweight title heading toward WrestleMania.