WWE Royal Rumble 2026 goes down this afternoon from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Things get started with the Countdown to Royal Rumble pre-show, which gets underway at Noon EST. / 9am PST.
That will lead directly into the main premium live event card, which kicks off at 2pm EST. / 11am PST., featuring a four match lineup.
Advertised for today’s highly-anticipated show is AJ Styles vs. Gunther with Styles’ career on-the-line, Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship, as well as the Women’s and Men’s Royal Rumble matches.
The following are WWE Royal Rumble: Riyadh results for January 31, 2026. The report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the ESPN App from Noon EST. – 6pm EST.
WWE ROYAL RUMBLE RESULTS – JANUARY 31, 2026
As always, ‘WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.’ kicks things off as always. Michael Cole then welcomes us live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for ‘Countdown to Royal Rumble: Riyadh.’ We see a nice shot of the special stadium built specifically for today’s show, which Cole mentions is the size of 17 football fields.
From there, a special cold open style video package airs narrated by Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque. When it wraps up, Cole welcomes us back live as images are shown from key moments that have taken place in Saudi Arabia over the years in WWE. The usual Superstar arrival shots are shown as the crowd reacts in the background.
Wade Barrett and Big E. join Cole as the camera shot settles at the pre-show panel, with an enormous crowd shown in the background. And they are fired up and loud. Real loud. Real, real loud. They break out in various chants, including for Cole and AJ Styles. We check in with Cathy Kelley, Byron Saxton and others on the broadcast team.
CM Punk Sits In For Entire Countdown Show
From there, after Wade Barrett makes a not-so-subtle tease for a surprise in the Royal Rumble, Cole mentions to the incredibly fired-up crowd that joining them now and sitting in for the remainder of the Countdown pre-show leading into today’s premium live event is none other than CM Punk.
“Cult of Personality” by Living Colour plays and the Riyadh crowd sings, again, very loud, as the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion takes his seat. Cole mentions how crazy the crowd is. Punk says he isn’t a drinker but they’re gonna have a drinking game.
Every time they chant “CM Punk” you have to chug. They chant it and Punk chugs some Pepsi. Cole mentions Punk being announced as the cover star for the new WWE 2K26 video game. He asks Punk what it means to him to be on the cover. Fans chant “You deserve it!” as Punk talks about how cool of an honor it is.
Paul Heyman Confronts Adam Pearce In Intense Moment
After some more back-and-forth banter, the Countdown to WWE Royal Rumble pre-show moves on as the next guest is introduced. WWE Raw General Manager Adam Pearce joins Michael Cole, Wade Barrett, Big E. and CM Punk at the panel, but doesn’t get to say much at all.
Why? Because “The Oracle” storms the set and gets right in the red brand shot-callers’ face. He asks him what he thinks he’s doing. He keeps ranting about how he doesn’t believe the draw was random. “You’re really gonna make him number two?!” He argues number two is just as bad as number one.
“You wanna play F.A.F.O. with me? I’ll play F.A.F.O. with you!” Heyman says in an intense, face-to-face moment to wrap things up. Pearce says he’s off to have a conversation and throws his microphone down. He stands up and storms off and the pre-show continues.
The show moves on again and after some more video packages and commercial breaks, we go on a special meal and fun visit in Riyadh with Peter Rosenberg, Jackie Redmond and The New Day. They ride the record-setting rollercoaster and eat some fancy food.
Back live, the new WWE Saudi Superstar is interviewed in broken English. We check back in at the panel briefly, and then Punk and company mess with Peter Rosenberg as he gives us a first-hand look of what it’s like to make the walk to the ring at today’s Rumble. They dare him to do a somersault and mock him all the way.
A cool video package narrated by Tom Rinaldi airs regarding the WrestleMania sign. We then see the unveiling of the WrestleMania Vegas sign inside the stadium in Riyadh ahead of today’s Royal Rumble show. The package wraps up and then Drew McIntyre is interviewed backstage live.
McIntyre takes some shots at CM Punk, the other champion from the other brand, before talking about his title defense against Sami Zayn tonight. He says it’s gonna end with a hell of a kick, but it won’t be Zayn’s. Back at the panel, Punk reacts.
Punk responds to the comments made moments ago by McIntyre, taking shots at him for not being on every show of the recent WWE tour. We then move on, where Zayn has a special sit-down interview, where he gets emotional talking about a promise to his family.
A ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin package airs highlighting his record three Royal Rumble victories, with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes looking to try and tie that record with a potential victory today at the 2026 Royal Rumble match. The panelists then talk about the Rumble records and chances of them being broken.
We get a quick check-in with Byron Saxton and then the talk shifts to the AJ Styles vs. Gunther match, where Styles’ career is on-the-line. From there, the panelists get somber while talking about today possibly being the end for “The Phenomenal” one. They give Rumble predictions and wrap up. It’s time, folks!
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
The Triple H-narrated cold open video package airs to get things started, and then we return inside the massive stadium to get the premium live event portion of the show officially off-and-running. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett check in from ringside. They introduce the alternate language commentators.
Mark Nash takes over as the ring announcer inside the squared circle. He begins by announcing the rules for our opening contest, which will be the Women’s Royal Rumble match. With that said, it’s time to find out who will be starting things off.
Coming out as the first entrant in the 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble match is the women’s legend herself, Charlotte Flair. She comes out in typical woman-in-Saudi-type covering-all ring gear. She settles inside the ring to a big pop from the fired-up Riyadh crowd.
Her music dies down and then the theme for the other woman who will start things off in the Women’s Rumble bout hits. Coming in at number two is the friend and tag-team partner of Charlotte, fellow SmackDown women’s star Alexa Bliss. Out she comes covered head-to-toe, as all ladies will be today.
