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The fairy tale is alive and well as Cody Rhodes returned to WWE after seven months injured and won the Royal Rumble to book his spot at WrestleMania.
A torn pectoral muscle last June brought the company’s sexiest babyface to a halt following his return to WWE just three months earlier.
However, in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, Rhodes entered the Rumble at the coveted No. 30 seed and won the entire battle royal.
In doing so, Rhodes has earned himself an Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Title match at WrestleMania. Roman Reigns is the current champion, reigning for over 900 days.
The Rumble match itself was touted as one of the best ever by WWE itself after Rhodes’ victory. While that’s generous, it was a fun and entertaining affair.
It started with Gunther at number one and his great nemesis of 2022, Sheamus, at second.
Cody Rhodes’ ambition to win the WWE title that his father Dusty never won is back!
The pair would battle for nearly an hour between the fields with Gunther making it as far as the bottom two before losing to Rhodes.
The next big moment saw Brock Lesnar make his presence felt. The Beast Incarnate arrived and opened the Rumble wide by quickly clearing out the field buildup tactically.
Bobby Lashley then made his entrance just in time to prevent the titanic clash between Gunther and Lesnar. It’s smart to save that match, but not for WrestleMania 39, it seems.
If there was any doubt that Lashley and The Almighty were on a collision course for Hollywood back in April, the former drove the latter out of the Rumble surprisingly quickly to write another chapter in their story.
Rey Mysterio was meant to make it to number 17, but the future Hall of Famer never showed up.
Dominik Mysterio was next, but the son of the wrestling legend made his entrance wearing his father’s mask, suggesting that he had attacked and dealt with his beloved father before entering the Rumble.
Edge made a surprising comeback after nearly four months out of the company at age 24.
The Rated R superstar came back like a ball of fire, taking down The Judgment Day, which had put him and his wife, Beth Phoenix, on the shelf with con-chair-tos.
Brock Lesnar couldn’t believe he was kicked out of the Rumble in just 3:34
However, after a brief confrontation with Rollins that was a nod to their electric fight from 2021, the men he had just eliminated pulled Edge over the top rope, which is technically legal.
Once he ramped up Balor and Priest, with Mysterio still in the match, Rhea Ripley appeared to take Edge down from behind, only for Phoenix to save and throw Ripley.
Logan Paul, who appeared to have sustained ACL and ACL injuries in November, made a superhuman recovery from a cascade of boos in Texas.
The WWE roster rallied around Paul, but the YouTube sensation managed to make jaws drop by meeting Ricochet in the middle of the ring after both men jumped.
Paul would fall victim to Rhodes as The American Nightmare tore through the field down the stretch.
After a series of close calls, Rhodes got Gunther across the top rope and booked his spot in Los Angeles this April.
Royal Rumble Results
1. Gunther, eliminate Woods, Booker T, Sheamus, McIntyre
2. Sheamus, eliminate Miz, Otis, Elias
3.Miz
4. Kofi Kingston
5. Gargano
6. Xavier Woods
7. Karrion Kross
8.Chad Gable
9. Drew McIntyre, eliminates Otis, Elias
10. Santos Escobar
11.Angelo Dawkins
12. Brock Lesnar, eliminate Escobar, Dawkins, Gable
13. Bobby Lashley, eliminate Lesnar
14. Baron Corbin
15. Seth Rollins, eliminate Corbin, Lashley
16.Otis
17. Mystery King
18. Dominic Mysterio
19. Elijah
20. Finn Balor, eliminate Gargano, Edge
21.Booker T.
22. Damien Priest, eliminate Ford
23. Montez Ford
24. Edge, eliminate Priest, Balor
25. Austin Theory, eliminate Ricochet
26. hear
27. Braun Strowman, eliminate Omos
28. Bounce,
29. Logan Paul, eliminate Rollins
30. Cody Rhodes, eliminate Dominik, Strowman, Theory, Paul, Gunther