WWE Men’s Royal Rumble RESULT: Cody Rhodes win back-to back Rumbles by dumping CM Punk out last to secure WrestleMania title shot… and he immediately calls out Roman Reigns

Cody Rhodes has won the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row.

In a thrilling showdown where Rhodes and CM Punk were the final two, Rhodes managed to shock the world and arrange a date with Roman Reigns – who he immediately called out – despite rumors of The Rock’s return.

Punk’s dreams of Main Eventing WrestleMania were now in tatters for this year, but Rhodes’ desire to “finish the story” remains firm.

In the dying embers, CM Punk managed to dump out Drew McIntyre after the Scottish Warrior delivered Claymore Kicks to the entire remaining field.

Then, just like last year, Rhodes managed to dump Gunther out when he looked at the world of issues on the platform, meaning it came down to two of the biggest stars in the business: CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. The field went as follows:

1. Jay Uso

2.Jimmy Uso

3. Grayson Waller

4. Andrade El Idolo

5. Carmelo Hayes

6. Shinsuke Nakamura

7. Santos Escobar

8. Karrion Kross

9. Dominik Mysterio

10. Carlito

11. Bobby Lashley

12. Ludwig Kaiser

13. Austin theory

14. Finn Balor

15. Cody Rhodes

16. Bronson Reed

17. Kofi Kingston

18. Gunther

19. Ivar

20. Source Breaker

21. Omos

22. Pat MacAfee

23. JD McDonagh

24. R-truth

25. The Miz

26. Damien Priester

27. CM Punk

28. Ricochet

29. Drew McIntyre

30. Sami Zayn

Jey and Jimmy Uso, real-life twins, entered the match having not crossed paths since the former left The Bloodline nearly six months ago.

In what will surely be a taste of an emerging rivalry that could see them clash at WrestleMania, they wasted little time trading blows before the obnoxious Grayson Waller ensured we didn’t get the full picture.

After nearly three and a half years away from the company, Andrade made his long-awaited return to the company following his departure from AEW earlier this month.

Santos Escobar tried to befriend his Mexican compatriot, but Charlotte Flair’s husband did not accept his offer.

Speaking of Escobar, he defeated Carlito on Friday night’s SmackDown, but it was the Puerto Rican legend who spit an apple in his face and ruined his Rumble dreams on Sunday with a rather quick elimination.

Bobby Lashley made a big impression by eliminating names like Carlito and Karrion Kross, but he would be eliminated when a bitter Kross dragged him down, causing the Authors of Pain and the Street Profits to flee and become embroiled in a stable war at ringside.

Following the arrival of one of the Rumble favorites in Cody Rhodes, Bronson Reed made his way to the ring and managed to Samoan drop both Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio at the same time! A cool place to showcase the blossoming talent.

Things started to look up when Gunther entered the match and Bron Breakker followed him. Spears, chops and eliminations abounded.

Pat MacAfee walked away from his desk for 38 whole seconds before switching himself off to avoid the 7’4″ Omos.

R-Truth provided some comic relief when he attempted to enter the Rumble match, despite it not being a tag match. Once Dom tagged him, he proceeded to perform John Cena’s five ominous moves on Gunther, who fell at the final hurdle.

CM Punk went into the match like a house on fire and managed to eliminate Dominik Mysterio before Richochet made his entrance at the age of 28.

The final participants saw Drew McIntyre and ultimately Sami Zayn enter the proceedings. The field was finally starting to take shape and our final four consisted of McIntyre, Rhodes, Punk and Gunther.