Thirty male Superstars from Raw and SmackDown LIVE will fight for a title match opportunity when the 2019 Men’s Royal Rumble Match takes place this Sunday at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The winner of the massive melee will go on to challenge for either the Universal Championship or WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35.
The latest entrant in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match is Randy Orton, according to WWE.com.
Tonight’s SmackDown LIVE main event resulted in Rey Mysterio defeating Andrade in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match via disqualification when Samoa Joe interfered. Mysterio was closing in on victory when he hit the 619 and got in position to Drop the Dime, but Joe blindsided Mysterio and decimated him with a powerbomb onto the apron. “The Samoan Submission Machine” doubled down on his efforts by ramming Andrade into the ring post and refocusing on Rey, savagely applying the Coquina Clutch. Joe grabbed a microphone and vowed on doing this type of damage to every man that crossed his path in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match, but he was met with a blindside attack of his own when Randy Orton struck suddenly with an RKO outta nowhere.
Orton then put up three fingers, suggesting that he would win his third Royal Rumble Match this Sunday night — Orton won in 2009 and 2017.
There are now 20 confirmed participants in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match, thus leaving 10 open spots. Here is the updated list.
Andrade
Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
Big E
Bobby Lashley
Dean Ambrose
Drew McIntyre
Elias
Jeff Hardy
Jinder Mahal
John Cena
Kofi Kingston
Mustafa Ali
R-Truth (who earned the coveted No. 30 spot by winning WWE Mixed Match Challenge with Carmella)
Randy Orton
Rey Mysterio
Samoa Joe
Seth Rollins
Titus O’Neil
Xavier Woods
Both Finn Balor and Kalisto were pulled from the Men’s Royal Rumble Match last week.
Balor got removed after beating John Cena, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin in a Fatal 4-Way Match on Raw to earn the right to challenge Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble.
Kalisto’s removal seems to be due to a miscommunication issue. It was announced during Raw last week that Kalisto declared for the Men’s Royal Rumble Match. Kalisto, however, was already slated to compete in a WWE Cruiserweight Championship Fatal 4-Way Match at the Royal Rumble against Akira Tozawa, Hideo Itami and title holder Buddy Murphy. His name was then pulled from the match last Tuesday.
A tradition dating back to 1988, the Men’s Royal Rumble Match starts with two participants, and WWE Superstars enter the ring at equal intervals. This continues until all 30 Superstars have entered the bout. Elimination occurs when a Superstar is thrown over the top rope, and both of his feet hit the floor. The last Superstar in the ring will be declared the victor.
