WWE Royal Rumble preview: UK start time, matches, live stream 2023

Royal Rumble | Latest News, Results, Photos, Videos and More

The most unpredictable night of the WWE calendar is here. This year’s Royal Rumble will take place on Saturday, January 28 and is being held at The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

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It’s a night made up of high stakes, surprise entrants, shock eliminations and the beginning of the Road to WrestleMania 39 with the men and women of Raw and SmackDown trying to earn a world championship match in Hollywood.

While Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley and more big names are already confirmed as the event returns to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, there are also rumours the likes of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and John Cena could turn up.

There’s so much on the line with the iconic 30-man and 30-woman bouts always promising thrilling action, while this year’s show has plenty of drama across its other matches.

As well as two huge title bouts with Roman Reigns and Bianca Belair defending their gold, there’s also the mystery of the first ever Pitch Black Match, whatever that will involve.

As ever, we’ve put together our regular guide with all the matches, streaming details and more, and here’s everything you need to know about the show…

When is WWE Royal Rumble 2023?

WWE presents the Royal Rumble tonight (January 28) with all the action on the main card kicking off at 1am for fans in the UK.

How can you watch WWE Royal Rumble 2023?

Of course, there will be a Kickoff show available on the WWE Network, WWE.com, the WWE app, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Twitch at midnight.

For fans in the UK, you can tune into the main Royal Rumble show by either streaming live or watching on demand via the WWE Network – or order the event via BT Sport Box Office.

WWE Royal Rumble 2023 full match card

Men’s Royal Rumble Match: See below for confirmed entrants
Women’s Royal Rumble Match: See below for confirmed entrants
Undisputed WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Raw Women’s Title: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match: Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight

WWE Men’s Royal Rumble 2023 confirmed entrants

Austin Theory
Baron Corbin
Bobby Lashley
Braun Strowman
Brock Lesnar
Cody Rhodes
Dominik Mysterio
Drew McIntyre
GUNTHER
Karrion Kross
Kofi Kingston
Omos
Rey Mysterio
Ricochet
Santos Escobar
Seth Rollins
Sheamus
The Miz
Xavier Woods

WWE Women’s Royal Rumble 2023 confirmed entrants

Bayley
Candice LeRae
Dakota Kai
Emma
Iyo Sky
Lacey Evans
Liv Morgan
Raquel Rodriguez
Rhea Ripley
Shayna Baszler
Xia Li
Zelina Vega

What can you expect from WWE Royal Rumble? Predictions, surprise entrants and more for the show

More than ever, this year’s Royal Rumble is so difficult to predict, with so much potential for drama and surprises from the results to the entrants to the signature matches.

For the Women’s Rumble, Rhea Ripley is the right choice to win here (although Raquel Rodriguez has an outside chance), while it’d be great to see the likes of Lita, Candice Michelle or Chelsea Green enter the bout alongside the current roster.

Speaking of Green, her real life husband Matt Cardona (best known to WWE fans as Zack Ryder) could appear in the men’s match, with other rumoured names including the likes of The Rock, Stone Cold, John Cena and even NJPW’s ‘Switchblade’ Jay White.

The men’s match is much harder to call, with Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn up there as favourites along with a potential return win for The Rock, if he’s in the match.

We still don’t know what a Pitch Black Match will involve, but look to Bray Wyatt to win with plenty of references to his past – while we could finally get more of a hint about the identity of Uncle Howdy.

Elsewhere, Bianca Belair should win and march towards WrestleMania 39 as champion, and Roman Reigns will retain over Kevin Owens – but the match won’t be short of drama.

WWE SmackDown Results, Grades: Kevin Owens Decimates Solo Sikoa

WWE SmackDown saw Kevin Owens lay out Solo Sikoa after Sami Zayn turned up against the orders of Roman Reigns.

The former world champion faced one final obstacle before his hyped Undisputed WWE Universal Title match against the Tribal Chief tonight at the 2023 Royal Rumble as he faced The Bloodline enforcer.

At the top of the show, Sikoa arrived with The Usos when Sami sneaked up to them to thank Jey for having his back during Monday’s emotionally charged Tribal Court which saw his position in the group saved when all hoped looked lost.

After that moment on Raw, Roman had told Sami that he didn’t want to see him until the Rumble on Saturday night, where he will face his final test.

Perhaps he would have got away with his brief interaction with Jey, but the Honorary Uce then made his presence felt more obviously in the main event with Jimmy and Jey Uso banned from ringside after a confrontation backstage.

KO and Sikoa had the entertaining, physical battle you’d expect from the opening bell, and Owens looked to have things won when Sami pulled Sikoa out of the ring and got accidentally hit with an errant superkick.

Owens fought back and then powerbombed his opponent onto the announce table and cracked him with a steel chair after a tense moment with Sami, standing tall and delivering a warning to Roman for this weekend.

There is so much to look forward to with The Bloodline at the Rumble, from Sami’s allegiances to KO’s performance against the champ. This is going to be special.

Brock Lesnar attacks Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus replaced by Ricochet and Braun Strowman, and Uncle Howdy appears

In the first match of the night, Rey Mysterio overcame a formidable challenge in the form of Karrion Kross.

The villain’s overconfidence cost him as the masked legend reversed a powerslam into a crucifix rollup to win the bout.

Raw’s Austin Theory came out with the United States Championship to hype up his chances in the Royal Rumble, but he as met with The New Day and The Miz playing up their own involvement this weekend.

Bobby Lashley came out and cleared house, but he was met by Brock Lesnar hopping the guardrail and attacking the All Mighty, laying him out with an F-5.

He revealed he will be part of the Rumble, adding another layer of drama with the two heavyweights both declared for the 30-man match.

Lacey Evans appeared as her latest character change got highlighted with a submission win over localt talent Jazmin Allure.

Drew McIntyre and Sheamus were set to face Hit Row in a semi-final match in the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Contender’s Tournament.

However, they got brutally attacked by The Viking Raiders beforehand, which led to Adam Pearce announcing they were pulled from the match with Braun Strowman and Ricochet taking their place.

What followed was a fun match – largely thinks to Ricochet and Ashante Thee Adonis – before Strowman picked up the win with a Monster Bomb to progress to the final.

Before the other semi-final, there was time for LA Knight to come out with a straw hat and Hawaiian shirt to mock the original Bray Wyatt persona, cutting a promo on his opponent for tonight’s Pitch Black Match.

Wyatt came out and insisted the time for taking was done, before warning Knight about the lights going out as Uncle Howdy appeared in a skybox.

The night, Imperium due Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser beat Legado del Fantasma’s Cruz del Toro and Joaquin Wilde in a fantastic bout to progress to next week’s final against Ricochet and Braun.

WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.