Winners and Losers following the 2024 Royal Rumble

The 2024 Royal Rumble event on Saturday was one of the most highly anticipated events in the past year. We saw star-studded debuts. We saw a Roman Reigns title defense. And of course we saw the rumble victories of Bayley and Cody Rhodes. But there’s undoubtedly been more winners and losers in the fallout of the 2024 Royal Rumble and the following episode of Monday Night Raw.

Who’s firmly set for the Road to WrestleMania 40?

Winner: Royal Rumble Winners (probably) Main Eventing

Bayley set a women’s Royal Rumble record, lasting 63 minutes. Coming into the event, she had one of the most compelling WrestleMania storylines that the women’s division has seen in a while. With Damage CTRL slowly but surely slipping out of Bayley’s control and turning more into a faction led by Iyo Sky.

The signs have been slight, but apparent. Sky and Dakota Kai were seemingly more celebratory over new members Kairi Sane and Asuka winning the women’s tag titles on Smackdown than they were for Bayley’s rumble win on Raw this past Monday.

While Bayley is still alluding to challenging Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, the story is apparent for Bayley to challenge her stablemate. And as Saturday showed, Bayley already has the crowd in her palm.

That’s main event caliber potential.

And as for Cody Rhodes, we already know his intent. Last year, he was left sitting dormant in the ring as Solo Sikoa cost him his opportunity at his first world championship. And after a year of side quests, and flat-out dominance, Rhodes became the first man to win back-to-back rumbles since Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1997 and 1998.

He’s fought through obstacle after obstacle avoiding Roman Reigns and his ever growing Undisputed WWE Universal championship reign. And now, it’s time for him to finish the story in Philadelphia.

Loser: Predictable World Title Match finish

Most people entered Saturday night expecting Roman Reigns to leave Tampa under day 1,246 of his Undisputed Universal championship reign.

Despite stiff competition between former champions and wrestling legends in Randy Orton and AJ Styles, and the popular upstart LA Knight, Roman’s reign never felt like it was in question.

But the action was exciting and fast-paced, with each challenger gaining some sort of momentum.

And then Solo Sikoa interfered. As he always does.

The interference left a sour-taste in what was otherwise a pretty decent title defense for Reigns. And his critics left with another victory due to outside interference. Something that has seemingly become synonymous with Reigns over the past year.

Winner: Royal Rumble Debuts and Returns

The 2024 Royal Rumble event started out on the right note with a thunderous ovation to a returning Naomi as the second entrant in the women’s rumble match.

That would be the first of many in-ring returns in the evening, including Liv Morgan and Andrade.

But we also saw some very impressive debuts in both matches. First was the shocking appearance of TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace. Grace had a fun interaction with Naomi, who she beat for the title.

But the ultimate moment of the night was the long-awaited arrival of Jade Cargill. And she made an immediate impact, single-handedly eliminating Nia Jax.

With Andrade officially signing with Raw on Monday, we’re sure to see some of these big names officially work their way onto the Road to WrestleMania.

Loser: WrestleMania Dream matches due to the injury bug

Just a week ago, Seth Rollins revealed to the WWE universe that he’d have to miss a few weeks due to tears of his MCL and meniscus. Despite that, he reassured fans that he’d be back for WrestleMania 40 to defend the World Heavyweight Championship.

And many had high hopes that he’d clash against the returning CM Punk at the show of shows. Especially considering it’d be Punk’s first ever WrestleMania main event.

But then Punk told the WWE universe on Monday that he’d be missing WrestleMania. He sustained a torn tricep in the Royal Rumble match. Absolutely heartbreaking for Punk and fans alike.

Punk is the latest to start the year off missing time, after significant injuries to Charlotte Flair and Cora Jade earlier this month. It was also revealed that Kevin Owens fought Logan Paul with a fractured foot on Saturday.

But with the full heel turn of Drew McIntyre on Monday, taunting and attacking the injured Punk, he could potentially be a contender to face Rollins at the grandest stage of them all.

Winner: Commentary Teams

The forever charismatic Pat McAfee returned Saturday night to call the 2024 Royal Rumble event. But fans found out Monday that McAfee would be joining Michael Cole to call Raw for the foreseeable future.

This was a welcomed replacement following the dismissal of play-by-play commentator Kevin Patrick last week.

As for Smackdown, Corey Graves is reportedly set to take over on play-by-play duties, as Wade Barrett will join him as a color commentator.

It will definitely be an interesting way to shake up the weekly calls as we continue the Road to WrestleMania.

Loser: Logan Paul’s ego

We saw one of the most shocking and creative disqualification finishes in the United States championship match between Logan Paul and Kevin Owens on Saturday.

Owens pried the signature brass knuckles from Paul’s fist and used them against him, knocking him out cold. But the ref noticed the brass knuckles and disqualified Owens, giving him the title-retaining win.

Paul looked impressive as always during the match, targeting the injured hand of Owens. But getting knocked out and powerbombed through a table to end the night definitely took a blow to Paul’s colossal ego.

The story definitely doesn’t seem to be finished between Owens and Paul, and they may meet again in Perth, Australia at Elimination Chamber.

Winner: NXT Talent in the Royal Rumble

NXT talent worked hand-in-hand with the main roster shows in small spurts throughout most of 2023 and early 2024. And at the Royal Rumble on Saturday, those familiar faces put on impressive performances to cement their legitimacy.

Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez represented the black and gold brand in the women’s rumble and the former even made it to the final four.

In the men’s rumble, Carmelo Hayes has been a fixture on Smackdown over the past few weeks, and he lasted 17 minutes in the match. But the shining star was Bron Breakker.

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Breakker tied Cody Rhodes with four eliminations in the match, and wreaked havoc throughout the ring. Incredible speed, brute strength, and one of the best-looking spears in the business gave fans a taste of what the former two-time NXT champion is truly made of.

And with Nick Aldis alluding that Breakker is headed for the blue brand, he could have a lot more in store for him on the main roster.