The WWE Royal Rumble might not be until January 28th, but the first entrant into the men’s Royal Rumble match has been confirmed.
On the December 2nd edition of SmackDown a promo package for the Royal Rumble aired, before the camera cut to an interview with Kofi Kingston. The former WWE Champion then wasted little time in entering himself into the match. However, things quickly took a dark turn, at least for Kingston.
The star was interrupted by Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, and revealed that Xavier Woods wasn’t at the show. But he would face one of them in singles action. That was until Gunther appeared, and said that he would be facing Kingston.
Dwayne Johnson Heading To The WWE Royal Rumble?
The 2023 Royal Rumble is set to come live from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The event was first held at the venue back in 1997 and was headlined by the huge WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid. Michaels scored the win in front of his home crowd claimed the World Championship for a second time.
Shortly after the event Michaels sparked controversy by vacating the title owing to a highly-controversial knee injury, while he infamously “lost his smile.”
The 1997 Royal Rumble Match was won by Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was the first of three wins in the match for the Texas Rattlesnake. WWE returned to the Alamodome for the event in 2017. On this occasion the Royal Rumble Match was won by Randy Orton.
It was recently reported that there has been some talk that Dwayne Johnson could be returning to WWE at the event. Although this appears unlikely, it has at least been discussed within WWE. It has long been rumoured that the star will headline WrestleMania 39 in a huge match against his cousin Roman Reigns.
With regard to WrestleMania, the report states that any plans for the Hollywood megastar to appear at the event would need to be “locked in” by mid-January.