WWE Royal Rumble 2023: Results, Live Updates and Match Ratings

Rhea Ripley entered at No. 1, selling her ribs after Beth Phoenix's Spear. Ripley was followed by Liv Morgan, who's this year's No. 2.

The Women's Royal Rumble had a quiet opening section. Ripley is a major player, surrounded by the just-there field of Morgan, Dana Brooke and Emma. Bayley and Shayna Baszler were welcome additions, but didn't do much at the outset. 

B-Fab was the first elimination, lasting just over 30 seconds before Ripley tossed her out. NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez got a nice reaction when she entered. She was followed by Bayley flunkey Dakota Kai and then Iyo Sky, making Damage CTRL the dominant force in the Rumble.

Damage CTRL quickly eliminated Dana Brooke, Emma and Roxanne Perez.

After the hokey Bray Wyatt bout, it's was time for Alexa Bliss to challenge for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Championship. As Bliss walks to the ring, Cole asks Corey if Bliss is possessed by Bray Wyatt. Corey Graves talked about how disturbed he was when Bliss told him she was "the face of evil." Very cool.

The crowd was dead for this at the outset, and how could they not be? The Royal Rumble was more anticipated, and the Lights Out match was in essence a more theatrical version of this exact story.

Belair tried to get the crowd into it, beckoning them to make some noise as she mounted offence early in the bout, but it only worked momentarily.

After some very average wrestling, Bliss attempted a Sister Abigail but Belair countered it, powering out and landing a KOD for the win. Not even the announcers sounded excited about any of this.

Afterwards, when Bliss was in the ring, the lights went dim and a spookey Bray Wyatt message played. Bliss stared off ominously into the distance as the segment ended.

Rating: 1 star. The match was bad. Bliss is much smaller than Belair, and her offense is sloppy, which makes it hard to really buy into her as a threat. The wrestling, even if it was good, was also just filling time until Bliss' demonic turn, which ended up being after the match instead of during it. Bleh. 

Bray Wyatt defeated L.A. Knight in the Mountain Dew Light's Out Match. It was slightly better than you'd expect, but still not worth watching. 

So first up, what is a Lights Out match? It'd be more accurate to call it a Blue-Light match. A blue light descened on the ring, making the ropes and L.A. Knight's tights go a neon yellow. Wyatt also had body paint on which lit up. It looked cool. Also, there's a big Mountain Dew logo in the middle. Really, the "Mountain Dew" part of the "Mountain Dew Light's Out" match is the most important.

Wyatt attacked Knight out of the gate, taking him on the outside. Knight fought back by throwing Wyatt into the steel stairs. Wyatt tried to suplex Knight on the steps, but Knight stopped him, jumped off the barricade to land a cross body on Wyatt, who was standing on the stairs. They crashed through the announcer's table, which exploded with neon fluff. 

Knight got a Kendo Stick and started battering Wyatt with it, but Wyatt countered a swing by turning it into a Sister Abigail for the win. 

After the match, Wyatt's facepaint turned red and he stalked Knight through the area. Knight kept hitting him with Kendo Sticks, but Wyatt no sold them. Up by the audio area, Wyatt locked the Mandible Claw onto Knight. Then, on the stage above, Uncle Howdy appeared. He jumped off the stage onto Knight -- or at least tried to, he landed next to him instead of on him -- causing a super fake looking explosion. Really silly.

Rating: 1 star. Not fun. The post-match stuff was especially stupid. 

Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Gunther, the No.1 entrant. After an outstanding final few minutes, Rhodes hit Gunther with a Cross Rhodes and then a clothesline out of the ring to win the match -- and a WrestleMania main event. 

Austin Theory was the first of the final five to be taken out. Rollins blitzed him with a Curbstomp, which allowed Rhodes to eliminate Theory. That left Gunther, Rhodes and Rollins.

Rollins got in Rhodes face, telling him he wouldn't steal his spotlight again. They were about to fight it out when Gunther interrupted. Rhodes and Rollins teamed up to take out Gunther, both hitting a Pedigree on him -- but not eliminating yet. Cole noted at this point that Gunther has broken Rey Mysterio's record, lasting longer in the Royal Rumble than anyone in history.

Rollins and Rhodes have a great exchange, and Rollins set up to eliminate Rhodes when Logan Paul appeared out of nowhere and eliminated Rollins. 

The crowd did not like that. Paul pointed to the WrestleMania sign, earning him a massive shower of boos from the crowd. Paul couldn't bask in their hate for long, as Rhodes caught him with a Cross Rhodes and eliminated him.  

Great moment where Gunther missed a Big Boot and ended up on the apron. Rhodes attempted a Disaster Kick, but Gunther slapped him down, literally, with a huge chop. Gunther then worked over Rhodes' previously injured pec, stomping him out in the corner. The two end up on the corner turnbuckle, where Gunther suplexes Rhodes off. Gunther kicked Rhodes around, but Rhodes fired himself up, Hogan style, and lands a Cody Cutter on Gunther before clotheslining him out of the ring onto the apron.

In a throwback to his brother Goldust, Rhodes set Gunther up in the corner, legs stretched to either side on the middle ropes, and hit a Shattered Dream -- a kick to the nuts. It doesn't keep Gunther out though, as he quickly fought back with a Powerbomb. Gunther attempted to toss Rhodes out, but now Cody hangs on at the apron. Cody managed to fight back into the ring, land a Cross Rhodes and score the elimination to win.

Rating: 4.5 stars. Michael Cole said after the match that it might be the best Rumble ever. That's overstating it, but this was excellent. It was tight, and well paced. As noted, the final minutes between Rhodes and Gunther were so, so good. Gunther was undeniably the MVP of the match, making Cody's win bittersweet. He was the right person to win, but Gunther, in a sense, turned into the great underdog. 

This Rumble also did a great job at continuing and setting up feuds: Lesnar and Lashley come to mind, as well as Edge and the Judgement Day. Rollins' surprise elimination by Paul may also be setting something up between those two, which would probably be great. 

Logan Paul is back and fighting fit. After injuring his leg during his Crown Jewel match against Roman Reigns, Paul made his return to WWE by entering the Royal Rumble at 29. Lucky guy.

He does some flippy stuff, but is quickly cut off by Braun Strowman, who lands a big Powerslam. Unlucky guy.

His entrance left just one final Royal Rumble participant: Cody Rhodes. Like Paul, Rhodes has been on the shelf with an injury, having suffered a gross pec injury before his match against Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell last June. Cody hit the ring with fire, and quickly eliminates Dominik Mysterio. 

Rhodes' momentum is halted by Strowman too, who planted him with a Powerbomb. In perhaps the most impressive display of power of the night so far, Gunther hoisted Strowman up for a Last Symphony. In definitely the most impressive display of athleticism, Paul and Ricochet springboarded from opposite sides of the ring to clash together in the air. It was gnarly.

Ricochet and Rhodes teamed up to toss out Strowman, and then Austin Theory eliminated Ricochet. We now have a final five: Rhodes, Gunther, Theory, Paul and Rollins.

Damian Prist entered, allowing the Judgement Day to run amok. They beat down Rollins and eliminated Montez Ford. This of course led to the return of Edge, who was last seen losing to Finn Balor in an I Quit match. Edge hit the ring, landed massive Spears on Prist, Balor and Dominik, and eliminated both Priest and Balor.

Edge then gets in a staredown with Rollins, but is ambushed by Dominik. Edge quickly gets the better of Dominik, and tries to eliminate him. But Priest and Balor hop up on the apron and pull Edge out, eliminating him. 

Edge chases Balor and Priest up to the ramp, and brawls with both. But Rhea Ripley attacked him from behind, leading to Edge's wife Beth Phoenix to return -- Balor won the aforementioned I Quit match against Edge by having Rhea Ripley attack Phoenix. Pheonix hit Ripley with a Spear before referees came out to separate everyone. 

After the Edge-Judgement Day fiasco, Omos entered at No. 26. He beats everyone down, landing a gigantic Chokeslam on Gunther, but No. 27 is Braun Strowman. Omos and Strowman get in a slugfest -- it's not pretty -- before Strowman eliminated Omos with a monstrous clothesline.

Ricochet is in at No. 28. He and Strowman, now teammates, team up, but don't eliminate anyone. The big eliminator turns out to be Gunther, the No. 1 entrant, who managed to throw out both Sheamus and McIntyre at the same time.

Brock Lesnar is in unusually early, entering at No. 12. Sheamus and McIntyre try to team up against him, but he takes them all to Suplex City. Lesnar eliminates Santos Escabar, Angelo Dawkins and Chad Gable in quick succession.

Lesnar briefly gets in a shodown with Gunther, which the crowd is mega into, but they're interrupted by Bobby Lashley. Lesnar's tenure in the Rumble would turn out to be brief: Lashley entered, Speared Lesnar and, after countering an F5, Lashley eliminated Lesnar with a clothesline.

Lesnar doesn't take elimination well, smashing up the announcer's table a bit. Baron Corbin enters at No. 14, but doesn't make it into the ring before Lesnar cut him off and F5'd him. Rollins comes in at 15, rolls Corbin in the ring and eliminates him.

Lashley's huge elimination wasn't a portent of victory. Seth Rollins ended up tossing him out rather unceremoniously just a few minutes later.

Rey Mysterio's music hit for him to enter at No. 17, but there's no Rey. The clock ticks down for the next entrance, and it turns out to be Dominik Mysterio, who comes out with Rey's mask. Michael Cole speculates that Dominik did something to Rey in the back, because there's no way Rey would give his son one of his masks.

Elias hits the Rumble at No. 19, entering with his guitar. He gets a brief flurry, smashing his guitar against Gunther, but he's decimated by McIntyre and Sheamus who hit him with a Claymore and Brogue Kick at the same time. It was super gnarly.

Finn Balor is in next, and comes to the defense of Dominik Mysterio. The two eliminate Johnny Gargano before beginning to brawl with Sheamus and McIntyre. As they do, Booker T makes his entrance. Booker looks good for 57, but is no longer moving so well. He hit a few kicks, a Book End and, most importantly, a Spinerooni before being tossed out by Gunther.

The first match of the night is the men's Royal Rumble, and it's starting with a banger. Gunther is the No. 1 entrant of the Royal Rumble, and No. 2 is Sheamus. These two had an outstanding match at last year's Clash at the Castle; this is the perfect time for a reprise. 

Gunther and Sheamus started the match out by demolishing each other with chops and strikes; Sheamus almost immediately gets a blood-red chest. The field begins to fill up, with Miz coming in third, Kofi Kingston in fourth and Johnny Gargano in fifth.

It's Miz who's first out. Sheamus delivered his 10 Beats of the Bodhrán -- where he clubs the guy's chest 10 times while they're tied up on the ropes -- and then hit a Brogue Kick to Miz to eliminate him. At that moment, Xavier Woods entered at No. 6.

Karrion Kross is in, the seventh entrant. He gets a full black-and-white entrance and begins to run wild, but is briefly cut off by Gunther. They have a great exchange -- Gunther is so wonderfully stiff -- which Kross gets the best of. Next in was Chad Gable, who landed a bunch of suplexes before getting in an amateur wrestling match with Woods. This was actually awesome, and got a pop from the crowd.

Drew McIntyre is the first major contender to enter, coming in at No. 9. He makes his presence immediately felt, hitting Kross with a Claymore to eliminate him. Kross' unimpressive performance in the Rumble says a lot about how far he's fell since his return, when he was positioned as a main-event player.

The Royal Rumble kicks off with a return -- but not of a wrestler. Pat McAfee is back at the announce desk, much to the delight of Michael Cole and to the frustration of Cory Graves. 

I mean it, Cole is delighted. He goes absolutely buck wild for McAfee. They announce that the very first match of the night is the men's Royal Rumble.