Several Surprise Returns And Debuts At WWE Royal Rumble 2024

As is so often the case, last night's WWE Royal Rumble involved several surprise debuts and returns.

Whilst it had been heavily rumoured and reported prior to the Rumble, the Premium Live Event started with the return of Naomi as the #2 entrant in the event-opening women's Royal Rumble. Due to creative frustrations, Naomi - and then-partner Sasha Banks - walked out on WWE at a May 2022 episode of Raw, and she'd formally exit the company by the following year. From last April through until this month, the star competed for TNA Wrestling under the Trinity moniker. Here, Naomi would be in the Rumble for over an hour, before being eliminated by another surprise entrant.

Hot on the heels of Naomi's return came a surprise appearance from TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace, entering the women's Rumble at #5 and soon locking horns once more with Naomi; Grace having defeated Trinity for the Knockouts Title at TNA Hard to Kill earlier this month. Despite scoring zero eliminations, the Juggernaut had an incredibly impressive outing before she was dumped out by Bianca Belair.

NXT would be represented in the women's match, with former NXT Women's Champions Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton entering at #27 and #29, respectively. Stratton would actually eliminate Perez and make it to the final four of the Rumble, but she'd eventually be eliminated by eventual winner Bayley.

As alluded to, Jade Cargill made her WWE in-ring debut at the Royal Rumble, entering at #28 and immediately making a strong impression by single-handedly eliminating Nia Jax. Cargill would score one other elimination - that being the aforementioned Naomi - and would get through to the Rumble's final three. There, it was the returning Liv Morgan who eliminated Jade before Morgan herself was immediately eliminated by Bayley.

For the men's Royal Rumble, the most noteworthy surprise was the return to the company of Andrade. Having finished up with AEW at the World's End PPV at the end of 2023, the former WWE United States Champion entered the Rumble at #4 and lasted 23 minutes before being eliminated by Bronson Reed. Andrade's previous run with WWE came to an end in March 2021 when he requested - and was granted - his release.

ANDRADE!@AndradeElIdolo is back and competing in the Men's #RoyalRumble Match! pic.twitter.com/MmL2jJHARv

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— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2024

On the NXT front, the men's Royal Rumble featured appearances from Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker. For Melo, he was in at #5, would last 17 minutes, score one elimination (Grayson Waller), and was eliminated by Finn Balor. In the case of Breakker, he entered at #20 and had a hugely impactful five minutes in the match, eliminating Jimmy Uso, Balor, Ivar, and Omos, before that run was brought to a halt by Dominik Mysterio.

That appearance from Omos was somewhat of a surprise, although many had speculated the Nigerian Giant could be featured at the Royal Rumble in the classic 'immovable object' role that's synonymous with the Rumble.

One other Rumble shock was the return of Pat McAfee, who joined Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary. In addition to that, McAfee briefly left the announce table as the 22nd entrant in the men's Royal Rumble. When faced with Bron Breakker and Omos, the NFL favourite quietly eliminated himself and returned to commentary duties.