Hidden Details Most Fans Missed From WWE Royal Rumble 2023
Royal Rumble 2023 is in the books. With it, WWE is off and running with its PPV calendar for the year and the Road to WrestleMania is open for business. After a Rumble show that garnered mixed to poor reviews in 2022, 2023 marked a return to form. With Triple H still at the creative helm, both Rumble matches were satisfying in their execution, and particularly how they finished. This year's event was also refreshingly streamlined with only three non-Rumble matches. Like most major events there were a number of points of historical interest and hidden highlights involved.
Cody Rhodes Entering At 30 Was A Quiet Masterstroke Of Booking
Cody Rhodes wasn’t the first man to win the Royal Rumble from the number thirty position, but the fact that he entered the men’s Royal Rumble last demonstrated a particularly astute understanding of WWE fan psychology. The rumor mill was running wild coming into this PPV with speculation The Rock or Steve Austin might be involved. Moreover, Sami Zayn has enjoyed a groundswell of support from WWE fans and was considered at minimum a dark horse favorite to win.
The American Nightmare may well have been the most eagerly anticipated announced participant in the match, on account of him working his first match since an instantly iconic performance at Hell in a Cell last year. Saving him for number thirty avoided the disappointment of fans expecting a surprise entrant to join the match last, and Rhodes was one of the very few “bulletproof” entrants, guaranteed to get a positive reaction even among fans who had been most fervently hoping for a returning legend to win.
Michael Cole Puts A Specific Emphasis On Gunther’s New Record
Michael Cole played his recurrent role during the men’s Royal Rumble, running point on observing new records and notes of historical interest. He drew attention to Gunther setting a new record, in surpassing Rey Mysterio’s sixty-two minutes spent in the ring in the 2006 edition.
Related: 18 Longest Times In A WWE Royal Rumble Match, RankedCole was careful in his wording to point out Gunther had set a new record for longest run in a “traditional” Royal Rumble. This came after WWE faced criticism earlier this week for citing Mysterio having the iron man record days earlier, ignoring that Daniel Bryan had topped that record in the fifty-man Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia.
Bray Wyatt Continues One Royal Rumble Pattern And Ends Another
Bray Wyatt has never won a Royal Rumble match but came into the 2023 Royal Rumble PPV undefeated in singles competition at this particular event. He wound up continuing that record when he got the better of LA Knight. The Pitch Black Match was unconventional in its presentation, though, to the relief of many fans, not a return to Wyatt doing overtly supernatural things in a match.
One other noteworthy pattern did change for Wyatt in one-on-one matches at the Rumble. Both of his previous singles wins came over Daniel Bryan in 2014 and 2020. Naturally, he’s not going to revisit that same opponent--at the Rumble or otherwise--as long as The American Dragon is signed to AEW.
Corey Graves References Matt Cardona
Chelsea Green made a less than auspicious return to WWE in the women’s Royal Rumble match. She entered at number twenty and lasted mere seconds before Rhea Ripley tossed her to the outside.
During Green’s time on screen, Corey Graves slipped in a quick reference to her spouse, indie superstar Matt Cardona—formerly known as Zack Ryder in WWE. The color commentator expressed his shock at her immediate elimination by saying that she hadn’t even been in the match long enough for Graves to make fun of her husband.
Cody Rhodes Got The Triple H Royal Rumble Push
It’s interesting to note that 2023 was the first year that the Royal Rumble happened under Triple H’s creative direction. A number of figures have been credited with plotting out Rumbles in the past—most famously Pat Patterson, but also people like The Road Dogg and Shane McMahon heavily contributed. In the end, though, the buck had always stopped with Vince McMahon in the past.
Related: Triple H's 9 Royal Rumble Appearances, Ranked From Worst To BestNow that Triple H has “the pencil” it’s interesting to note that his first Royal Rumble winner had a very similar path to victory to The Game’s own journey to his first Rumble win back in 2002. Helmsley returned from serious injury to a huge response from the WWE audience, and his first match back saw him enter the Rumble late and win. Rhodes came in at number thirty and won; it will be interesting to see if he follows in the Cerebral Assassin’s footsteps in converting that win into a world title victory at WrestleMania.
Royal Rumble 2023 continued a hot streak for WWE on PPV. Both Rumble matches delivered with particularly exciting finishes and satisfying winners. Moreover, the show felt nicely focused with fine enough matches in the middle of the card and a predictably high quality world title match as well, topped dramatic advancement in the angle between The Bloodline and Sami Zayn.
