Royal Rumble Line-Up for Sunday – Reigns to defend WWE Title

WWE announced Wednesday a four-team match on the Royal Rumble pre-show. The winning team’s two members will advance to the Royal Rumble match.

The match features The Dudleys vs. Mark Henry & Jack Swagger vs. The Ascension vs. Darren Young & Damien Sandow.

For Henry, it’s the second time he’s been removed from the Rumble. Last week, WWE listed him for the Rumble on their website, then removed his name. Then, Henry was named as a Rumble entrant Monday night on Raw. Now, Henry (along with Swagger) has to win his way back into the Rumble.

WWE named several Rumble entrants Monday on Raw, but have yet to officially list them on their website. The only change to their official list is Roman Reigns being the #1 entrant in the Rumble.

Updated Royal Rumble PPV Line-up

• Royal Rumble match with Roman Reigns’s WWE Title on the line
• IC Title match: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing match
• U.S. Title match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto
• Divas Title match: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch
• Tag Title match: New Day vs. The Usos
• Pre-Show match: Dudleys vs. Mark Henry & Jack Swagger vs. The Ascension vs. Darren Young & Damien Sandow for a Rumble match spot

Current Royal Rumble Match Entrants

(1) Big Show
(2) Curtis Axel
(3) Ryback
(4) Bray Wyatt
(5) Braun Strowman
(6) Luke Harper
(7) Erick Rowan
(8) Dolph Ziggler
(9) Chris Jericho
(10) WWE World Hvt. champion Roman Reigns (#1 Entry)
(11) Brock Lesnar
(12) Stardust
(?) Mark Henry
(13) Sheamus

JANUARY 17 UPDATE

Monday night on Raw, WWE announced the #1 entrant in the Royal Rumble match on Sunday.

It will be WWE World Hvt. champion Roman Reigns, who is defending the WWE Title in the Rumble.

Also on Raw, WWE set up Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch for the Divas Title at the PPV.

WWE also set up New Day vs. The Usos for the Tag Titles.

On the pre-show, WWE announced the third match in the U.S. Title series between Alberto Del Rio and Kalisto.

Kalisto won the U.S. Title last week on Raw, Del Rio won it back on Smackdown, and Kalisto’s title re-match will take place at the Rumble.

JANUARY 14 UPDATE – IC Title match added

WWE announced an Intercontinental Title match for the Royal Rumble PPV during the most-recent Smackdown episode.

The match between Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens will be a Last Man Standing match.

WWE also set up a Divas Title match of Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch.

– As for the Royal Rumble match, WWE added Mark Henry and Stardust to the Royal Rumble match entry list on Wednesday.

On Thursday, WWE removed Henry and has not added him back.

WWE then added Sheamus to the list after Smackdown aired. The net result is 13 of the 30 Rumble spots have been accounted for.

JANUARY 11 UPDATE – Brock Lesnar added

Monday night on Raw, WWE officially added Brock Lesnar to the Royal Rumble match, bringing the official entry list to 11.

WWE included numerous wrestlers in general Rumble hype by having the roster stand on-stage to begin Raw. However, no one else was officially added to the Rumble besides Lesnar.

JANUARY 4 UPDATE

WWE made a big announcement at the end of Raw that Roman Reigns will defend the WWE World Title in the 30-man Royal Rumble match at the Rumble PPV in three weeks.

Reigns is the tenth entrant in the match.

Earlier on Raw, WWE rolled out more Rumble match entrants. First, it was Ryback and the Wyatt Family. Later, Dolph Ziggler entered himself in the 30-man Rumble.

Then, Chris Jericho made a surprise return on Raw to announce himself for the Rumble.

*** RUMBLE PREVIEW ***

For the first time in years, WWE’s annual Royal Rumble PPV is going opposite the Conference Championship Round of the NFL Playoffs, as opposed to sitting in-between the Conference games and Super Bowl.

The move was partly due to the venue, Amway Center in Orlando, hosting an Orlando Magic NBA game on Sunday night, January 24. The other is perhaps WWE feeling like they’re not asking people to spend $50-60 for a PPV event anymore, so customers don’t feel conflicted watching the end of an NFL game and picking up the Rumble when they’re spending $9.99 for the monthly WWE Network subscription.

The earlier week also allows for a tighter build-up to the Rumble and then more time to build to WrestleMania.

WWE even had Big Show announce himself as the first Royal Rumble match entrant on the final Raw of 2015, as opposed to waiting until the first week of 2016 to begin the official Rumble build-up.