The 2020 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 33rd annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 26, 2020, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. This was the second Royal Rumble event held in Houston, after the 1989 event at The Summit, and fifth overall in the U.S. state of Texas, including the 1997, 2007, and 2017 events, which were in San Antonio.

The event was based around the Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-person battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the respective men's and women's winners received a world championship match at WrestleMania. For the 2020 event, the winners received a choice of which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania 36, and for the first time, NXT's top championships were eligible choices. The men could choose to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship, SmackDown's Universal Championship, or the NXT Championship, while the women had the choice between the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the NXT Women's Championship. This was the first time since 2010 in which there were three eligible choices for the men's winner, and the first time there were three choices for the women. While the event itself was not promoted as an NXT event, wrestlers from the brand appeared in the Royal Rumble matches.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including two on the Kickoff pre-show. The main event was the 2020 Men's Royal Rumble match, which was won by Raw's Drew McIntyre, who last eliminated SmackDown's Roman Reigns. On the undercard, Raw's Charlotte Flair won the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating NXT's Shayna Baszler. Other prominent matches saw "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt retain the Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan in a strap match, Roman Reigns defeated King Corbin in a Falls Count Anywhere match, and Becky Lynch defeated Asuka by submission to retain the Raw Women's Championship. The event also featured the in-ring return of Edge, who last wrestled at WrestleMania XXVII in April 2011 before retiring from a neck injury, as well as the WWE return of MVP, who last wrestled for the company in December 2010.

Production Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every January by WWE since 1988; that first event was a television special before it became a pay-per-view (PPV) event beginning in 1989 and then also available via livestreaming on the WWE Network since 2015. It is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It is named after and centered on the Royal Rumble match. Announced on February 15, 2019, the 33rd Royal Rumble event was scheduled to be held on January 26, 2020, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, marking the second Royal Rumble event held in Houston, after the 1989 event at The Summit, and fifth overall in the U.S. state of Texas, including the 1997, 2007, and 2017 events, which were in San Antonio. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, with some NXT wrestlers and WWE veterans appearing in both the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches. Travel packages became available on September 12, 2019, while individual tickets went on sale on September 20.

The Royal Rumble match is a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time, and the match generally features 30 wrestlers. Since 1993, the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. At the prior two events, the men and women had the choice to challenge for the top championships of the Raw and SmackDown brands. In September 2019, NXT was recognized as WWE's third main brand, evidenced by its inclusion in the brand competition at the 2019 Survivor Series. Although the 2020 Royal Rumble was not promoted as an NXT event, for the first time, its titles became eligible options for the Royal Rumble winners, marking the first time since 2010 in which the men had three championship choices and the first time ever that women had three choices. For the 2020 event, the men and women could choose to challenge for any of the three brand's top championships at WrestleMania 36: the men could choose between Raw's WWE Championship, SmackDown's Universal Championship, and the NXT Championship, while the women had the choice between the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the NXT Women's Championship.

Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Raw While the WWE Championship is generally defended at every year's Royal Rumble pay-per-view, on the January 6 episode of Raw, it was revealed that there would not be a WWE Championship defense at 2020's event. Instead, as he felt that there was no one on any brand who deserved an opportunity, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar decided to enter himself into the Royal Rumble match as entrant number one. There were no changes to the rules of the match, despite Lesnar holding one of the world championships that the winner could challenge for at WrestleMania 36. On the January 20 episode, Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman reminded the fans of the prize of the Royal Rumble match, but said that there was no one worthy enough to face Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania, implying that if Lesnar won, he would abstain his prize.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) defeated the team of Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. In a backstage interview on the following Raw, Lynch stated that she had not been herself the past few months and felt that management had been putting her into tag team matches to protect her from facing Asuka alone and losing. She also stated that she had never defeated Asuka and needed to change that. The following week, Lynch challenged Asuka to a match with her Raw Women's Championship on the line which Asuka accepted. The match was scheduled for the Royal Rumble as essentially a rematch from last year's event.

On the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs Kickoff pre-show, Humberto Carrillo defeated Andrade. On the following episode of Raw, both were scheduled to participate in a gauntlet match to determine the number one contender against Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship. Carrillo advanced to the final to face Andrade, who did not appear during his entrance. Andrade instead attacked Carrillo from behind and then performed a Hammerlock DDT on Carillo onto the exposed concrete floor. Due to this, the gauntlet match ended in a no-contest. Andrade then won the US title from Mysterio at a WWE Live event in Madison Square Garden on December 26. After Andrade retained the title against Mysterio in a ladder match on the January 20 episode of Raw, Andrade attempted to perform the Hammerlock DDT on Mysterio on the exposed concrete floor, only for Carrillo to appear to aid Mysterio and fought off Andrade, who retreated along with Zelina Vega. Backstage, Carrillo issued a challenge to Andrade for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble, which was made official for the Kickoff pre-show.

SmackDown At Survivor Series, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Universal Championship. On the following SmackDown, after Bryan accepted another rematch for the title at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, The Fiend appeared and attacked Bryan, ripping out his hair. The Miz, who had been intertwined in the feud, appeared the following week and said that Bryan had not been seen since The Fiend's attack and in turn became Wyatt's opponent in a non-title match at TLC, where Wyatt (as his Firefly Fun House character and not The Fiend) defeated Miz. Following the match, a hooded figure attacked Wyatt and then revealed himself as a returning Bryan, now with a buzz cut and shorter beard. On the following SmackDown, both Bryan and Miz stated their desire to take the Universal Championship from Wyatt due to their respective personal issues with him. They were then interrupted by King Corbin, who felt that he deserved an opportunity for the title due to his victory over Roman Reigns at TLC. On the December 27 episode, Bryan defeated Miz and Corbin in a triple threat match to earn another Universal Championship match against The Fiend at the Royal Rumble. On the January 17 episode, Bryan delivered a running knee to The Fiend and attacked him, only for The Fiend to retreat. Frustrated, Bryan changed the stipulation of their match to a strap match so that The Fiend could not run away.

During the triple threat match to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship, Roman Reigns attacked King Corbin, costing him the title opportunity. The following week, Reigns announced his participation in the Royal Rumble match. Later that night, Reigns teamed with Daniel Bryan to face Corbin and Dolph Ziggler which ended in a no-contest. Following the match, Corbin and Ziggler attacked Reigns only for The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to return and aid Reigns by attacking both Corbin and Ziggler. On the January 10 episode, Corbin announced his participation in the Royal Rumble match and stated that Reigns was scared to face him again, hence why Reigns was also competing in the match. In response, Reigns challenged Corbin to a rematch at the event which Corbin accepted. The following week, Reigns defeated the returning Robert Roode in a tables match, allowing him to choose the stipulation for his match with Corbin, and he chose a Falls Count Anywhere match.

On the SmackDown following Survivor Series, SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Team SmackDown women's captain Sasha Banks criticized their brand's women's division for letting them down at the event, as both Bayley and Team SmackDown lost their respective matches. Team member Lacey Evans interrupted and performed a Women's Right on Banks, with Evans turning face. Evans questioned the leadership of both Bayley and Banks, having several confrontations with them over the following weeks. On the January 10 episode, Evans was scheduled to face Banks, who no-showed and Bayley appeared on the TitanTron, taunting Evans. In response, Evans went backstage where the two brawled. The following week, Evans was once again scheduled to face Banks, however, Banks was unable to compete due to her injured ankle. Bayley took her place in the match, but lost to Evans. Due to Evans' win, she earned herself a title match at the Royal Rumble.

After a seven-month hiatus, Sheamus appeared in a vignette on the November 29 episode of SmackDown, announcing that he would be returning to in-ring action. Over the next several weeks, more vignettes aired, with Sheamus claiming that SmackDown had become soft in his absence. On the January 3 episode, as Shorty G was being attacked by The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder), Sheamus returned, seemingly to aid Shorty G. However, after The Revival cleared the ring, Sheamus delivered a Brogue Kick to Shorty G. Sheamus claimed that Shorty G embodied everything wrong with SmackDown and continued to target him over the next few weeks, and a match between the two was scheduled for the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show.

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