Out at number 25 is Austin Theory. Edge, meanwhile, chases The Judgment Day to the back. He ends up brawling with Balor and Priest in the aisle. Rhea Ripley comes out and starts beating on Edge but then from behind, Beth Phoenix appears and the crowd goes wild. She blasts Ripley with a Spear to pop the crowd again.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match
We shoot to ring announcer Samantha Irvin, who informs us that it is now time for the 30-woman Royal Rumble match. With that said, she begins the brief explanation of the rules and when she wraps up, Rhea Ripley’s theme hits and out comes The Judgment Day member as entrant number one.
“It looks like mami is in for a long night,” says Corey Graves on commentary as she emerges from the back and heads down to the ring. She settles inside the squared circle and her music dies down.
Now in as the second entrant is former SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan. Michael Cole reminds us that Morgan claimed she wanted to enter this match in the number one spot. He says this is just as good.
Morgan and Ripley start the women’s Royal Rumble match off as the bell sounds to get this one underway. Ripley pounds the crap out of Morgan for the first minute or so and just as Morgan starts to take over on offense, Dana Brooke comes out as the third entrant.
Dana Brooke comes in with a Barbie inspired Margot Robbie look, as Corey Graves points out on commentary. She hits a big super-plex on Morgan off the top-rope and when the countdown clock expires, Emma comes out as the number four entrant.
As the four women in the match thus far duke it out in the ring, the countdown clock appears again and out comes Shayna Baszler as the fifth participant to enter the match. She dominates for a while as the commentators sing her praises for her past work in Rumble matches.
The countdown clock appears again and when it expires this time, out comes Damage CTRL’s Bayley as the latest entrant. She mixes it up with the other competitors in the bout and then the seventh entrant comes out, none other than B-Fab from Hit Row. Within 36 seconds, Rhea Ripley eliminates her.
Out at number eight is NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez. The Texas native who is from Laredo makes her way to the ring as the commentators sing her praises and remind everyone she is a Booker T standout student from Reality of Wrestling.
Perez hits some nice spots and lets out a nice war scream to get the fans to pop. The countdown clock appears and when it expires, out at number nine is another Damage CTRL member, Dakota Kai.
Dana Brooke and Liv Morgan start to beat down Damage CTRL members Dakota Kai and Bayley. When the countdown clock hits and runs out again, the third Damage CTRL member Iyo Sky hits the ring and makes the save for Bayley and Dakota Kai, stopping them from being eliminated by Brooke and Morgan.
Emma avoids elimination but moments later, Dana Brooke isn’t as lucky, as she gets eliminated. Emma is eliminated by Dakota Kai a few seconds later. Roxanne Perez nearly eliminates Dakota Kai but she avoids being dumped out.
Perez ends up getting eliminated and then the countdown clock expires and out comes Natalya. Michael Cole reminds everyone that Shayna Baszler broke her nose the last time we saw her and immediately the camera shows Baszler doing the Vince McMahon “gulp” facial that he’d make when the glass would shatter for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s entrance.
Nattie goes straight after “The Queen of Spades,” taking it to “The Submission Magician” with a vengeance as the commentators sing the praises of the women’s wrestling legend. Out at number 12 in the women’s Royal Rumble for her third Rumble appearance is Candice LeRae. She goes right after Dakota Kai upon entering the ring.
We see Natalya avoid being eliminated by Baszler. She nearly throws Baszler out but the refs claim only one of her feet hit the floor. Baszler slaps her choke finisher on Nattie and then Damage CTRL comes over and eliminates them both.
Zoey Stark from NXT comes out as the 13th entrant in the match. She battles with the women in the ring and then Xia Li comes out as the fourteenth entrant in the match. LeRae is eliminated by Damage CTRL and then the countdown clock appears again. When it expires, the familiar sounds of Becky Lynch’s theme hits and out comes “The Man” as entrant number 15.
A bunch of the members in the match go under the bottom rope and they all gang up and beat down “Big Time Becks” outside of the ring. The Damage CTRL trio continue to work her over, throwing her into the barricade and leaving her laying before taunting the commentators.
Now the theme hits to bring out entrant number 16 — Tegan Nox. She comes off the top and splashes onto a bunch of the women in the match. At number 17, out comes Asuka to an enormous pop from the San Antonio fans.
She plays the crowd like a fiddle, getting one of the more impressive reactions from the crowd of the night. She eliminates Tegan Nox and then Piper Niven comes out at number 18. You heard that right. Piper Niven. Not Doudrop, although the commentators immediately start with the puns.
The 19th entrant hits and out comes Tamina. She and Niven go at it and then Lynch finally recovers and gets in the ring. The countdown clock strikes down and out at number 20 is Chelsea Green. As soon as Green gets in the ring, Ripley throws her right back out. Michael Cole speculates that she has broken the record at 5 seconds for the fastest elimination ever.
Becky Lynch eliminates Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky but is then eliminated herself by Bayley. Bayley is then eliminated by Liv Morgan. Lynch and Damage CTRL start brawling at ringside as the action continues inside the ring with the participants still in the match.
Zelina Vega comes out dressed as one of the characters in Street Fighter 6, the video game. Michael Cole informs us that she is one of the voices in the new video game. She settles inside the ring as the latest entrant. Vega takes out Rhea Ripley and then she eliminates Xia Li.
The countdown clock appears again and when it expires this time, Raquel Rodriguez’s theme hits and the hometown favorite of the San Antonio crowd comes out to a big pop and makes her way to the ring. She dukes it out with Vega in the ring and then the clock appears again. It expires and out at number 23 is Mia Yim “Michin.”
We see the countdown clock appear again and when it expires out at number 24 is Lacey Evans. Evans dominates some of the participants and then tells the fans to stand and salute her.
The countdown clock appears again and after being shown as a cameo in the front row earlier, Michelle McCool’s theme hits and we see her stand up from her seat in the front row, take her jacket off, tell her kids she loves them and then hops up on the barricade to pose before heading into the ring and immediately duking it out with Piper Niven. The fans break out in loud “You still got it!” chants. McCool then eliminates Tamina.
After another clock appears and expires, out comes another NXT talent as Indi Hartwell runs down to the ring as the next participant in the match. The countdown clock appears again and when it expires this time, the number 27 entrant, Sonya Deville, comes out. Zoey Stark is quickly eliminated by Deville.
Lacey Evans locks Zelina Vega up in a standing camel clutch while on the middle ropes. She ends up dropping her out on the floor from all the way up there for the latest elimination. Out at number 28 next is Shotzi in the T.C.B. Tank.
Deville makes another elimination, tossing Indi Hartwell out and ending her night early. Out at number 29 comes Nikki Cross. She sprints to the ring as Corey Graves calls her Usain Bolt. She hits the ring and doesn’t bother taking her ring jacket off, instead immediately mixing it up with everyone in reaching distance.
Out of nowhere without a countdown clock, the theme for Nia Jax hits. We see the countdown clock at number seven appear on the screen as she makes her way out. Odd. Anyways after the production glitch, we hear the crowd react and the commentators over-react to Nia Jax making her way to the ring for her return WWE appearance as the surprise entrant in the 30th and final spot.
Every single woman in the match all gang up together and go at Nia Jax. She ends up fighting them all off. Then Raquel Rodriguez and Nia Jax go face-to-face and we’re supposed to look at this as competitive moments after Rodriguez and the rest of the women in the match couldn’t collectively.
Nia Jax fights everyone off and continues to beat down anyone in sight, stopping to shriek out about how she is the best. Rhea Ripley nearly scooped Jax up from behind, but Jax avoids it. Ripley hits on her some more and then does, in fact, hoist her up (sort of) for a Rip-Cord. The women all gang up again and then throw Nia Jax over the top-rope to eliminate her.
We’re down to the final ten in the match, as all 30 have entered, and Raquel Rodriguez eliminates Lacey Evans. We see Rodriguez fighting it out with Asuka now, while Liv Morgan looks to make an elimination in the background. Rodriguez throws Asuka and Deville over the top, but they each land on the ring apron and start kicking Rodriguez.
Moments later, Deville is eliminated by Asuka. Ripley eliminates McCool.
Shotzi is eliminated, as is “another human,” as Pat McAfee points out on commentary after Piper Niven launches someone over the top for another elimination.
Piper Niven hits a big cannonball spot on Rodriguez in the corner of the ring and then she heads to the middle rope looking for a Vader bomb. Instead, Rodriguez gets under her and lifts her over the top. She then kicks her off the ring apron for the elimination. Ripley and Rodriguez lock up and both go flying over the top, but Ripley hangs on and Rodriguez ends up eliminated.
Ripley runs over and dumps Nikki Cross over the top rope, and Asuka. They both start fighting back at Ripley from outside the ring ropes on the apron while Ripley is in the ring. Liv Morgan runs over and eliminates Cross. We’re down to Ripley, Morgan and Asuka as the final three and the fans give them a standing ovation as they look around at each other.
We see Ripley and Morgan nearly eliminate each other. All three end up on the ring apron outside the ropes, Asuka sprays Morgan with the green mist and then Ripley kicks her to eliminate her. Morgan is blinded by the mist but still in it, and Ripley is still active as well. Ripley picks up a blinded Morgan, who hits a Code-breaker that nearly eliminates her. Ripley holds onto the ropes as her feet dangle, but Ripley gets a headscissors on her and uses her legs to eliminate her. Ripley wins. One hour, one minute and three seconds. Entered number one and won.
Winner of the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match: Rhea Ripley
After the match, Ripley sits up and bites the ropes as the music hits. She is all smiles as Asuka and Liv look on from the floor. Ripley hits the corner to pose, and she points up at the WrestleMania 39 sign s the pyro goes off. We see more pyro going off outside of The Alamodome. We go to replays. Ripley continues her celebration while sitting on the top turnbuckle.
Royal Rumble Exclusive 2023 Royal Rumble Post-Show Press Conference
