The 2023 Royal Rumble is coming up tonight as the WWE puts on two of it's most highly-anticipated matches of the year.
The annual gimmick-based PPV has been one of Vince McMahon's company's big four events since it's 1988 inception.
The pay-per-view is named after the Royal Rumble, a modified battle royal in which competitors enter at timed intervals rather than all at once.
The road to WrestleMania starts now but what do you need to know before the over-the-top-rope extravaganza? talkSPORT.com has you covered...
WWE Royal Rumble rules
30 superstars will compete in each of the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches which usually both open and main-event the PPV.
The winner of each match will get a world title shot at ‘The Showcase Of The Immortals’ while there will be a host of exciting matches on the bill too.
The Royal Rumble is always a special occasion with surprise returns and crossovers and ‘Jackass’ star Johnny Knoxville was involved last year.
Brock Lesnar and Ronda Royusey claimed glory in the classic battle royal in 2022 but both ended up losing at WrestleMania 38.
The rules of the Rumble are:
- Two superstars will kick-start the Rumble in the ring with a new competitor entering the match every 90 seconds
- A wrestler can only be eliminated by going over the top rope with BOTH feet touching the floor outside
- The winner of each Royal Rumble gets to choose the champion of their choice to face at WrestleMania
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Royal Rumble 2023: Date and start time
This year’s Royal Rumble will take place on Saturday, January 28 and is being held at The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The card will begin from 1am in the UK and continue into the early hours of Sunday morning.
There will be a pre-show on for two hours first from 11pm which will be shown for FREE on WWE’s YouTube channel.
Royal Rumble 2023: Full card
More to follow
- Men’s Royal Rumble match (announced so far): Kofi Kingston, Santos Escobar, Ricochet, Austin Theory, Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins’, Bobby Lashley, Baron Corbin, Rey Mysterio, Gunther, Cody Rhodes, Omos, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Karrion Kross, Dominik Mysterio, Sheamus, Xavier Woods, The Miz, Brock Lesnar, Sami Zayn
- Women’s Royal Rumble match (announced so far): Liv Morgan, Candice LeRae, Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, Zelina Vega, Emma, Bayley, Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky, Lacey Evans, Xia Li
- Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Kevin Owens – for Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
- Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight – Pitch Black match
- Bianca Belair (c) vs. Alexa Bliss – for WWE Raw Women’s Championship
- Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Sonya Deville – for WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
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