I’m not an expert in the WWE, but since Wrestlemania 2023 I have been slowly gaining more interest in wrestling. During this time of year, there is a LOT of preparation for Wrestlemania in May, which is for the WWE Championship. Cody Rhodes, “The American Nightmare” is my personal favorite wrestler as a newer fan. 

Any time my friend Ben would be watching RAW or SmackDown, he’d alert me when Cody Rhodes was about to have a match and I’d tune right in. His match at the beginning of the Royal Rumble was so worth watching. I know WWE builds up feuds between wrestlers so there’s reasons to see these guys fight, and some of the longer running stories are harder for me to follow. 

However, Cody Rhodes’ opponent, Kevin Owens, had begun feuding with him recently, so I got to see this match at the Rumble with prior knowledge this time. In fact, I was lucky enough to see both of them live at a Friday night SmackDown in Hartford, CT during the winter break.

Whether you’re into wrestling or not, seeing a televised event live is unforgettable. Cody Rhodes wasn’t even there to fight that night, but he still came out with his entrance music blasting which was something I could finally cross off the bucket list.

He had run into Kevin Owens outside of the ring, as shown on a jumbotron, and they had a scuffle, teasing a bigger match down the line. Now, here we are with that exact match.

I have to admit, their Rumble match was very captivating, but both wrestlers really enjoyed hitting each other with ladders they pulled out from under the ring. It was a ladder match for the world champion belt, but aside from the one ladder they needed, both of them kept grabbing extras just to hit each other with them. Pure entertainment!

Thankfully Cody Rhodes won the match and retained his title, after flipping Kevin Owens face first into… you guessed it… a ladder. Say what you want about realism in wrestling but when Kevin Owens was left mangled and stuck in a broken metal ladder, it looked like he was killed. Before the main event, he did get back up and trudge out, so he was totally safe. Maybe at the expense of a concussion, but he was still alive.

The Royal Rumble itself is exciting because it consists of 30 wrestlers entering the ring one by one after a certain amount of time, and no one knows who is coming out and when they will. For example, a wrestler named Joe Hendry suddenly entered at one point. He’s not even in the WWE but a much smaller Scottish program called Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He became incredibly popular due to his entire gimmick being charismatic and self-centered. He has his own theme song which is hilarious.

Entrant #23 was the one wrestler I was really waiting for. Regardless of how interested you might be in the WWE, you know who John Cena is. This was his final Royal Rumble before his retirement at the end of 2025, and all of my friends watching were wanting him to win this event.

After many disqualifications, it came down to John Cena and Jey Uso. Jey was the winner of the Rumble, so you could imagine how I felt about that. He’s off to fight in Wrestlemania, but John Cena has many more fights booked this year to end on a bang. Sure, I’m not that invested in Jey Uso, but from a show business standpoint I think it’s good for him to earn this reputation going forward.