WWE News: Royal Rumble Kickoff Matches Revealed, Updated Card

A look at the updated lineup for Sunday’s Royal Rumble!

Now that WWE’s Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live are in the books, the WWE Universe’s attention turns to this weekend’s big events, more specifically Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

Since WWE revealed a number of participants this for the Women’s Royal Rumble Match this past Sunday on Twitter, there haven’t been nearly as many updates to the card as we saw the previous couple of weeks. That’s not to say there weren’t any however, as it looks like WWE may be removing John Cena from the Men’s Royal Rumble (see the latest here), while Titus O’Neil declared his entry this past Monday on top of Alexa Bliss announcing her return for the women’s side, as well as Lacey Evans revealing she too will enter.

Tonight during SmackDown Live, WWE officially moved two matches over to the Kickoff which will now see Rusev defend the US Title against Shinsuke Nakamura, plus a Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight Championship when Buddy Murphy faces Hideo Itami, Kalisto and Akira Tozawa.

Here’s a look at the updated card for Royal Rumble this Sunday, airing live on pay-per-view and the WWE Network at 7PM EST with the Kickoff beginning at 5PM and also available on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter:

Men’s Royal Rumble Match
R-Truth (#30), Drew McIntyre, Xavier Woods, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley, Dean Ambrose, Jinder Mahal, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, Andrade, Samoa Joe, Baron Corbin,
Elias, Apollo Crews, Mustafa Ali, John Cena, Titus O’Neil, Randy Orton

Women’s Royal Rumble Match
Carmella (#30), Natalya, Bayley, Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan,
Lacey Evans, Alexa Bliss, Alicia Fox, Mickie James, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Lana,
Charlotte Flair, Dana Brooke, Zelina Vega, Nia Jax, Tamina, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Naomi, Nikki Cross

Universal Championship
(C) Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor

WWE Championship
(C) Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles

RAW Women’s Championship
(C) Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks

SmackDown Women’s Championship
(C) Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
(C) The Bar vs. The Miz & Shane McMahon

Kickoff – United States Championship
(C) Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Kickoff – Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight Championship
(C) Buddy Murphy vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto vs. Hideo Itami