Liv Morgan outlasted 29 other Superstars to win the 2026 women’s Royal Rumble match at the same-titled premium live event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Morgan, Tiffany Stratton and Sol Ruca were the last three left and were fighting outside the top rope on the apron.
Ruca tried to attack Stratton off the top rope, but Stratton threw her outside the ring. Morgan then saw her opportunity and hit the Oblivion finisher, knocking The Center of the Universe out to win the match.
Morgan, who entered at No. 14, had three eliminations. She started with Nattie, but then a surprise one occurred when she threw her Judgment Day stablemate, Raquel Rodriguez, over the ropes late in the match after the latter had just taken out Lash Legend.
The two-time women’s world champion will now get another title shot.
By virtue of her win, Morgan earned the right to challenge for either the WWE Women’s Championship, currently held by Jade Cargill, or the Women’s World Championship, currently held by Stephanie Vaquer, at WrestleMania 42.
This was an eventful match right from the beginning, and one of the storylines involved Charlotte Flair.
Flair and Alexa Bliss entered the Rumble first and second, respectively. After some conversation and even some fake moves where they each threatened to fight each other before pulling back, the two decided to team up and take on their Rumble opponents.
However, that plan went up in smoke by accident. Nia Jax and Bliss were fighting outside the ropes on the apron, and The Queen took the opportunity to knock Jax out of the ring. However, Flair took out her tag partner as well.
Flair ended up lasting 59 minutes and 49 seconds in the ring before Lash Legend eliminated her.
This match also featured the return of Brie Bella, who last appeared in the ring at the 2022 Royal Rumble and got a thunderous ovation.
Bella even got an elimination (Lyra Valkyria) before she and her twin sister, Nikki Bella, were taken out by Lash Legend, whose five total eliminations led all wrestlers.
This contest also featured the return of Tiffany Stratton, who entered at No. 30. She has been out since late October with a knee injury after an attack at the hands of Jade Cargill.
Entering Saturday, it felt like one of the most wide-open women’s Royal Rumbles in history since there was no clear favorite among those who declared their entry into the match.
Morgan was perhaps the main person to beat given how close she had come to winning the women’s Rumble on multiple occasions in recent years.
The two-time women’s world champion was the Royal Rumble runner-up in both 2023 and 2024, and she made it near the end last year as well.
Several past winners were billed to be part of the field as well, including Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, Asuka and Bayley.
All of them felt like contenders to varying degrees, but especially Lynch and Ripley, given the former is the reigning women’s intercontinental champion and the latter is seemingly always in the title scene.
Ripley’s tag team partner and fellow women’s tag team champion, Iyo Sky, was not a past winner, but she was among a handful of Superstars with a legitimate chance to win as well.
Outside of the pre-announced entrants, a few potential surprises stood out as contenders. That included Bianca Belair and Stratton, who had been out due to injury, and AJ Lee who had not appeared on WWE programming since Survivor Series in November.
After so many close calls in the past, Morgan finally got the job done and won her first career Royal Rumble on Saturday.
Morgan’s Judgment Day stablemate, Rodriguez, will challenge Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship on Monday night’s episode of Raw, and it is possible Liv will challenge the winner of that match at WrestleMania 42.
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