WWE Royal Rumble 2024: Start time, how to watch and live stream tonight

Everything you need to know about the 2024 Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble always provides a slew of iconic, highlight-reel moments (Getty Images)

One of WWE’s most popular events, the Royal Rumble, returns for 2024 on Saturday evening as the ‘Road to Wrestlemania’ begins in earnest. Although Wrestlemania is WWE’s biggest annual event, the Royal Rumble holds a special place in wrestling fans’ hearts due to the presence of the unique, once-a-year royal rumble matches themselves.

The concept is simple – the 30 superstars enter ring at timed intervals and the last man or woman standing is the winner, earning a title match in the main event at Wrestlemania. Competitors are eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and both feet hitting the floor on the outside. It has led to some of the most dramatic moments in WWE history and the fact that not all 30 entrants to the match are known beforehand allows room for surprise returns and big names to stunningly appear.

WWE could do with some good press after a slew of ugly allegations against the company’s founder Vince McMahon emerged in a lawsuit this week, including sexual misconduct and sex trafficking. McMahon denies the allegations but has since stepped down as executive chairman of the board of directors at WWE’s parent company, TKO Group.

In the ring, it has been a big few months for WWE with the return of wrestling icons CM Punk and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to the company and this week’s announcement that Netflix has signed a $5bn deal to stream WWE’s weekly show ‘WWE Raw’ in the US and all WWE content in the UK from 2025.

Here’s everything you need to know about the event:

When is the 2024 Royal Rumble?

WWE Royal Rumble is live on Saturday 27 January in the USA which means it starts at 1am GMT on Sunday morning (January 28).

How can I watch it?

The Royal Rumble is being shown live and on-demand in the UK on TNT Sports Box Office 2 for a one-off PPV fee of £19.99. This includes the full match card, while the kick-off show will be available on the WWE YouTube channel for free from midnight.

TNT Sports is available on the TNT Sports Box Office app on iOS and Android, or via TNT Sports online once coverage starts.

Which stars will show up?

There have been far fewer names than normal confirmed for the two royal rumble matches themselves, leaving plenty of scope for surprises.

In the men’s rumble, the likes of CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston have been confirmed as entrants, while Bayley, Becky Lynch, Nia Jax, Bianca Belair, Maxxine Dupri and Ivy Nile are among the female wrestlers definitely entering the match.

The Rock’s recent return to WWE means many expect him to appear somewhere on the card, either in the rumble itself or around Roman Reigns’s Undisputed WWE Universal Championship title match against AJ Styles, Randy Orton and LA Knight.

What is the WWE Royal Rumble 2024 match card?

There are currently four matches announced for the card, although more may be added:

• Men’s Royal Rumble Match
• Women’s Royal Rumble Match
• Roman Reigns (c) vs AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton vs. LA Knight for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
• Logan Paul (c) vs Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship