The WWE Royal Rumble: Riyadh premium live event kicked off with a bang on Saturday afternoon.
Starting off the premium live event portion of the highly-anticipated show from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was the first of two Royal Rumble matches.
Women’s Royal Rumble action got things started, and the match did not fail to deliver.
In addition to one WWE legend getting a new ring name and theme music for her entrance in the match, as well as multiple NXT Superstars such as Jacy Jayne, Sol Ruca, Kelani Jordan and others getting their respective chances to shine, some familiar faces also returned in the match.
Coming in at number 29 near the end of the match was the surprise return of WWE Hall of Fame legend Brie Bella, who has been away from the scene from WWE for years.
Immediately following her in the 30th and final entrance spot in the match was none other than former WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.
Featured below is a recap of these two surprise entrants from the Women’s Royal Rumble match:
In at number 28 comes the other half of The Kabuki Warriors, Kairi Sane. There are only two spots remaining. Moments later, Asuka is eliminated while Sane is trying to help her. Asuka doesn’t look happy. Sane looks terrified. Sane is eliminated by Sky and she lands next to Asuka on the floor.
Asuka grabs Sane by the hair and picks her up as the countdown clock strikes again to kill any attention they would get. The buzzer sounds and Brie Bella’s name flashes on the screen. She makes her way out at number 29 in a hurry, running to the ring to a loud pop from the Saudi crowd.
The whole crowd breaks out into enormously loud “Yes! Yes!” chants, complete with the Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson)-style hand-raising gesture, and all. Fans then break out into a loud “Welcome back!” chant as she blasts Rhea Ripley with “Yes!” kicks. Brie helps Nikki up and they hug. The Judgment Day then attack them.
We hear the fans with the final countdown. The buzzer sounds. “It’s Tiffy-Time!” The crowd roars as the 30th and final entrant, Tiffany Stratton, rushes out with a ton of energy and heads to the ring to get the final moments of our opening contest officially underway. She hits a big swanton on the entire remaining field of entrants.
For those interested, you can check out our complete WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Results coverage here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
