sport news Cody Rhodes RETURNS and WINS the 2023 men's Royal Rumble to face Roman Reigns ... trends now
The fairytale is alive and well as Cody Rhodes returned to WWE after seven months out injured and won the Royal Rumble to book his place at WrestleMania.
A torn pectoral muscle last June saw the hottest babyface in the company come to a grinding halt following his momentus return to WWE just three months earlier.
However, in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, Rhodes entered the Rumble in the coveted number 30 spot and won the whole battle royal.
In doing so, Rhodes has earned an undisputed universal heavyweight title match at WrestleMania. Roman Reigns is the current champion, reigning for over 900 days.
The Rumble match itself was peddled as one of the best ever by WWE themselves following Rhodes win. While that is generous, it was a fun, entertaining affair.
It started with Gunther in at number one and his great nemesis of 2022, Sheamus, in second.
The pair would battle for close to an hour among the field with Gunther making it all the way to the final two before losing out to Rhodes.
The next major moment saw Brock Lesnar make his presence felt. The Beast Incarnate arrived and blew the Rumble wide open quickly eliminating the tactically amassed field.
Bobby Lashley then made his entrance just in time to prevent the titanic clash between Gunther and Lesnar. It's smart to save that encounter, but not for WrestleMania 39, it appears.
If there was any doubt that Lashley and The Almighty were on a collision course for Hollywood in April, the former chucked the latter out of the Rumble in shockingly quick fashion to write another chapter in their story.
Rey Mysterio was meant to arrive at
