WWE’s first premium live event of the new year promises to be among the most crucial shows on the 2023 calendar. WWE Royal Rumble goes down at the end of January and will lock in at least two title matches for April’s WWE WrestleMania 39. The winners of the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches will go on to challenge Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and either Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair or SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at the Showcase of the Immortals, respectively, barring any unexpected title changes between now and April.
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Beyond the multi-man battle royals, history has shown that the WWE Royal Rumble event tends to boast both high-profile and experimental singles matches. Long-running rivalries like John Cena vs. AJ Styles and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins have been given the Royal Rumble stage in the past, while unlikely world title challengers such as Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn have received championship opportunities at the show.
While signs point to 2023’s Royal Rumble high-profile bout being a renewed rivalry between Reigns and Kevin Owens, a recent advertisement has revealed the next installment in the unofficial pattern of experimental matches will be. WWE’s YouTube channel ran an ad that announced a “Pitch Black Match” for the WWE Royal Rumble. This match is sponsored by Mountain Dew Pitch Black, and title cards teased that “anything can happen.”
Given the spooky nature of this new match, it would presumably be the home to a clash between Bray Wyatt and LA Knight. Wyatt and Knight have been feuding for over one month now, as the megastar has consistently attempted to push the Eater of Worlds’s buttons. As of this writing, there is no date set for Wyatt and Knight’s inevitable singles contest.
If the “Pitch Black Match” does include Wyatt, it will be his first match in nearly two years. Wyatt’s last bout came at WWE WrestleMania 37 in April 2021 where he, as The Fiend, lost to Randy Orton. To go back even further, this would be Wyatt’s first match under the Bray Wyatt name since July 2020.
Wyatt returned to WWE this past October, revealing himself as the man behind the mysterious White Rabbit vignettes. While he has been back in the company for nearly three months now, he has yet to wrestle.
WWE Royal Rumble goes down on Saturday, January 28th.
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Via WWE and @megastarvibez
