A WWE Hall of Famer believes WWE moving the Royal Rumble to a two-night format would make sense as the company continues to expand its biggest events.
WrestleMania has operated across two nights since 2020, while SummerSlam has also adopted the format. Speculation has since followed about whether the Royal Rumble could eventually take the same path. Speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield backed the idea of holding the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches on separate nights.
“I think it makes perfect sense,” JBL said. “The Rumble takes so long to have, well over an hour for the one match, and then you have the women’s match as well. Both of them are over an hour.”
Under a potential two-night format, WWE could make one Royal Rumble match the centrepiece of each show, with other matches filling out the respective cards. JBL believes the importance of the two Rumble matches would make that approach viable. Although he acknowledged that one match could attract more interest than the other depending on the year, he argued that both remain significant attractions.
“Depending on the year, one’s gonna be a bigger draw than the other but both are big draws,” he said. “They’re culmination of storylines and also they start the road, as they’ve always done, to WrestleMania so they’re big deals these Royal Rumbles.”
JBL Says Having A Two-Night Royal Rumble Would Allow For Matches On Each Show
The Royal Rumble traditionally marks the beginning of WWE’s road to WrestleMania, with the winners of the men’s and women’s matches earning major championship opportunities at the event. JBL believes separating the two matches would allow WWE to build an entire night around each Rumble while adding other matches to complete both cards.
“I think it makes perfect sense to separate the Rumbles from one night to the next and then dress those around with the matches that you want.”
Despite JBL’s support for the idea, WWE has not announced any plans to expand the Royal Rumble to two nights.
