Backstage Update on Status of Several Potential Surprises for WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Including Chris Jericho, Powerhouse Hobbs, Seth Rollins, & Saraya

WWE will be holding this year’s Royal Rumble event on Saturday, January 31st at the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Talent and staff for this weekend’s WWE SmackDown show and Royal Rumble 2026 started to fly in to Saudi Arabia following this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In regards to the status of several potential surprise wrestlers for this weekend’s Royal Rumble 2026 event, Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that LA Knight, Tiffany Stratton, and NXT talent Sol Ruca have been confirmed or expected to be in Saudi Arabia for Royal Rumble weekend. In regards to Ruca, she has been on advertisements for the event in Saudi Arabia.

In regards to Chris Jericho, it was reported that Jericho is still listed on AEW’s roster page and his status as a surprise entrant for the Men’s Royal Rumble match is currently not known. It was reported that a recent rumor of WWE trademarking the Fozzy track “Judas” is fake and not a real filing.

In regards to The IInspiration’s Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee, it was reported that WWE officials currently do not have plans for McKay nor Lee to be at the Rumble. Both McKay and Lee had finished up with TNA Wrestling and departed from the company following the expiration of their contracts.

In regards to potential surprise injury returns, it was reported that Kevin Owens, Zoey Stark, Seth Rollins, and Michin are currently not expected to be at the event. It was reported that Owens has not been medically cleared as of last week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show and Stark is still working on her recovery from her ACL injury. Michin reportedly has not been medically cleared to compete from her injury she suffered this past December nor has she traveled to Saudi Arabia for this weekend’s shows.

In regards to Rollins, it was reported that those spoken to within WWE stated that they do not expect him to be ready in time from his shoulder injury for the event. Rollins had stated in an interview with ESPN’s First Take show this past Monday that he will not be at this weekend’s Royal Rumble event.

In regards to Powerhouse Hobbs, those spoken to reportedly stated that Hobbs was not on the charter flight to Saudi Arabia with the rest of the talent but WWE will be bringing others over later in the week. It was reported that they would be surprised if Hobbs is not at least brought over for this weekend.

In regards to Saraya recently becoming free for this weekend after a scheduled convention appearance was dropped, it was reported that this was not a situation of Saraya cancelling the booking and instead it was due to the convention being moved back a week due to the venue was double booked. It was reported that while Saraya is still available to make a potential WWE return appearance at the Royal Rumble event, she was still in the United States as of Wednesday.