2021 WWE Royal Rumble glory show.

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With the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches, WWE went in various directions
While every WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view card has other meaningful matches, the Royal Rumble matches themselves are the true highlight of the annual event. Both the men's and women's sides had outstanding results in 2021, which saw the winners last for a full hour before winning their shot at a WrestleMania world title.

Bianca Belair fought on the women's side from position No. 3, outlasting 29 other women before removing Rhea Ripley for the last time. Although the fresh blood on the WWE roster is portrayed by Belair, a legend who won the men's side when Edge last eliminated Randy Orton to win his title shot. Winning Edge was the second time he won a Royal Rumble match, an effort 11 years from the day after his previous victory.

The enduring memories of the 2021 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view will be those two matches, but the card was packed from top to bottom with exciting and satisfying action.
The whole way through the game, CBS Sports was with you, offering outcomes and ratings as the action went down. Read on and scroll down for highlights from the broadcast and everything you need to know coming out of the Royal Rumble.  
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2021 WWE Royal Rumble results, grades

Women's Royal Rumble: As No. 1 and 2, respectively, Bayley and Naomi began. Before Bayley had to contend with her No. 3 competitor entrant, Bianca Belair, there were no eliminations. Billie Kay settled in at the announcement table after coming out at No. 4 rather than joining the ring before the night's first NXT entrant, Shotzi Blackheart. Before Shayna Baszler dumped Blackheart for the first elimination of the match, the contestants started to pile up as no eliminations were scored. "The first true surprise entrant of the night was former powerhouse Jillian Hall, forming an alliance with Kay to form "Billie and Jilly." Victoria also made her return, joining the match at No. 10. Before Hall was eventually the second woman out, competitors started to pile up in the ring with eliminations difficult to come by, followed by Kay, and the match settled into a more familiar pattern after Rhea Ripley joined the match and she and Baszler began cleaning out the ring.  

The music hit Ric Flair—with Charlotte in the ring already—even though Ric was just there to accompany Lacey Evans to the ring, wearing the same robe as Charlotte had worn earlier that night. Immediately before an angry Flair turned her attention back to the rest of the competitors, Charlotte and Evans fought. Her return was also made by Mickie James, coming in at no. 19. Another return came with Alicia Fox at No. 21, but R-music Truth's hit right after and he revealed that before being pursued by 24/7 title seekers, he was at the wrong Royal Rumble, only to be pinned by Fox to win her the 24/7 belt.  

Ripley, scoring multiple eliminations, managed to impress. Despite her No. 2 entry into the match, Belair also kept hanging around. Naomi was thrown from the ring at the near-elimination venue, but landed on her back with her feet in the air, and used Belair to climb her way back into the ring. At No. 27, Alexa Bliss entered and Ripley removed her from behind as she was preparing to turn like in recent weeks. Nia Jax entered and she and Baszler went late before competing with each other on a run of eliminations to thin the field and Jax finally eliminated Baszler and was eliminated by Lana before Natalya entered the No. 30 spots to finish the field.
Natalya, Belair, Flair, and Ripley came down to the final four of the match. First, Belair eliminated Natalya and then Ripley and Belair teamed up to knock Flair out of the game, leaving Ripley and Belair as the game's final two women. In an extended segment with several near eliminations, the two fought back and forth until Belair managed to knock Ripley from the ring with a clothesline to win the contest. This was a bit of a rocky match in places, with many of the bigger issues being production issues than in-ring, although some stretches dragged a bit.  
Belair is a fantastic winning choice and going down to Belair and Ripley showed how promising the women's division's future is for WWE to move forward. Belair has also set a record in a women's Rumble match for the longest entry.   
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Royal Men's Rumble: Entrant No. 1 Edge assaulted Entrant No. 2, Randy Orton, before Orton had made it to the ring. They kept battling around the ringside until at No. 3 Sami Zayn entered and took out Edge's neck, helping Orton work him over. At No. 4, Mustafa Ali joined the attack, with Edge facing increasingly long odds before Jeff Hardy entered to help even things up. When Dolph Ziggler entered the match and immediately eliminated Jeff Hardy, the first elimination game. Carlito was the first entrant to the surprise, entering the match at No. 8. Orton was seen to have been assisted by officials to the back, limping after Edge's assault.  

The first NXT star to make his way into the match was Damien Priest, coming in at No. 14 and making his first Royal Rumble appearance. On his way to the ring, The Miz demolished Bad Bunny's DJ booth, causing Bunny to walk to the ring, distracting Miz and John Morrison and allowing both to be removed by Priest. Bunny then struck Miz and Morrison from the top rope to the outside on a crossbody. One of the favorites going into the match, Daniel Bryan, made his entrance at No. 17. At No. 18, Kane returned, chokeslamming several of the current contestants before being tossed by Priest and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Ricochet.  

A big entrance was made by Bobby Lashley, running through Dominik Mysterio and Priest, eliminating both before a big Big E showdown that saw both men brawl and trade counters before The Hurricane's surprise entrance, which Lashley and Big E quickly threw away. Christian entered the match at No. 24 with Edge still in the match. Christian helped Lashley be eliminated by Riddle, Bryan, and Big E. When Amos reached into the ring and pulled him to the floor, Big E was eliminated from the match. Rey Mysterio was also eliminated by Omos, giving AJ Styles some huge support.
At No. 29, his first game since the Survivor Series, Seth Rollins made his comeback, after which he took time off to be with Becky Lynch for the birth of their child. The final entrant in the match was Braun Strowman. Strowman went on an elimination spree, taking the final six to Rollins, Riddle, Edge, Christian, Bryan, and Strowman—even though when he was brought to the back, Orton had not yet been eliminated. After hiding out on the outside of the ring, Rollins eliminated Bryan and then eliminated Riddle to bring the match down to Strowman, Rollins, Edge, and Christian. Edge and Christian partnered to eliminate Strowman and Rollins was eliminated by Edge, apparently winning the match, Orton, however, raced back into the game and hit an RKO. However, when Edge reversed and tossed Orton to the floor, Orton's attempt to remove Edge backfired, winning the Rumble from the No. 1 spot, lasting more than 58 minutes to win his second Royal Rumble. This dragged much less than the Royal Rumble of the women earlier and didn't seem like it depended on too many entrants to the gimmicky surprise, although there were some. Edge was an interesting choice and told a great story as he took one more WrestleMania ride and a world championship shot. Edge wins the Royal Rumble match for guys.