WWE: Cody Rhodes joins an Elite company with a near-unprecedented Royal Rumble victory

And just like that, there was one: Cody Rhodes.

That’s right, after entering the 2024 Royal Rumble at spot 15, a full 15 earlier than his 2023 entrance, Cody Rhodes outlasted every performer who came before him to make it to the final four of the final match of the show, eliminating Austin Theory from the match on his way to a final four of himself, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, and Gunther, which, conveniently, were probably the four favorites to win the match.

Exchanging blows with his biggest opponents – literally – from last year’s match, the “Ring General” Gunther, Rhodes was able to eliminate the Imperium leader shortly after McIntyre was taken out by the “Second City Saint,” leading to a match within a match against two former AEW Champions, the “American Nightmare” versus the “Best in the World.”

Exchanging blows for what felt like a solid television-length match in and of itself,  Rhodes and Punk exchanged blows back and forth, with the duo eating each other’s finishers as the match progressed, with the latter growing more and more frustrated with each passing moment as his former heelish ways that fans of, well, basically every single major promotion of the past 25 years know all too well. Announcing to the fans in the arena that he wasn’t going to lose to “Dusty’s kid,” Punk turned a would-be elimination into a sneak attack from behind and looked shocked as the pyro went off for the “American Nightmare” instead of himself, all the while Seth Rollins was able to breathe a sigh of relief that he doesn’t have a locked in opponent for WrestleMania.

Could this have played out differently? Sure, Rhodes could have been eliminated by a debuting MJF, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson could have come out and cleaned house to produce a record-breaking cash cow for WWE at WrestleMania 40 from advertising dollars alone, or Gunther could have just gotten revenge from last year and earned the win as some rumors suggested could happen. Instead, after weeks of speculation, Rhodes became the first person to win the Royal Rumble two years in a row since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin accomplished the feat in the 1990s, and will now get to main event WrestleMania for the second year in a row as well. Will the results be any different? Maybe yes, maybe no, but hey, that’s why fans watch the shows, right, for those moments.