WWE considers expanding Royal Rumble to two-night event

WWE is exploring the possibility of expanding the Royal Rumble into a two-night event, a change that could potentially occur as early as the 2027 edition in Phoenix, Arizona. Currently, only WrestleMania and SummerSlam are scheduled as two-night premium live events.

WWE Hall of Famer JBL has expressed support for the expansion, noting that the men’s and women’s Rumble matches both exceed one hour in length. He suggested that separating the matches across two nights would allow for more marquee matches to be built around the Rumbles, which serve as the starting point for the road to WrestleMania.

JBL also theorized that ESPN may be a driving force behind the potential shift. He noted that the weekend of the Royal Rumble is often a quiet period in the U.S. sports calendar, falling between the NFL Conference Championships and the Super Bowl, and suggested ESPN might seek high-profile content to maintain viewer engagement during that window.