WWE Royal Rumble News: Match Producers, Women’s Rumble Match, Bad Bunny Update, More

Feb 2, 2022

Match Producers for Royal Rumble 2022 Event

Fightful Select reported that the following backstage people were the match producers for this past Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2022 event:

Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns (c), Universal Championship match – Michael Hayes and Petey Williams
Women’s Royal Rumble match – Dave Finlay, Shane Helms, Molly Holly, Pat Buck, and Michael Hayes
Doudrop vs. Becky Lynch (c), RAW Women’s Championship match – Pat Buck and Shawn Daivari
Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar (c), WWE Championship match – Michael Hayes and Jason Jordan
Edge & Beth Phoenix vs. The Miz & Maryse – Adam Pearce and Kenny Dykstra
Men’s Royal Rumble match – Abyss, Jamie Noble, Shawn Daivari, and Adam Pearce

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Monday’s Daily Update that Shane McMahon was also among those who worked as a producer for the Men’s Royal Rumble match.

More on Women’s Royal Rumble Match

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that several former WWE female talents were contacted either to gauge their interest in being a competitor or as a back-up alternative for the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Johnson reported that Jillian Hall, Aksana, and Celeste Bonin (former Kaitlyn in WWE) were brought in for the match but only as alternatives in case something happened to any of the other particpiants who were booked for the match.

Those who were contacted but rejected WWE’s offers reportedly included CJ Perry (former Lana in WWE) and Nia Jax.

In regards to Molly Holly’s surprise appearance, Johnson reported that her addition to the match was done as a late decision by WWE officials.

Bad Bunny Status Update

This past Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2022 event featured Bad Bunny making an appearance as one of the surprise entrants for the Men’s Royal Rumble match.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Bad Bunny’s appearance was not meant to be the start of any potential program or feud for him at WrestleMania 38. Johnson reported that Bad Bunny is currently scheduled to perform a concert in Miami, Florida on April 2nd and 3rd, which is the same weekend as WWE’s WrestleMania 38 event in Dallas, Texas.

Johnson reported that WWE officials currently consider Bad Bunny to be part of the company and someone who can drop in to be involved in shows anytime he wants to do something and if his schedule allows it to be possible. Johnson also reported that those spoken to stated that Bad Bunny was very thrilled backstage throughout the event.

Johnson also reported that his sources stated that Bad Bunny had been quietly training for his appearance the week before the event, which meant that he had been locked in for the show as late as one to two weeks ago.

More Royal Rumble News & Notes

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that this past Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2022 event generated around one million searches on Goggle for that night. Meltzer reported that only Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar cracked the Top 20 in terms of search interest for WWE talent.

Meltzer also reported that Drew McIntyre’s return and appearance at the event was kept as a surprise with only a few within the company being aware of the plans for him. McIntyre reportedly is still not 100 percent recovered from his recent neck injury.

Fightful Select reported that the NXT talents who were invited for dark match tryouts prior to the start of this past Saturday’s SmackDown show in Kansas City were not brought to St. Louis for the Royal Rumble 2022 event the following night.

Fightful Select also reported that their sources stated that the reason why Asuka was not used for the Women’s Royal Rumble match was due to WWE officials feeling that she was not physically ready yet to make her in-ring return.

PWInsiders Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that one major reason why both of the Royal Rumble matches felt different this year was due to neither Paul “Triple H” Levesque nor Tyson Kidd were involved in the planning for the matches.