Two Top WWE Stars Officially Declare For 2024 Royal Rumble Matches

It's a new year, which means WWE Royal Rumble is officially around the corner, and WWE's biggest stars have officially begun declaring for the titular Rumble matches. During Thursday's WWE 2024 Preview Special on Peacock, "WWE Raw" Superstars Shinsuke Nakamura and Becky Lynch declared themselves for their respective Royal Rumbles. The two wrestlers join CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Nia Jax, and Bayley, thus far the only other people to be confirmed as of this writing.

Appropriately, Nakamura and Lynch have both been feuding with other Rumble entrants, and have framed their entry in the context of their previous Rumble history. As of late, Nakamura has set his sights on Rhodes; during his announcement promo, he mimicked Rhodes by saying that he was going to win the match to "finish his story," a reference to his failure to win the WWE Championship following his 2018 Royal Rumble victory. It's no accident that their feud started right after Rhodes declared himself for the Rumble back in November, after which Nakamura attacked him — The "King of Strong Style" will be facing Rhodes on the January 8 episode of "Raw," a rematch of their December "Raw" match that ended in disqualification. Lynch, meanwhile, lost to Jax on this week's "Raw" and found herself busted open, and she noted the similarities to the infamous incident in 2018 that saw Jax break her nose, after which Lynch entered and won the 2019 women's Rumble and went on to become a double champion at WrestleMania.

This year's Royal Rumble will be taking place at the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on January 27.