Cody Rhodes explains what a third Royal Rumble win would mean for his career

Cody Rhodes said there’s a target on his back heading into the 2026 Royal Rumble. That’s something the former WWE Champion is used to.

Saturday’s event will be a special one for Rhodes, however. Currently a two-time winner of the annual event, he could make history with a win in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. If he wins, Rhodes would tie Stone Cold Steve Austin’s record for Rumble wins in a career. Stone Cold won the event in 1997, 1998 and 2001.

“I’m a big proponent of even if the score is up — we’re not punting away. And I, since I’ve returned, have every statistic you could think of, winning the WWE Championship, King of the Ring, Crown Jewel,” Rhodes said on SportsCenter ahead of the event. “Again, two Royal Rumbles. I want to run the score up. One more Royal Rumble. Tie Stone Cold Steve Austin — the argument about the Attitude Era versus what we’re doing now, all is put to rest.

“That would be the biggest thing done in my career, yet. A near impossible feat, (and I’m) looking to get done in a matter of hours.”

That’s a bold claim from WWE’s QB1. Rhodes’ career has been well-documented, from leaving WWE originally a decade ago, becoming a star with the Bullet Club in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, co-founding AEW before returning to the company repackaged as the ‘American Nightmare,’ primed for a massive second run in the WWE.

That’s exactly what happened when he returned in April 2022. He’d win the each of the next two Royal Rumbles in 2023 and 2024 before ending Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day run as the WWE Champion in April 2024.

Rhodes didn’t compete in last year’s Royal Rumble as he was the champion, but is 2-0 in the ones he’s competed in since his return. It goes without saying that he’s expected to be in the mix at the end of the match.

Of course, there’s always potential for WWE to pull off a shocking twist — possibly setting up a match for Rhodes at WrestleMania if they don’t want to shoehorn him back into the title picture so fast after losing the belt. Rhodes lost to new WWE Champion Drew McIntyre on Jan. 9 on SmackDown.

Other wrestlers to have won the event twice include Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Batista, Triple H, Randy Orton, Edge and Brock Lesnar. Orton and Lesnar are both expected to be entrants in this year’s field, so Rhodes isn’t the only WWE superstar chasing the same history on Saturday.

On the women’s side, Charlotte Flair is also looking for a third Royal Rumble win. She’s currently the only woman to have won the event multiple times, let alone a third.

The 2026 Royal Rumble event is set to kick off at 2 p.m. ET live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It’ll air exclusively on the ESPN app.