The real reason why Bron Breakker did not win the 2026 WWE men's Royal Rumble has been revealed. The former NXT champion headed into the match as one of the favorites, having enjoyed a solid run in the buildup.
After turning on Seth Rollins and removing him from The Vision, Breakker was being placed as the next top star. This was cemented by him pinning CM Punk in the WarGames match at Survivor Series.
Although he did end up losing to Punk for the World Title on RAW at the start of the year, fans believed he would eventually get his hands on the Championship. He entered the Royal Rumble match riding a wave of momentum but was eliminated by Oba Femi in 10 seconds after entering at number two.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go down for him. On episode three of season 3 of WWE Unreal on Netflix, Bron Breakker was discussed as the winner of the 2026 Royal Rumble match before Triple H nixed the idea.
A conversation in the writers' room shows Breakker being pitched to win the entire thing, but WWE's chief content officer had his reservations.
The Game said it could be a shocking moment, but it may feel like they are forcing him down the throats of the fans.
Ultimately, the creative went with Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble for the second time in his career.
At Night of Champions, Bron Breakker lost to Seth Rollins inside a steel cage to end their feud. Since then, he has won the world tag team championship with Austin Theory, but questions remain over his direction.
In the recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON), Dave Meltzer highlighted that Paul Heyman seemingly being done with The Vision is notable since the idea was always to have him and Breakker as a WWE Championship duo.
Meltzer said that the plans for the second-generation star were for him to be positioned as the new top star for the company after his betrayal of Seth Rollins. Meltzer noted that while he won't write off Breakker entirely, his recent booking suggests that WWE views Oba Femi as THE guy while Bron Breakker is a guy.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit WWE Unreal and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
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