Cody Rhodes Declares Himself For the Royal Rumble On WWE Smackdown

Cody Rhodes has officially declared himself for the Royal Rumble, doing so on this week’s episode of WWE Smackdown. Rhodes came out for a promo segment on Friday night’s show, addressing his Undisputed WWE Championship loss to Drew McIntyre last week. The former champion noted acknowledged the somewhat mixed reaction he got in the arena and said it’s okay because he felt things had become a bit episodic with him as of late.

Rhodes said that he may have gotten predictable, which could have led to his loss to McIntyre although he also noted that Drew was “just that good.” Rhodes then turned his attention to the ROyal Rumble, noting that he, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin are the only men to back to back Rumbles. He said that only one of them won three of them and that he believes in himself. Acknowledging that he doesn’t have a rematch against McIntyre, he declared himself for the Rumble.

Rhodes then said that he owed Jacob Fatu a receipt for his involvement in the match last week. He said that he can find Fatu to deliver it, or Fatu can come down to him and get the receipt. He ultimately headed to the back.

Rhodes is the first person to declare himself for the Rumble, which takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 31st and airs live on the ESPN App and Netflix internationally.

.@CodyRhodes has officially declared for the 2026 Royal Rumble!! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/hCPvh8jVGh

— WWE (@WWE) January 17, 2026

This is the type of energy we love to see from our QB1 👏@CodyRhodes pic.twitter.com/ja7SDfcnN3

— WWE (@WWE) January 17, 2026