A lapsed fan’s guide to the 2022 Royal Rumble Will Ronda Rousey return?

As a service to fans who have a general interest in WWE but might not have watched a match since Survivor Series in November, or even WrestleMania 37, you’re in luck. We’re happy to provide this FAQ as a guide to Royal Rumble 2022, scheduled for Saturday night at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.

And even if you’re a regular WWE viewer, this guide to the Royal Rumble should serve as a valuable refresher — or at least a lighthearted break in the action.

Why is it that no matter how I’m feeling about the current WWE product, I watch the Royal Rumble without a second of hesitation?

I’ve meditated on this myself, and have come up with four primary reasons that explain why the Royal Rumble’s appeal is unassailable.

1: Structure. The late WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson designed the Royal Rumble match with a simple concept: Take a battle royal and unclutter the ring by having 30 participants arrive in the match at timed intervals instead of all at once. It made the action coherent, but more importantly it added layers of mystery. You didn’t know who was in the match or when they were going to enter the fray.

Wrestling is at its best when it surprises us. The very foundation of the Rumble is the unpredictability in the journey, if not always in the destination.

2: Music. Wrestling fans have a Pavlovian response to entrance music. This is well-established. The Royal Rumble is the WWE’s greatest symphony, as each new entrant is signaled by their music hitting. The WWE put out a “10 greatest Royal Rumble surprises” countdown. Every time, the crowd goes apoplectic right as the countdown hits zero and the first chords of their theme songs float from arena speakers.

Then there are those times when the music hits and it’s unfamiliar, briefly bewildering the crowd before the roar grows even larger. See: The A.J. Styles pop in 2016, when he made his WWE debut in…