WWE Updates on Royal Rumble 2024 Location and Bray Wyatt Creative; Cody Rhodes Rumors

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Orlando Reportedly Bidding for 2024 Royal Rumble

The WWE product is hotter than it has been in years, resulting in regular sellouts and all-time revenue records. Because of that, cities are starting to line up in hopes of landing some of the company's premier events.

According to Belal Jaber of WESH, Orlando, Florida, is planning to bid on the 2024 Royal Rumble, with designs on holding the event at the outdoor Camping World Stadium venue on Jan. 27, 2024.

Per Jaber, the Tourist Development Tax Sports Incentive Committee is requesting $850,000 for the Greater Orlando Sports Commission to place a bid.

It is estimated that the Royal Rumble would draw an attendance of 54,000 at Camping World Stadium and generate $28 million in economic impact.

Jaber noted that the last time a WWE event was held at Camping World Stadium was WrestleMania 33 in 2017, and that event generated $181 million for the Orlando area.

In many respects, Orlando has become a home base of sorts for WWE since it is where the WWE Performance Center is located and where the bulk of WWE's NXT shows are held.

If Orlando secures the 2024 Royal Rumble, it will mark the third time the city has hosted it, with the most recent being 2016.

The Royal Rumble has never taken place at Camping World Stadium, but WWE has begun leaning more and more toward its top events being stadium shows.

Each of the past five Royal Rumbles have been held at venues that either are or were baseball or football stadiums, and if Orlando is chosen, that trend will continue in 2024.

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New Creative Writer Assigned to Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt has been out of action since before WrestleMania 39, but there potentially could be some changes to his booking and presentation when he returns.

Speaking on his Oh... You Didn't Know podcast (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), WWE Hall of Famer and executive Road Dogg said a new creative writer will be working with Wyatt moving forward.

After more than a decade with the company, Wyatt was released from his WWE contract in 2021. He remained out of the spotlight for more than a year before getting re-signed by WWE and making his return at Extreme Rules in October.

Wyatt was initially at odds with a character named Uncle Howdy before joining forces with him, and his only televised match to date was a win over LA Knight in a Pitch Black match at Royal Rumble.

WWE was seemingly building toward a match between Wyatt and Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania 39, but Wyatt disappeared from television and Lashley instead won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal.

While WWE has not publicly explained the reason for Wyatt's absence, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (h/t Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co) reported in March that he was dealing with an illness.

The extent of the reported illness is unknown, and WWE has not given any indication of when Wyatt may return.

He was not included in the 2023 WWE draft pool, but that may simply be because WWE wants it to be a surprise when he resurfaces.

Wyatt's WWE return clearly hasn't gone according to plan thus far, but the fact that WWE still has a writer working with him suggests there remain big plans in place for The Eater of Worlds.

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Cody Rhodes Reportedly Continues to Rake In Merch Sales

There was some concern among fans and prognosticators that Cody Rhodes' popularity would wane after losing to Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39, but that apparently has not been the case.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Rhodes' merchandise "moved well" on WWE's recent tour, even outselling general WWE-branded merchandise in some cases.

Cody has been a red-hot babyface ever since his return to WWE last year at WrestleMania 38, and his popularity seemingly reached a new level at this year's Royal Rumble when he returned from a torn pec to win the match and earn a spot in the main event of WrestleMania 39.

Fightful (h/t WrestlingInc's Sai Mohan) previously reported that The American Nightmare sold more merchandise during WrestleMania week than any other individual Superstar on the roster.

It was widely expected that Rhodes would "finish the story" and beat Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania, but that didn't happen because of interference from Solo Sikoa.

Rhodes was attacked by Brock Lesnar the next night on Raw, and he is set to face Lesnar at Backlash on Saturday.

Cody is still talking about getting another crack at Reigns and the WWE title, though, which suggests WWE plans on slowly building him back up to that level.

WWE fans are still firmly behind Rhodes, especially from a financial perspective, which makes it difficult for WWE to second guess its decision.

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