Returning WWE Star Says Royal Rumble Entry Was Supposed To Be A Surprise

As noted, former WWE superstar Summer Rae will be one of the 30 women entering this year's women's Royal Rumble match. Rae hasn't been seen with the company since the summer of 2017 when she was drafted to RAW but never appeared on the show before being released from her contract.

Summer took to social media late last night and reacted to the reveal on SmackDown that she will return for this year's Royal Rumble. In her post, she also reveals that the return was slated to be a surprise on the night of the event.

"Okay, so obviously I can't sleep. I've been on Twitter and I am so overwhelmed by the amazing response on Twitter by you guys," Summer writes. "Oh my gosh, like, we weren't even supposed to announce that I was going to be in the Rumble, it was going to be a surprise and then, I found out a couple of hours ago. So I was really nervous to look on Twitter, because people are mean, like, people just be mean on Twitter and the response — everyone was so nice. You guys have me in my feels.

"Everyone's so hyped. I don't know, I've just been gone so long that I didn't know what the response would be like, I didn't know if it'd be positive or negative and it's just so good. Thank you so much. All my friends are being so supportive and just the fans like, WrestleTwitter's just insane, and I'm just so excited, and now I'm happy that I don't have to keep this a surprise until the end of the month."

Along with competing inside the ring, Summer Rae was a featured character on the WWE and E! Network reality series, Total Divas. Arguably her most memorable moment on the show was when she confronted fellow WWE star Natalya outside of her home. During the heated exchange, Natalya mentioned how Summer was "still 30 and single" and was met with a stiff slap to the face from Rae.