Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s annual review of WWE Royal Rumble, the show that always ends with someone pointing at the WrestleMania sign and it's not always the person we expect! Yes, the WINC staff are here to discuss Jey Uso winning the men's Royal Rumble match, as well as numerous other things though when the Rumble comes around, there are way too many individual things for us to cover here. We'll definitely talk both Royal Rumble matches, both in broad strokes and in specific ones, as well as the WWE Tag Team Championship match and the WWE Undisputed Championship match. Our bases are covered we just might not get to Joe Hendry showing up or IShowSpeed eating a Spear.
As always, if you need your Rumble coverage more comprehensive and less opinionated, you're going to want to navigate away from here and go check out our Rumble results page. If you want to know what we here at Wresting Inc. thought of the show, however, stay right where you are. These are three things we hated and three things we loved about WWE RoyalRumble 2025.
While the Women's Royal Rumble was controversial (woo!), one woman bested all the odds to become a shocking runner-up. Former two-time "NXT" Women's Champion and "NXT" mainstay Roxanne Perez entered the Royal Rumble at the number three spot, and outlasted 28 women to break current rival Bayley's record as the woman to conduct the longest performance in a Royal Rumble match, with Perez's official time clocking in at one hour and seven minutes.
Perez has been at the top of "NXT" for a long time. After coming over to WWE from Ring of Honor, "The Prodigy" has proved that she is exactly who she says she is: a prodigy. Perez boasts two "NXT" Women's Championship reigns, one "NXT" Women's Tag Team Championship reign alongside Cora Jade, and a whole catalogue of acclaimed premium live event matches, all at the tender age of twenty three. Perez has proven time and time again that she is the girl to beat in "NXT," but even when she is as good as she is, you can't help but wonder if she is a big fish in a small pond.
Perez's previous Royal Rumble appearances have been cute, but her performance in Saturday's Rumble match was phenomenal. Not only was she able to keep up with former champions IYO SKY (who many consider to be one of the best wrestlers in the world) and Liv Morgan (someone who has improved immensely to stay at the top of WWE's female roster) at the beginning of the match, but she was able to partake in a comedic beat alongside Chelsea Green, when Green grabbed a fistful of Perez' hair to use her as a human weapon. Perez has proven she can hang with the upper echelon of WWE's both serious and comedic performers, even in her young age. Sure, there were times that Perez was absent from the fight, or when she was at the receiving end of offense. Nobody ever truly dominates any multiperson match from start to finish; much less a Rumble. So, when she was on screen, Perez showed out.
What I was most impressed with was her ability to bridge the gap between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax's in-ring abilities. Perez was, shockingly, one of the final three women left in the Royal Rumble after Jax eliminated entrant thirty and surprise return Nikki Bella. While Jax has improved immensely, she doesn't have the in-ring chops that Flair admittedly does. Perez was a good bridge between Jax's up-and-coming skills and Flair's years of experience. Flair is nearly twice Perez's age, and "The Queen" has four years of in-ring experience on Perez. To even hold a candle to Flair at Perez's life stage is incredible, but to be able to keep up with her so well that you are the runner-up to a record-setting two-time Royal Rumble winner is a whole other deal.
Is this a love letter to Perez? Yeah. Given what she was able to accomplish in tonight's Rumble, though, she deserves it.
Written byAngeline Phu
Fightful says the producers of the women's Royal Rumble were TJ Wilson, Petey Williams, and Kenny Dykstra, and while I have a certain degree of lingering fondness for all three as ex-performers (some more so than others) it is incumbent upon me to ask that they please never produce a Royal Rumble match again.
I had so many problems with this (including just a general irritation at the continued absence of Becky Lynch) but my biggest problem without question was the pacing. I have no idea why, but WWE seemed afraid to eliminate people from this match, no matter who they were. It took forever for anyone to get eliminated at all, and there were long stretches where the ring was just filling up with people. The lack of balance between entrances and eliminations killed off any momentum that threatened to build, and the entire phenomenon culminated in the ridiculous spot toward the end when Nia Jax eliminated an entire group of women at the same time. Which, of course she had to do that people had to be eliminated at some point. Unfortunately, doing it this way made the match drag heavily and resulted in several wrestlers who deserved better most notably Bianca Belair and IYO SKY going out as just another face in the crowd instead of actually getting to start or advance a storyline.
The poor structure actually killed a lot of potential storytelling moments, particularly on the back half of the match. The first half was carried by surprise MVPs Chelsea Green, Ivy Nile, and Maxxine Dupri, but once they were all gone, WWE mostly lost interest in anything related to story or character. Alexa Bliss' big return happened at #16, a time in the Rumble that's best used as an intermission period, and partially as a result she proceeded to actually do very little until being eliminated by Liv Morgan. As the second half of the match went on, the biggest moments were generally either nostalgia trips like Trish Stratus and Nikki Bella or storyline advancement storylines for "NXT." Very little seemingly happened to set up WrestleMania matches for the main roster. And of course, the match had the predictable winner of all predictable winners in the form of Charlotte Flair, who even got the timing wrong on the spot where she eliminated her final opponent.
It saddens me to say it, but not a great showing for the women's Rumble this year. Could definitely have used more Becky Lynch.
Written byMiles Schneiderman
Never have I felt so disappointed in a match before. Never have I felt so cheated.
I was really excited for Motor City Machine Guns (MCMG) and #DIY's 2-out-of-3 Falls match for the WWE Tag Team Championships I really was! By the time the dust settled over their tag title bout, however, I couldn't help but feel like I was cheated of a match I should've easily Loved. To be clear, the match itself was fine. It was good, even. What I hated what I perceive to be an absolute waste of the time and talent of everybody involved was the ending.
The match was reaching its climax, with both teams holding falls to their name after minutes of fierce combat. This was the tiebreaker, and tensions were high. Johnny Gargano accidentally struck Tomasso Ciampa in the face with a stray kick, and before Ciampa could regain his sensibilities, MCMG had nailed Gargano in the face with an assisted basement dropkick and were setting up for the Skull and Bones. Victory was certain.
Their loss came in the form of two hooded figures: one who distracted the referee from counting MCMG's pinfall attempt, and another who struck MCMG with a crutch. This distraction allowed for #DIY to Meet in the Middle for a pinfall victory, and while I don't think I would've been mad about a #DIY retention otherwise, the fact that the freaking Street Profits were the ones to help them get the victory infuriated me.
Didn't #DIY attack the Street Profits and sideline them however long ago? They sure did, and Michael Cole had to give an explanation that was nothing less than verbal gymnastics in order to justify the Profits' "assist" to #DIY. Then, the Profits beat down #DIY because they still hate them, and I'm utterly exasperated. When you have to explain to me that the Profits helped #DIY retain because they wanted to beat Gargano and Ciampa specifically for the titles, you've already lost me.
Sure, as revengers in this maniacal spectacle we call professional wrestling, it makes sense that the Profits would want to rob #DIY of the objects they consolidate their power in: the titles. However, I'm just so incensed that it had to come at the cost of MCMG. It feels unfair to Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin to use such a cheap finish for such a sophisticated wrestling match in such a personal feud (a feud, mind you, that also positions Shelley and Sabin as revengers).
How do you expect me to get behind the Profits when they ruined a perfectly good match? If this finish wasn't for the Profits, how do you expect me to get behind #DIY as victors? If this finish wasn't for #DIY, how do you expect me to take the idea of an MCMG rematch seriously? Nothing here works out for anybody.
Just as I've been cheated out of a satisfying match, so too have these men been cheated out of a compelling finish and storyline.
Written byAngeline Phu
Sami Zayn was a dark horse going into the Royal Rumble following the past few weeks after Kevin Owens floated the idea that they could main event WrestleMania against one another for the WWE Championship. For that to be the case, though, Owens said that Zayn would have to ensure he won the title from Cody Rhodes in their ladder match, and in return he would have his back for the Rumble match. Zayn would emerge during the ladder match but only after a fisherman buster off the top rope and onto a ladder, taking both Owens and Rhodes out of action for a spell. He rushed to check on both of his friends, and if he was going to pick a side then would have been the time. But he hesitated, he refused to do so, and Rhodes eventually fought to a victory emphasized by a fallaway slam from the announcer's desk and through another ladder bridged between it and the ring apron.
Owens sold the move to perfection, staying stood on his head until well after the match concluded like a lifeless cadaver killed by his opponent, and Zayn's guttural scream of concern for Owens when the move was hit immediately hammered home that his inaction had cost his best friend and perhaps their entire friendship dearly. Later on in the Rumble match, it could be argued that it ultimately cost Zayn too, as Owens was unable even if he wanted to come out, and he was eventually eliminated by eventual winner Jey Uso. Now that leaves a set of compelling questions for the "Underdog from the Underground" heading into WrestleMania season: Where does he stand with Owens after failing to do what was asked of him, once again elevating his allegiances to others above that to his best friend? Where does he stand with Uso after the, inadvertent or not, elimination on his way to victory? Zayn and Uso have formed a brotherly bond throughout their time as part of the Original Bloodline and then standing against the group, but wrestling has proven historically that certain things tend to change relationships, namely getting kicked in the face even by accident. And that's without even considering the arcs of Owens and of course, Rhodes, coming out of the bout. Having a set of interconnected plot lines dotted across the card made for great viewing, and left the right sort of questions to ask about where the story goes from here.
Written by Max Everett
Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled Jey Uso won the Royal Rumble. I think he deserves it, I really didn't want Cena to win, and it made a lot of very online wrestling fans mad, which is never a bad thing. That said, I have to admit it leaves me feeling just a little bit hollow.
For months now, a slow drama has been unfolding across WWE programming, flowing out from years of Roman Reigns dominance and Bloodline interference and choices consistent with character and actions having consequences. It involves Reigns, and Drew McIntyre, and Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn, and CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes. And I won't say it doesn't involve Jey Uso, but .... It doesn't really involve Jey Uso. Jey has been out here dealing with GUNTHER and now it looks like he might be dealing with GUNTHER some more. He joined Reigns' team at WarGames and got some grief for it, but then he beat McIntyre on "Saturday Night's Main Event" and just kind of moved on with his life. For Jey, fighting giant Scotsmen who blame him for past wrongs is so 2023. He's busy pushing his singles stardom as far as it can go, which is why this Royal Rumble win is such a massive and timely accomplishment.
But it doesn't really interact with the slow drama. The slow drama has been revolving around the WWE Undisputed Championship, specifically, and the promise of the Royal Rumble according to the build that happened on TV was that we would find out who would be holding that title at WrestleMania, and who would be challenging for it. Instead, the answer to that question is mostly "I guess we'll have to wait until Elimination Chamber." And in the meantime, while you had some cool moments like McIntyre finally getting his hands on Reigns and Rollins snapping and destroying Reigns on the outside, there were a lot of other moments that felt like missed opportunities. Punk was eliminated by Logan Paul. McIntyre was eliminated by Damian Priest (and apparently wasn't thrilled about how it went down). Even Rhodes' title defense against Owens, while impressive as a physical performance, didn't feature a heel turn or a heel group forming or Randy Orton coming back or anything. Rhodes just won. Zayn was also there. The end.
I'm not saying this has all been a waste of time. I can see where a lot of it might be going and I'm sure it will continue to slowly play out and build. It's just a little disappointing to be sold an event on what seemed like the promise of major developments, only to essentially be told to ask again in a month.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
The main event of its namesake event, the men's Royal Rumble match delivered on the annual spectacle it promised with plenty of stars and welcome surprises dotted throughout. Long before the closing stretch even entered the sight, the likes of Joe Hendry and YouTuber IShowSpeed had appeared in the match to give the Indianapolis crowd something of a gleeful release, but with time it very much became the tale of the main event picture.
All of Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, John Cena, and CM Punk joined the fray, along with Sami Zayn and Jey Uso, to continue the fallout of The Bloodline's four-year reign, the teased gradual descent into heel-dom for Zayn, the rise of "Main Event" Uso, the unspoken agreement between Reigns, Punk, and Paul Heyman, McIntyre's quest for vengeance, the decade-long story of betrayal between Reigns and Rollins, and of course Cena's very last Rumble match. All had credible reasons to win the Rumble, and all would see their trajectories drastically altered should they not. But only one could win, and the herd started to thin with logic and care applied to those arcs coming out of it.
Granted, at the time of writing it doesn't seem like McIntyre's ending had been by design as he was eliminated by Damian Priest. Reigns and Rollins went at one another with reckless abandon, taking turns trying to eliminate one another in a raw tussle of strength and vitriol. As they were teetering on the ropes, Punk saw his opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, only to then be eliminated himself, leaving all three of the scorned competitors left on the outside staring at one another. Reigns produced one of the funniest soundbites, "Seriously? We literally teamed up a month ago," which is slightly off as it was Survivor Series but nonetheless hilarious and based of the "Original Tribal Chief." Then ensued the inevitable brawl between them, with Rollins landing a stomp to Reigns before another one on the ring steps for good measure. All as Heyman watched on in horror. It will be interesting to see how the "Wise Man" factors into this, considering he owes Punk a favor, yet Punk was the one that eliminated Reigns and thus enabled him to get stomped, and then there's Rollins who aptly wants to burn it all down.
Those were layers of storytelling just in the third-quarter of the bout, as when the smoke cleared it would eventually be Uso and Cena left alone in the ring. This writer was feeling nostalgic after watching the '08 Rumble, so I had Cena down as the winner of this, so you can imagine the welcome surprise that came with Uso winning the match. Not only taking us a step closer to Uso finally getting his crowning moment, but also if the post-show is anything to go off set the wheels in motion for Cena's arc for his final year in wrestling.
Written byMaxEverett
