WWE Royal Rumble 2025 takes place tonight (Sat., Feb. 1) from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. It begins at 4 pm ET with the Countdown show leading right on into the main course at 6 pm ET on Peacock in the U.S., Netflix internationally, or your local cable pay-per-view provider.
The Royal Rumble match is unlike anything else in WWE, and that’s one reason why this event always ranks among WWE’s most anticipated nights of the year.
The rules of the 30-man Royal Rumble match are simple. Two wrestlers start the match, a new superstar enters the fray at regular intervals, and elimination occurs when a competitor goes over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. The winner of the match is the last person standing after 29 other wrestlers have been eliminated. The winner earns a world title match at WrestleMania.
Here are some of the wrestlers who have been confirmed for the men’s Royal Rumble:
- LA Knight
- John Cena
- CM Punk
- Jey Uso
- Roman Reigns
- Seth Rollins
- Drew McIntyre
- Rey Mysterio
- Sami Zayn
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Logan Paul
- Penta
- Chad Gable
- Bron Breakker
- Carmelo Hayes
- Damian Priest
- Santos Escobar
- Jacob Fatu
This year’s lineup looks ridiculously stacked with Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and John Cena standing out as the favorites, and with Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Jacob Fatu, and Logan Paul each having at least a small chance to win.
The depth of the lineup continues to impress after that, with big stars like Jey Uso, Damian Priest, Bron Breakker, LA Knight, Rey Mysterio, Penta, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Sami Zayn also in the mix. That’s half of the 30-man field right there who have the chance to make a major impact in this year’s Royal Rumble match.
Because the confirmed entrants are already loaded with star power, the men’s Royal Rumble match doesn’t need to rely too much on nostalgia pops for surprise entrants from the past. That being said, some fans think The Rock could show up as the final entrant in the match, and if that’s what happens, then there’s no doubt he’ll be the winner.
Randy Orton is another top star who has been out a while and could return as a surprise entrant tonight. Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, is still on the sidelines after being named in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis.
As far as surprises go, TNA Wrestling star Joe Hendry will likely get one of the loudest pops of the Royal Rumble if his theme song hits after one of the buzzers go off. WWE now has an expanded partnership with TNA, so it seems like there is a decent chance for this to happen.
The biggest story on the men’s side is that John Cena is retiring in 2025, and this is his last Royal Rumble match ever. John wants to break the record for most world championships in a career, and winning the Royal Rumble match is the quickest way to get him on track to accomplish that goal with a title shot at WrestleMania. But can his aging body hold up going against such a loaded field of participants?
Then there’s Roman Reigns, who has not competed in a Rumble in five years, which is before he started the Tribal Chief gimmick. Reigns wants his undisputed WWE championship back from Cody Rhodes, and he intends to earn that rematch at WrestleMania by winning tonight’s Royal Rumble. I have a feeling that Roman will cross paths with Jacob Fatu tonight, and that encounter may determine the Tribal Chief’s fate.
CM Punk is the other favorite in this year’s Royal Rumble. Unlike Cena and Reigns, CM has never won a Rumble match. He will try to change that tonight when he competes in the eighth such match of his career. Punk had a nightmare Royal Rumble experience last year when he suffered torn triceps and had his WrestleMania main event dream taken away from him. Drew McIntyre is the man who injured Punk in that match, and there’s no doubt he’ll try to do so again tonight. Seth Rollins has also made it his mission to make sure that CM Punk never gets to main event WrestleMania.
Finally, YouTube douchebag Logan Paul can’t be ruled out as a potential Royal Rumble winner. WWE has a major partnership with Netflix now, and Logan has the kind of mainstream star power that WWE and Netflix both crave. There have been some rumors of Logan potentially fighting World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER at WrestleMania, and a Rumble win for the YouTuber is one way to make that happen.
Can John Cena channel his peak form tonight and LOLCenaWins his way through 29 other men? Will CM Punk finally realize his dream of securing a spot in the main event of WrestleMania? Is Roman Reigns destined for another WrestleMania rematch with Cody Rhodes for the top prize in WWE? Will the Final Boss show up and completely disrupt all of these plans?
Make sure to tune in tonight to see which star wins one of the most stacked Royal Rumble matches of all-time.
The rest of the card
Here are the remaining three matches that are currently advertised for Royal Rumble:
Women’s Royal Rumble match
The rules for the women’s Royal Rumble match are the same as the men’s bout.
Here are some of the wrestlers who have been announced for the 30-woman field:
- Nia Jax
- Bayley
- Charlotte Flair
- Naomi
- Bianca Belair
- Liv Morgan
- Raquel Rodriguez
- Lyra Valkyria
- Ivy Nile
- Iyo Sky
- Chelsea Green
- Zelina Vega
- Candice LeRae
- Piper Niven
This list stands out for just how few of the participants seem like they have an actual chance to win the match.
Charlotte Flair is the big favorite after missing all of 2024 with a devastating leg injury. WWE is hyping up her return as a “top girl” whose family legacy practically demands that she win this match and move on to win championship gold in the main event of WrestleMania.
Liv Morgan had a fantastic 2024 and has tried to position herself as a threat to win the Royal Rumble match. She just lost the women’s world championship to Rhea Ripley a few weeks ago and now gets to keep her Royal Rumble streak alive as a result. Her strategy is to lean on Raquel Rodriguez’s muscles to help her survive to the end.
Speaking of former women’s champions, Nia Jax is pissed off after Tiffany Stratton cashed in Money in the Bank and beat her for the WWE women’s championship in early January. Nia stood tall on the Royal Rumble go home show, but she did just lose a women’s world title match to Rhea Ripley last weekend at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
In the case of both Liv Morgan and Nia Jax, it feels like their recent championship losses were done to get them away from the major title matches at WrestleMania, so I’d be surprised if either one wins the Rumble.
Former Rumble winners Bayley and Bianca Belair haven’t been pushed in the top-of-the-card singles spots in recent months, so while they can’t be completely ruled out as potential winners this year, they do appear to be long shots. That’s especially true for Bayley, who won last year’s match but didn’t do much as women’s champion later in the year, and has been losing TV matches of late. Now that I’m thinking about it a little bit more, she probably can be ruled out as a plausible Rumble winner this year.
Meanwhile, Women’s Tag Team Champion Belair is preoccupied with finding out who injured her former partner Jade Cargill in November. Belair’s new partner Naomi is a prime suspect, and it will be interesting to see how their drama plays out if Cargill makes a surprise return in the Rumble.
Speaking of surprise returns, a lot of fans are hoping to see big stars from the past show up such as Nikki Bella, Trish Stratus, and AJ Lee. We also haven’t seen Becky Lynch in WWE since mid-2024, and just about everyone is anticipating her return on the road to WrestleMania 41. There could also be some interesting appearances from the NXT roster during the Royal Rumble match, such as Roxanne Perez or Stephanie Vaquer. Finally, former TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace is widely expected to make her official WWE debut in this match.
Do any of these women stand a chance in the Royal Rumble against The Queen? We’ll find out later tonight.
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the Undisputed WWE championship
Kevin Owens turned on Cody Rhodes nearly four months ago because he couldn’t get over the fact that Cody decided to team up with Roman Reigns at Bad Blood in October. Owens and Rhodes fought for the title in December at the retro-themed Saturday Night’s Main Event (SNME). KO felt he was screwed over when he had Cody pinned but there was no ref there to count it.
After losing the match at SNME, Owens tried to injure Cody with a package piledriver, just like how he put Randy Orton on the injured list in November. Kevin then walked out of SNME holding the Winged Eagle belt that Cody brought to the ring for the match. Owens has since carried that old belt around and proclaimed himself as the true WWE champion. He refused to give the belt back to General Manager Nick Aldis, so Cody proposed hanging both belts above the ring and climbing a ladder to reach them. Just like that, a WWE championship ladder match became official for Royal Rumble.
Sami Zayn is a key person to keep an eye on here. He also teamed up with Roman Reigns (at Survivor Series) and expected Owens to be irate about it. However, when they spoke about it on Raw, KO explained that the context for Cody and Sami’s decisions is completely different. Owens knows that his best friend Sami will have his back tonight at Royal Rumble. Sami then added some doubt about his babyface/heel alignment when he “accidentally” blasted Rhodes with a Helluva Kick on Raw.
There are no disqualifications in a ladder match, which means Sami Zayn can legally interfere in this match. Will Sami be the difference-maker when KO challenges Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship at Royal Rumble?
DIY (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a 2-out-of-3- falls match for the WWE tag team championship
Johnny Gargano turned heel in December with a low blow on the Motor City Machine Guns, which was a crucial moment that helped DIY beat MCMG for the WWE tag team titles. The two teams fought over the belts again in early January, but the match was thrown out due to a bunch of outside interference that ruined the finish.
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley rebounded by winning a match on four consecutive episodes of SmackDown throughout the rest of January. As a result, they’ve earned another shot at the belts tonight at Royal Rumble. Meanwhile, DIY used the bait of a future title shot to trick Pretty Deadly into doing their bidding and taking some beatings over the last month or so, but that strategy finally backfired this week when Deadly said they’ve had enough and DIY is on their own for the Royal Rumble.
It will be a two out of three falls match tonight when MCMG challenges DIY for tag team gold once again. This is essentially the high work rate match of the night. Will some other team come to the aid of Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa to help them retain the championship?
Summary
It’s the Royal Rumble and it’s not in Saudi Arabia yet, so this is one of WWE’s most highly anticipated events of the year. The men’s Rumble match is absolutely loaded with top stars like John Cena, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk, while the women’s match has Charlotte Flair’s return and more intrigue about the surprise entrants. Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens are going to beat the shit out of each other in a violent ladder match, while DIY vs. MCMG is there for the star-ratings crowd. There’s something for just about everyone at Royal Rumble 2025.
What will you be looking for at Royal Rumble?
