May 28, 2025

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Royal Rumble Fallout

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The Road to Wrestlemania officially got started last night with the 39th annual Royal Rumble PLE. This was a card that featured only 4 matches which has become a staple under the Paul “Triple H” Levesque era. Since taking over from Vince McMahon, Triple H has opted for fewer matches and more storytelling rather than cramming a card with 3-4 minute matches.

The card was as follows:

  • Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Key participants – Bianca Belair, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Io Sky, Nia Jax, Naomi, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Chelsea Green
  • WWE Tag Team Championship: DIY(c) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns in a 2 out 3 Falls Match
  • Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes(c) vs. Kevin Owens in a Ladder Match(both the WWE title & the Winged Eagle title were held above the ring)
  • Men’s Royal Rumble Match: Key participants – Roman Reigns, CM Punk, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Bron Breakker, Shinsuke Nakamura

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Charlotte Flair became the 1st woman to be a 2X Royal Rumble winner. Image courtesy of WWE/Peacock

The women’s Royal Rumble boasted a lot of talent and didn’t need to necessarily lean on former wrestlers/legends to fill up the spots. I’ve longed argued the NXT women’s division is the best women’s division in all of professional wrestling and Saturday night showed people why. Five women from NXT’s division was a part of the match and they made their presence felt but none more so than Roxanne Perez. The Prodigy lasted a Royal Rumble record 1 hour, 7 minutes & 47 seconds while also being the runner-up in the match.

As far as legends/surprises goes, there were a couple of them. Former TNA Knockouts champion, and newest acquisition to WWE, Jordynne Grace made her official WWE debut at the Rumble and she got display her power. I suspect she’ll either spend a brief time in NXT before getting the call up or may go straight to the main roster. Trish Stratus also made an appearance at the #25 spot before being eliminated by Nia Jax. The other legend to appear was Nikki Bella at #30 and honestly… they could have kept that. Nikki Bella being in the Final Four was disappointing given the amount of talented women that could’ve used the rub. Bella being amonst the women really showed just how far women’s wrestling has come since she was Divas champion over a decade ago.

Full List of Participants

1. Io Sky7. Ivy Nile13. Sonya Deville19. Jordynne Grace25. Trish Stratus
2. Liv Morgan8. Zoey Stark14. Maxxine Dupri20. Mia Yim26. Raquel Rodriguez
3. Roxanne Perez9. Lash Legend15. Naomi21. Alexa Bliss27. Charlotte Flair
4. Lyra Valkyria10. Bianca Belair16. Jaida Parker22. Zelina Vega28. Giulia
5. Chelsea Green11. Shayna Baszler17. Piper Niven23. Candice LaRae29. Nia Jax
6. B-Fab12. Bayley18. Natayla24. Stephanie Vaquer30. Nikki Bella

Fans were hoping for other stars to return like Becky Lynch or Jade Cargill. I was rather disappointed that neither returned last night but one return that blew the roof off Lucas Oil Stadium was none other than of Alexa Bliss:

At the end of the night, Charlotte Flair was victorious and secured her spot at Wrestlemania. There will be plenty that will suggest that spot should have gone to someone else and while that may be true the reality is that while the women’s division is incredibly stacked there isn’t a ton going on in terms of storylines. I can’t really point to anyone having solid momentum going into the match. Having Charlotte win was the logical, safe answer to set up the money match between her & WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton.

Look for Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley to get the winner of the women’s Elimination Chamber match(and hopefully it will be Io Sky).

Undisputed WWE Championship

Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens put on a classic. Image courtesy of WWE.

I’m going to say it now – when 2025 comes to a close, this match between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will be a candidate for Match of the Year. Typical ladder matches feature some good spots and violent moments but this match was all about violence from start to finish. The story Rhodes & Owens told during this car wreck was absolutely beautiful and something may have occurred in the process – a rare double turn. Coming into the match Kevin Owens had been an absolute menace – remorseless and vengeful. His claims of being misunderstood and right about Rhodes siding with the enemy that is Roman Reigns resonated with people. People began cheering Owens for speaking his truth and in the process each attack on Rhodes, Randy Orton, Jimmy Uso and others forced Rhodes to go to a darker place.

The culmination of this story came to a head last night in the ladder match and it was a thing of beauty:

After putting each other through the ringer, Rhodes completely snapped:

Rhodes would emerge victorious but the image of him standing over a nearly lifeless Kevin Owens while hoisting the belts looked to some the start of a magnificent double turn:

Homelander Cody Rhodes incoming….

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

Jey Uso solidified his main event status with a Rumble win. Image courtesy of WWE.

The men’s Royal Rumble looked to be the most intriguing men’s Rumble match in years given the amount of talent involved. Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu, John Cena, Sami Zayn and Drew McIntyre headlined a star studded field.

The men’s match was able to accomplish what the women’s match couldn’t completely do – advance the storylines. Braun Strowman was able to get some payback on Jacob Fatu after what Fatu did to Braun just a week earlier. The hatred between Punk, Rollins, Reigns & McIntyre was on full display. Sheamus continued his war with Bron Breakker.

List of Full Participants

1. Rey Mysterio7. Bron Breakker13. Ludwig Kaiser19. Shinsuke Nakamura25. Seth Rollins
2. Penta8. iShowSpeed14. The Miz20. Jey Uso26. Dominic Mysterio
3. Chad Gable9. Sheamus15. Joe Hendry21. AJ Styles27. Sami Zayn
4. Carmelo Hayes10. Jimmy Uso16. Roman Reigns22. Braun Strowman28. Damian Priest
5. Santos Escobar11. Andrade17. Drew McIntyre23. John Cena29. LA Knight
6. Otis12. Jacob Fatu18. Finn Balor24. CM Punk30. Logan Paul

The fans were also treated to some cool moments in the match. Rey Mysterio & Penta starting the match off was a nice spot(though that spot was nearly ruined when Penta botched an over the top rope spot & cameras caught both of his feet actually touching the floor). Bron Breakker hit a hellacious spear on Roman Reigns. AJ Styles returned with his OG theme song to a thunderous applause. Social media streamer iShowSpeed was a surprise entrant when Carmelo Hayes, who had already been eliminated took out Akira Tozawa. After helping to eliminate Otis, Speed met up with that man Bron Breakker:

The pop & surprise of the match happened when the TNA champion Joe Hendry made his appearance:

As the match wore on, the big names began appearing and the match grew to a fever pitch. The letdown was the reveal that Logan Paul took the #30 spot. There were rumors circulating that Nic Nemeth(aka Dolph Ziggler), Omos or The Rock would appear but none of that panned out.

The final four participants would end up being CM Punk(after ousting both Reigns & Rollins), Jey Uso, Logan Paul & Cena. Before the ending, Seth Rollins went ballistic:

In a true shocker, Jey Uso would outlast Logan Paul & John Cena to win the men’s Royal Rumble match. Jey’s win solidified his spot in the main event scene as he will now head to Wrestlemania to presumably challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight title.

Final Thoughts

  • The WWE Tag Team Championship: The match featuring DIY & The Motor City Machine Guns was a great showcase of what tag team wrestling can be. WWE really should focus more on its tag team divisions and give it the spotlight it deserves. I believe you could get some really good matches and storylines if they were given the time. The only puzzling thing about the match was The Street Profits costing the Guns the title. The Profits then took out the champs. So… are they heels or not?

  • What Does Jey Uso’s Win Mean: Jey Uso winning was certainly the surprise of the night because no one really had Uso winning the match and getting a guaranteed title shot. CM Punk clearly had the momentum heading into the Royal Rumble and the feeling was this would be the perfect opportunity to cash in on Punk’s momentum. At age 46 there won’t be too many more opportunities for Punk to do only one of two things he has yet to accomplish – headline Wrestlemania and win a Royal Rumble match. The more important thought is this – I don’t believe WWE is completely convinced what the main event will be. Could it be they’re still waiting on The Rock? Are they thinking of ways to try and get Rhodes, Punk, Reigns and Seth Rollins into a match(possibly a 4-way for the Undisputed WWE Championship)? The nice problem HHH has is having multiple players capable of headlining the Show of Shows. It seems one problem they did solve is what to do with Gunther who deserves a prominent spot at Wrestlemania. It just won’t be the main event of either night.
  • IWC Fans Can’t Have It Both Ways: The IWC in typical maddening fashion are crying about Jey Uso winning the men’s match. They’re also belly aching over Charlotte Flair’s win. You can’t have it both ways. On the one hand you can’t deride WWE for “handing” Flair her Wrestlemania spot and for being predictable while at the same time deriding WWE for the unpredictability of Uso winning because your fave(Punk, Reigns, Cena, Rollins) didn’t win. Yes, Jey had a bad match last year at WM but he has spent the year working his tail off and getting over organically. I salute WWE for riding that wave and rewarding Jey Uso for his hard work. Fans have watched over the years as wrestlers like Zach Ryder, Rusev and other get over organically only to be buried. Week after week fans yeet and cheer for Jey Uso but now you want to cry because he won? Now you want to talk about his move set when your favorites have their own particular move sets? Lighten up folks and go touch grass…

  • Elimination Chamber Has To Set The Stage for WM: Too many questions were left unanswered after the Royal Rumble with the biggest question being who’s going to main event Nights 1 & 2 of the Showcase of the Immortals. It seems clear that neither of the women’s title matches are going to generate enough heat to main event Night One and unless some stipulation is added to Gunther/Jey Uso I don’t see this match main eventing either. That leaves The Elimination Chamber as the last chance to get some real answers. Could Gunther’s title be on the line at EC? Do Roman, Seth & Punk cost themselves again at EC which will set up Cena & Rhodes at WM? Hopefully we will get the answers we need.

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ctaylorjr14

God’s son. Husband. Father. Critical Sports Enthusiast.
Morehouse Alum. Truth Teller. Smart Aleck.
Eat. Sleep. Acknowledge Me. Repeat.

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