The Royal Rumble has always been noted as the start of the Road to WrestleMania and a part of the WWE’s “Big Four” along with SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the aforementioned Show of Shows.
However, for many long-time WWE fans such as myself, the Royal Rumble is at least a clear number 2 to WrestleMania, with some people actually liking the chaotic Rumble more than the April main event.
Heading into the 2025 Royal Rumble, it was clear that there were not going to be a lot of gimmicks and one-offs. With the big names confirmed in the 30-superstar lineup for both the men’s and women’s matches, it felt like serious business from the start.
With that, here are my Top 10 favorite moments from the first premium live event of the WWE for 2025.
Full disclosure and for those who may not know, I work for the WWE with Stan Sy as their Tagalog commentators. Although WWE is not available on Netflix in the Philippines currently, you can still catch the PLEs on the WWE Network with our local commentary.
1 - Penta and Rey Mysterio opening the Men’s Royal Rumble
The WWE has laid out the red carpet for Penta. From the tease vignettes to the debut against Chad Gable to his win against Butch… I mean Pete Dunne, it’s obvious that they see him as the heir apparent to Rey Mysterio.
At first I thought Penta’s debut would be as Rey Mysterio’s tag team partner against The New Day, but maybe it’ll have to wait as the heel faction is hot enough for it to be a WrestleMania match in a couple of months.
Still, it was great to see both luchadores interact at the start of the Rumble, giving us just enough to whet our appetites for what is to come.
I’ve always been a Mysterio fan and I’ve followed Penta from Lucha Underground, yes even the dark sadistic match he had against Vampiro, so seeing those two have their moment was amazing.
2 - Sami Zayn’s booking
From not interfering in the Cody Rhodes-Kevin Owens match to hitting a Helluva Kick, meant this time around for Seth Rollins, to being accidentally eliminated by Jey Uso, I thought it was a well-booked Rumble for Sami Zayn.
The many layers of his story means we’ll stay invested on what the future holds for him. Will Sami side completely with KO after his brutal loss to Cody? Will he continue being everyone’s helper? Or will Zayn figure it out and carve his own legacy? So many possible directions for the former Intercontinental Champion.
3 - iShowSpeed takes a massive spear
Usually, my most disliked parts of Royal Rumble will be the surprise non-wrestler entrants who do close do nothing in the match, such as Michael Cole and Pat McAfee recently, or Drew Carey from the early 2000s.
I feel it takes away a spot from a legitimate entry who can carve out his or her own storyline moving forward, especially during a premier match like the Royal Rumble.
But when that someone is willing to take one of the most scary finishers in the game today, then I’m all for it. The setup was perfect. Tozawa going down and needing a replacement. iShowSpeed doing a video in gorilla and then Triple H, the guy who invited him, asking the popular streamer to join in.
Speed had his moment in eliminating Otis and even got to do a Cristiano Ronaldo SIUUU! and a backflip, all before eating a nasty spear from Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker.
It was a spear that would rival what Goldberg did to Nunzio back in the day, and it seems to get worse and worse after watching it from different camera angles. I get why the WWE is linking up with these content creators and as long as they’re true fans or willing to do the work and take bumps, then I’m all for it.
4 - Street Profits turning heel
When it comes to the Street Profits, the clamor from the… well, streets is either they turn completely heel or for Montez Ford to betray Daryl Dawkins and push for a singles run.
Thankfully, we got the former in this case. There are still a lot of things to accomplish for this solid tag team even if Ford seems like he’ll also be a strong singles competitor a la Jey Uso.
Jumping into the 2 out of 3 Falls Match between the Motor City Machine Guns and #DIY was the perfect way to get back into the title picture, with the two of them presenting a serious threat to the tag championships on SmackDown.
5 - Jacob Fatu tank build
There’s no more denying the fact that Jacob Fatu is a future WrestleMania main event player. It will happen at some point.
Fatu was tied with Roman Reigns with the most eliminations in this Rumble with four, and he looked like a monster doing it. Even his elimination looked good as he landed on his feet from a powerslam to the outside from Braun Strowman.
The only issue for the WWE with Jacob is they’ve managed his ascent so well that he’s being cheered by the WWE Universe even if Fatu is presented as a monster heel.
Still, it’s a minor complaint to what has been a tremendous buildup of a character many of us didn’t even know until he joined The Bloodline.
6 - No New Day or Solo Sikoa
Now don’t take this negatively. I’m not hating on Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Solo Sikoa, but their presence at the Royal Rumble would not have been helpful to their current trajectories.
For the New Day, it’s a grievance they could use moving forward. Rey Mysterio and Penta got their moment but both members of New Day could not even get into the match? The disrespect!!
Another thing is it would have been awkward continuing Kofi’s Rumble escape acts now that he’s a heel. It’s much cleaner for their overall storyline that they were not involved in the Rumble this this time.
As for Solo, it builds into his distraught after losing the Ula Fala to Roman Reigns during the debut of Monday Night Raw on Netflix.
The only time we’ve seen him since then was a brief cameo on SmackDown where he was supposed to talk but was not able to. The long-term storytelling would have been wasted if he just jumped to the next goal after being the Tribal Chief.
Hopefully, Solo will be set up for something big when he returns.
7 - Roxanne Perez
New Iron Woman for the Royal Rumble, need I say more?
8 - TNA! TNA! TNA!
Jordynne Grace, making her second Royal Rumble appearance but first as an official member of the WWE roster, made an impact, pardon the pun.
She looked strong in a ring filled with stars and then even had her big moment with a Death Valley Driver against Piper Niven. Grace will add depth to the women’s division of wherever she might end up.
One thing I hoped was better about the Rumble and in WWE, generally, are the superstar themes. Specifically, it’s the intros taking a while before you understand whose music it actually is.
The glass breaks, it’s Austin.
The gong sounds, it’s the Deadman.
The car crashes, it’s Foley.
Now for the ladies, the quickest to determine are all vets like Charlotte, Liv Morgan, the returning Alexa Bliss, and Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Nikki Bella.
For the men, it’s a lot better. But one of the quickest reactions from the crowd was for a wrestler not even in WWE.
Say his name and he appears. Joe Hendry.
It was not a long stint for the TNA Champion in his first-ever Royal Rumble, but he was a made man after getting that kind of ovation from more than 70,000 people in Indianapolis. Even Triple H and Sheamus were believers.
9 - John Cena got us hooked again
Among the popular retirements in the WWE, the ones from Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels are a cut above the rest. I mean who could ever forget “I’m sorry, I love you” and the jumping Tombstone from Taker to “end” the careers of Naitch and HBK, respectively?
Now, it feels like we’re about to get something similar from Cena. After announcing that he’s joining the Rumble and is targeting his 17th championship, we were all drawn back to the Doctor of Thuganomics like it was 2005.
The near eliminations between him and Jey Uso were executed to perfection, the hug and rub he gave “Main Event” Jey at the end was important, and so was his announcement that he’ll step away to shoot a movie but will compete in the Elimination Chamber.
John Cena is in it to win it in 2025, and we’re all in for the ride.
10 - Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso are going to WrestleMania
After bouncing back from a serious knee injury, Charlotte is back where she belongs and where she has been for the longest time, and that is top billing at WrestleMania.
The great thing about Charlotte winning is that she can have another great match against Rhea Ripley or she can really help Tiffany Stratton grow into her own as a top superstar.
As for Jey, the WWE has shown willingness to listen to what the WWE Universe wants.
Jey has been one of the hottest commodities in the sport with an entrance only a select handful could even enjoy. And now, “Main Event” Jey Uso will live a self-fulfilling prophecy, earning THAT spot in WrestleMania. Yeet.
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Overall, it was a jam-packed Royal Rumble that will be remembered for a long time. I had an absolute blast working on commentary, again available on the WWE Network locally.
The only problem was that this day will now live forever in infamy. After I took a well-deserved post-Rumble nap, I woke up to my phone buzzing.
I woke up in a world where Luka Doncic was no longer playing for my Dallas Mavericks.
My full thoughts on the next edition of Guts and Glory.