The road to Wrestlemania 41 officially kicked off with the 2025 Royal Rumble from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana in front of over 65,000 fans, a legitimate sell out, which is a good indication for the city that made an extensive deal with the TKO corporation to bring WWE events to the area, including a future Wrestlemania hosted at the same site.
Of course, the historic value of the Royal Rumble and the cache of more than thirty years of moments are selling points for the show, but make no mistake about it, the biggest sales pitch for this pay-per-view was the star power currently on the roster, an aspect that was underscored during the main event segment.
As expected, the show opened and closed with each Rumble match, which makes sense in terms of pacing the card. However, and unfortunately, this was one of the biggest takeaways along with the incredible amount of sizzle that the broadcast delivered, the runtime of the show was nearly four and a half hours for a line-up that had only four matches. I don’t care what matches, including the Rumbles, are booked for a pay-per-view, there’s simply no realistic reason that such a card should be four and a half hours. At that rate, it’s completely unavoidable for the broadcast not to drag at some point to become a tedious viewing experience.
The show opened with the women’s rumble, and with a few exceptions, it was more or less a typical rumble. There wasn’t anything subpar and there wasn’t anything truly spectacular either. As far as the structure of the segment, the paint-by-numbers approach didn’t lend itself to any true drama or a build toward the conclusion of the match. Charlotte Flair was announced as an entrant prior to the show and went on to win the match, sending her to Wrestlemania in a title match again. I have to be honest, while I completely see why the office chose her as the winner, especially with the level of her talent, and the fact that she was on the sidelines for several months because of a knee injury, this still seems like a “been there, done that” for. If I had to pick a specific reason, I’d say that since management had her win and drop the title a few extra times earlier in her career to artificially get her close to the chance to break her dad’s title record, a lot of the same ground has already been covered in a relatively short period of time. Keep in mind, she won the women’s rumble in 2020, and the history of the match is significantly shorter than the men’s version so the same winner will seem more repetitive.
In some ways, this is a compliment to her talent and her status, she’s a big enough star that she honestly didn’t need to win the match to have a level of importance going into a featured match at WM. Again, this isn’t a knock of her skills, but rather that it looked like the WWE took the easy route with the women’s rumble instead of betting on a different performer to have to rise to the occasion of a spotlighted WM bout and hopefully become a bigger star in the process. Ironically, that was actually the path that management took for the men’s rumble later in the night.
Aside from Flair’s return, Alexa Bliss, who was the subject of rumors of a contract dispute with the company as recently as last week, made a surprise return to the company. Since she appeared on-screen, there was some discussion online that the WWE potentially leaked a false story to make the dirt sheets look silly, but that’s doubtful. If anything, keeping Bliss’ name out of the news would’ve made for a bigger surprise when her music played at the show. Furthermore, the vast majority of the WWE audience doesn’t follow Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller, or Sean Ross Sapp so there’s not much of a point for the publicly-traded corporation to plant a story to attempt to make them look silly. If I had to guess, it was probably as simple as the contract dispute, if there was one at all, was probably worked out prior to the Rumble. It’s not as though the Royal Rumble hasn’t been used as a standard option for a talent to make a comeback in the past.
Potentially, the much bigger point is, what’s planned for Bliss among the current WWE landscape? Despite the initial reports that she would return to join the Wyatt stable, given her prior associations with Bray, the faction has completely stalled so saddling her with that gimmick might hinder, not help her return to the company. Speaking of potential future plans within the organization, Trish Stratus made a cameo appearance, and it will be interesting to see if this was a one-off or if there will be a storyline for her ahead of Wrestlemania. As expected, Jordynne Grace made her official debut with the company and had a solid showing so at least with the first impression, it looks like she will be a solid addition to the female division.
As far as where this lines up for Wrestlemania, I think the easiest option, and the company went for the easiest choice for the winner, is for Charlotte to challenge Rhea Ripley to be able to use their match at WM 36 as the background for the storyline that is used to build the rematch at WM 41.
Next was the two out of three falls match for the WWE tag titles, and despite the skills of both teams, nobody cares about this contest in the building. I understand that there has to be a way to pace the card, but the harsh reality is that the tag division is often presented as secondary within the WWE product so after the first Rumble match, the fans weren’t nearly as enthusiastic for this segment. I’m not sure why this had to be a two out of three falls match, especially because it only went about 15 minutes, which is what a standard match usually is on pay-per-view anyway. DIY retained, and The Street Profits beat down both teams afterwards, garnering a minimal reaction from the crowd.
The ladder match for the WWE championship was next, and given that it was obvious that there wasn’t going to be a title switch, Cody and Kevin Owens built the contest around some absolutely brutal bumps. This match will be memorable for the nasty bumps that these two took on the ladders, and they probably did as best as they could, given the fact that nobody believed that Owens was going to win the title. The finishing sequence that saw Cody give KO an Alabama slam from the announce table through the ladder looked like a very rough landing. Yes, the standard breakaway ladder spot made for an easier bump, but Owens was folded up on his head. Again, Cody winning was obvious, but credit to both of these guys for giving the audience a match that was still worthwhile at this pay-per-view. The question that remains is, what’s next for Owens? As I wrote previously, Owens’ ability to make his opponents look good and always be dependable to deliver a quality performance has sometimes led to him being used in a role that is designed to let his opponent shine so hopefully, there’s something of importance for him on the horizon for Wrestlemania.
The men’s Royal Rumble bout had a few clunky spots early, including when Penta’s feet clearly touched the floor when he wasn’t scheduled to be eliminated, and a mistimed spot with Rey Mysterio looked like it caused an injury to Chad Gable’s knees. Thankfully, Gable was fine, and the match built well after that. I had no idea who ishowspeed was prior to his association with WWE and still don’t think his involvement will move the needle at all, but he took an absolutely brutal spear from Bron Breakker. Did he owe Bron money?
Joe Hendry, wearing the TNA championship, made a cameo appearance and after about two minutes , was eliminated by Roman Reigns. I’m not sure what the purpose was or why the TNA champion wasn’t given the chance to shine on some level, considering the recently announced partnership, but the elimination from Roman certainly seemed like a message sent.
The psychology of the ending sequences was brilliant. The major stars were involved and the audience was on the edge of their seats following the action to see who would get the chance to main event Wrestlemania. Logan Paul’s involvement suggested that there’s bigger plans for him within the organization, and I’m still not sure if his fan base has truly followed his ventures into the WWE, but if nothing else, the Prime sponsorship is a valuable revenue stream.
As I’d written before, I think John Cena should win the Rumble because it sets up for the storybook ending to his eventual retirement to win the championship. That being said, I don’t think it was a negative that Jey Uso won the match. It wasn’t a negative, but it was definitely surprising. Realistically, I don’t think many people expected Jey to win The Royal Rumble. Again, that’s not a bad thing, just surprising. Clearly, the office believes in his popularity and wants to try to elevate him to the next level, which makes sense. The argument could be made that his entrance is the most over part of his entire act, but the bottom line is, if Jey has the ability to make himself a legitimate main event talent, he’s getting a solid opportunity to boost his stock before WM.
The question is, will Jey’s in-ring work be able to get to the level of a main event star? His popularity with the audience isn’t in question, but his in-ring work has been sloppy occasionally. The Uso vs. Uso match at Wrestlemania last year didn’t exactly get rave reviews. Based on the fact that Gunther beat him at Saturday Night’s Main Event, that will probably be used as the basis for the storyline at WM 41. It’s a simple, but effective narrative, as it gives the over baby face odds to overcome to win the championship. Again, if Jey’s in-ring work justifies that spot remains to be seen.
It goes without saying that there’s more to unfold to set up Wrestlemania going forward, and management has done a good job of balancing the talent, in terms of allowing for multiple opponents to look like legitimate contenders for Cody Rhodes before the biggest event of the year. The biggest takeaway from the entire pay-per-view was probably the way that management used the star power on the card to allow for memorable moments at the event.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
