A lapsed fan's guide to WWE Royal Rumble 2025

As a service to fans who have a general interest in WWE but might not have watched a match in months, we're happy to provide this FAQ as a guide to Royal Rumble 2025, scheduled for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday.

What's at stake in these Royal Rumbles?

The Royal Rumble isn't just an excuse to hear 60 bangin' theme songs, revel in surprise debuts and shocking returns, and watch a group of people put their differences aside to work together and hurl their biggest obstacle over the top rope -- which is quite a utopian concept when you think about it.

No, the Royal Rumble primarily exists to reward one man and one woman with the chance to wrestle for a world championship at that showcase of the immortals, April's WrestleMania 41 -- and more importantly, the right to dramatically point to the WrestleMania sign above the ring as the credits roll on Raw or SmackDown, aka every young wrestler's dream.

To set the current landscape: Rhea Ripley is the women's world champion, in her second reign with the strap. Tiffany Stratton is the WWE women's champion, after turning on Nia Jax and cashing in her Money in the Bank contract to win the title from Jax in early January because it was apparently "Tiffy Time."

On the men's side, there are two long-reigning champions: Gunther, who has been world heavyweight champion since SummerSlam in August; and the current face of the WWE, Cody Rhodes, who famously "finished the story" at WrestleMania 40 last April when he defeated Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match to become the undisputed WWE champion.

His new story could be titled "Heavy Is the Head That Wears the Crown," as the champion struggles with his new caste and a decent amount of paranoia as he defends the belt against Kevin Owens at the Rumble.

Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens again?

After Owens lost to Rhodes at Bash in Berlin last August and failed to win the title on Saturday Night's Main Event in December, this long-standing feud reaches new heights literally at the Royal Rumble, as the two square off in a ladder match for the titles.

Yes, we said "titles."

Fueling this feud is KO's searing jealousy of Cody's success. Owens claims he should have all the things that Rhodes has in WWE. That's because Owens stuck around for a decade while Rhodes quit the promotion, leaving the "Stardust" character behind and rebuilding his career on the indie circuit.

To illustrate how Owens covets the Cody-verse, he stole the winged eagle-design WWE championship that Rhodes was gifted last month by WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque on Saturday Night's Main Event and began referring to himself as the "true WWE champion."

So both belts will be dangling above the ring at the Rumble. Rhodes and KO signed their contracts last weekend ... with Owens taking some Shawn Michaels' Sweet Chin Music after mocking the WWE legend during the signing. I wonder if there's any carryover there.

(By the way, kudos to the WWE for finally coming up with a belt-hanger technology that is both aesthetically pleasing and potentially botch-proof. It also looks like it could support a decent amount of weight as a zipline handle, if necessary.)

"I'm the real champ!" belt shenanigans are a timeless wrestling trope, used by everyone including Ric Flair and CM Punk. But Owens has used it as a great bit of escalation in what otherwise seems like a transitional feud for Rhodes before WrestleMania.

KO has always had a gift for ramping up the animosity and the intrigue. Witness his multiple vicious attacks on Rhodes. And his specially designed T-shirts, like the one that read "Cody Sucks Eggs" and the one where Owens' face was placed on a photo of Cody's deceased father, Dusty Rhodes, with the words "Canadian Dream" underneath.

And the fact that Rhodes might not be able to trust one of his allies, Sami Zayn, when it comes to this match's outcome.

Sami Zayn might turn against Rhodes?

A longtime friend (and frenemy) of Kevin Owens, Zayn has recently had two "oopsies" in the ring when trying to deliver a Helluva Kick to Drew McIntyre. Seth Rollins was kicked in the head on his first miss. Rhodes ate the boot on the second.

Whether these kicks were accidental has been a point of debate, although Zayn has apologized for both. But our scruffy hero has also been offered the following scenario from Owens:

He'll have Zayn's back in the Royal Rumble if Zayn is there when Owens needs him against Rhodes. If they both win their respective matches, Sami and KO will main-event WrestleMania.

Is that tempting enough for Zayn to turn against Rhodes?

Of course, Zayn isn't the only buddy Rhodes has to worry about impacting his title reign. There's also CM Punk, who is such a good friend to Rhodes that he recently promised he'd "stab him from the front" instead of the back. How thoughtful!

Is CM Punk going to win the Royal Rumble?

Punk has never won the Royal Rumble. In a related note, he has never main-evented WrestleMania, either. Punk has vowed to remedy both of these issues Saturday by winning the Rumble and challenging Rhodes for his title (should he successfully defend it against Owens).

On Raw Is Netflix this week, Punk cut one of those promos that only he can cut: saying that he loves Rhodes because of Dusty and that "I promise you I will always be your friend," while spelling out how Cody is cracking under the pressure of the day-to-day sacrifices of a babyface champion's reign; and then vowing to ease that burden by taking his title at WrestleMania. Delicious stuff.

One of the hallmarks of Paul Levesque's WWE is how different storylines bounce off each other like bumper cars. We can't mention Punk here without noting that his former mentor, Paul Heyman, promised him "a favor" in exchange for joining the O.G. Bloodline team at Survivor Series: WarGames last November.

Could the Wise Man's favor assist Punk in getting his WrestleMania moment?

That's the same Paul Heyman, by the way, who was asked to deliver a message to Punk from Drew McIntyre recently: He planned to beat Punk "within an inch of his life" and then "throw his lifeless carcass over the top rope."

Who else would win the Royal Rumble?

Here are the competitors who have declared for the Rumble as of Monday night:

CM Punk

Drew McIntyre

Sami Zayn

Seth Rollins

Roman Reigns

LA Knight

Jey Uso

Rey Mysterio

Shinsuke Nakamura

Chad Gable

Bron Breakker

Logan Paul

Penta

Penta, also known as Pentagón Jr., is the spooky-masked luchador who made the leap from AEW to the WWE in January.

Paul and Rollins have expressed interest in wrestling Gunther for his WWE heavyweight championship. Gunther, in turn, expressed interest in pounding Logan into schnitzel.

Having Roman Reigns in the Rumble creates its own intrigue. He won the event in 2015, and he's going to be doing something at WrestleMania.

Would a surprise appearance by The Rock in the Rumble blow the dome off the building in Indianapolis?

So, there are a lot of possibilities in the men's Rumble. But there is one potential winner getting the most notice.

Which is strange because you can't see him.

John Cena? The actor?

Please recall that Cena made a surprise return at Money in the Bank last July to announce that he was retiring ... eventually, as he'll be on his farewell tour through the end of 2025. He said WrestleMania 41 will be his last in-ring appearance in the WWE's signature event.

This announcement puts a ticking clock on Cena's chances to break Ric Flair's record for WWE world championship wins, as they're currently tied with 16. Winning the Rumble would give him a direct path to a title match and the chance to break the record.

But is there more money in the WrestleMania moment or the championship chase?

More importantly: Is there any chance Cena enters the Rumble as Peacemaker?

Who are the potential surprises in the men's Rumble?

Between the Judgment Day, the various Bloodlines, NXT and all those superstars who appear on Raw and SmackDown either in the ring or in the back ... there aren't many spots open for surprises. (Especially if you consider Cena's presence as checking the nostalgia act box.)

But there's one name we're fairly certain will enter the Rumble this year. Because when you say his name, he appears: Joe Hendry, of the infectious theme song and TNA world championship. Not only because he's popped onto NXT a few times, but because the WWE and TNA announced a working relationship recently.

But yeah, mostly because of that theme song.

OK, enough about the fellas: What's the story with the women's Royal Rumble?

The queen has returned! The story is Charlotte Flair. The 14-time champion hasn't wrestled since suffering a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus in a match back in December 2023. She declared her return to the WWE and entrance into the Rumble via a video whose cinematography and soundtrack would have been at home on a Netflix reality show about high-end real estate agents.

If there's a championship shot on the line and Charlotte Flair is in the match ... well, she has won the Rumble once, and three times she has been in the final two. You do the math. Why WWE decided to "spoil" Flair's return ahead of the Rumble is worth asking. She's the kind of surprise entrant who would have been a major story in the match. Perhaps there's another surprise return that would have overshadowed Flair's comeback from injury?

Who else is in the women's Rumble?

The wrestlers who have declared for the Rumble so far:

Bayley

Liv Morgan

Bianca Belair

Naomi

Nia Jax

Charlotte Flair

Lyra Valkyria

Ivy Nile

Raquel Rodriguez

Iyo Sky

Please recall Bayley won the Rumble last year and then took the WWE women's title from Sky.

Morgan and Rodriguez are members of the Judgment Day group and have been feuding with women's tag team champs Belair and Naomi. Morgan recently saw her 226-day women's world championship reign end at the hands of Ripley, although she continues to hold a slightly less prestigious title: on-screen love interest of "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio.

Who might be the surprise entrants in the women's Royal Rumble?

Have you ever walked out of a theater disappointed because the movie you had in your head was better than the one they actually made?

That's the problem with this year's women's Royal Rumble. There are so many stars who have been out for an extended period and could return, turning this match into an all-timer full of talent and surprises. But you don't want to be too disappointed if they don't.

We're talking about names such as Becky Lynch, who was rumored to be returning on the WWE's Netflix Raw debut, but did not appear on air. She has been taking time away from wrestling since May. What about Alexa Bliss, who's been missing for about a year? Or Asuka, who has been recovering from knee surgery for several months?

Jade Cargill was written off TV in November after a storyline injury; she's just the kind of powerhouse who is made for Rumble drama. Nikki Bella appeared on Raw recently, sparking comeback talks, too.

Jordynne Grace was a surprise entrant in the Rumble last year. The former TNA champ is reportedly signed with the WWE, so another Rumble run is in the cards. What about current TNA champ Masha Slamovich?

Perhaps most shocking would be AJ Lee, who hasn't competed in WWE in over a decade. She remains in the "we'll believe it when we see it" category, but the reaction would be massive if she ever returned. As her husband, CM Punk, reminded us: Never say never.

Wait, all of that was for just three matches, albeit two Royal Rumbles. Is there anything else on the card?

Yeah, a little match for the WWE tag team championships between two of the best duos of the past 15 years: #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). It's a best-two-out-of-three-falls match between teams that have traded the belts over the past few months. #DIY are the heels in the match. Who wins: underhanded tactics or high spots?

What's the overall vibe of the Royal Rumble this year?

Again, credit to the WWE: Several plausible outcomes in both Rumbles could produce compelling opponents for the current champions. This is why it'll probably end up being John Cena and Charlotte Flair as the final Rumblers standing, and we'll all feel dumb for not realizing that sometimes the obvious thing is obvious.