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Five takeaways from the 2025 Royal Rumble

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On Saturday, February 1st, the WWE held the 38th annual Royal Rumble with two new Rumble winners, Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso, punching their tickets to the main event of WRESTLEMANIA.

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens had a gruesome ladder match and the “American Nightmare” walked out still as the WWE Champion.

A few surprises and stories are set in motion as the WWE prepares for its busiest time of the year. Here are some of the main takeaways from the Royal Rumble.

Weird Rumble eliminations

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There were a few bizarre Rumble eliminations among some of the talents in both Rumble matches, with some of the top talent getting eliminated in a rush or in a way that didn’t have much of an effect or greater story purpose.

At one point in the Women’s Royal Rumble, Bianca Belair, Naomi, Iyo Sky, Stephanie Vaquer, and Raquel Rodriguez were dangling from the ropes, attempting to hang on, and Nia Jax threw them all out.

It didn’t look well thought out and didn’t come off as well; it just looked like a mess, with some of the top stars such as Belair and Sky (two former Women’s Champions) being dumped out and it did not feel right.

Meanwhile in the Men’s Royal Rumble, McIntyre’s elimination in such a rush didn’t seem spot on either, considering that for the past few weeks on WWE TV, he has been making this case of going after The Bloodline, hunting them, only to be eliminated by Priest.

Genric Entrance music is a problem

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Some of the entrances during both Rumble matches just resulted in silence, and that’s mainly the fault of WWE and Def Revel for having far too many songs that just sound the same. You need music that tells the superstars apart.

Otherwise, you have moments where someone such as Finn Balor, who’s been part of the main roster since 2016, comes out without reaction.

Even on commentary, they couldn’t tell whose music was that until they saw the superstar walk out. This has been an issue for the past few years and they need to fix it, maybe by getting rid of Def Rebel altogether.

Tag-focused storylines are great to have, but they do not have enough excitement.

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It’s great to see storylines primarily in the tag team division, and it was even nicer to see the tag titles appear on a WWE PLE. However, it just feels stale. There isn’t enough of a story to warrant the fans’ attention. That was clear on Saturday Night during the two out of three falls match between DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns.

The fans didn’t know how to react and were quiet throughout it. If WWE are looking to do a triple threat or fatal four-way tag team title match on the way to WRESTLEMANIA, then they have to do a better job of making each tag team feel important and give a reason for what the tag belts matter.

Charlotte Flair overshadowed the Women’s Division.

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On Saturday night, Charlotte Flair made her entry at No.27 and went on to win the Rumble Match after being out with injury for over a year. The likely match will be with the WWE Women’s Champion, Tiffany Stratton, in what will undoubtedly be a great match showcasing their athleticism.

The problem with her winning the Rumble match was that it didn’t make it a good look for others in the Women’s division, in which some have not had as much of an opportunity as Flair had. The idea of the Rumble match is to give someone close to that main event picture a win, giving them a huge momentum boost on the road to WrestleMania.

John Cena losing was the right move

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It would have been too easy if John Cena had just come back and won the Royal Rumble immediately to go on the chase for a 17th title. Cena must face adversity to get a considerable title match at his final WRESTLEMANIA.

It means he’ll likely win the Elimination Chamber, which Cena has already declared for. If Cena had won, it would be similar to Charlotte winning the women’s Rumble. It would not look right and would overshadow most of the roster.

But in Cena’s case, he hasn’t been around in a while and wasn’t on WWE TV for the build to the Royal Rumble. With the Elimination Chamber PLE advertised as Cena’s last time in Toronto, there’s an intense scenario that he may go through five other opponents to get that WrestleMania Title match.

With it being the last in-ring year of Cena’s career, it should be fitting that there is drama to happen along the way because the wrestling community, whether online or in-person, would love to see him win the 17th. Still, it wouldn’t be much of a story if there weren’t some hiccups that Cena has to go through along the way.