Royal Rumble 2025: Jey Uso Wins the Night John Cena Was Supposed to Own

The women's Royal Rumble is simultaneously full of things worth remembering and too long between them. IYO SKY and Liv Morgan begin with enough credibility to make the opening feel important, Roxanne Perez arrives third and quietly becomes the match's endurance story, and the lineup keeps adding interesting names from NXT and the wider wrestling world. The problem is accumulation. For long stretches, the ring becomes crowded enough that wrestlers are waiting for the next entrance rather than creating eliminations.

The returns provide the loudest peaks. Alexa Bliss receives a reaction that nearly overwhelms her music after two years away, Trish Stratus is treated like a genuine legend rather than a nostalgia prop, and Nikki Bella adds another recognizable name at number thirty. Jordynne Grace's appearance carries different significance because she is now a WWE wrestler rather than a visitor from TNA. Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia, Lash Legend and Jaida Parker make the NXT representation feel substantial instead of decorative.

Nia Jax finally changes the rhythm by eliminating competitors at an absurd rate, finishing with nine eliminations and establishing the single-match women's record. That clearing of the ring creates the final sequence with Charlotte, Nia, Nikki and Roxanne. Charlotte eliminating Nia and then finishing Roxanne is clean, understandable and historically significant because it makes Charlotte the first two-time women's Royal Rumble winner.

B / 7.8 reflects a good Rumble with several excellent moments rather than an excellent Rumble from beginning to end. Roxanne's 1:07:47 performance is outstanding, the returns work and the match creates multiple records in one night. The predictable winner and long periods of congestion keep it from reaching the level of the men's match later in the show.

Putting a two-out-of-three-falls tag title match directly after a seventy-minute Royal Rumble is almost cruel. Motor City Machine Guns and #DIY respond by wrestling intelligently rather than trying to make a tired stadium react to everything at maximum volume. The first fall establishes #DIY's willingness to manipulate the referee, including a fake tag that allows Tommaso Ciampa to catch Alex Shelley with the running knee. The second fall gives the Guns the clean response through Skull and Bones.

The deciding fall is comfortably the best stretch. Both teams accelerate the tandem offense, the Guns create believable nearfalls, and Gargano accidentally striking Ciampa briefly makes the championship change plausible. The Street Profits then appear in hoodies, Angelo Dawkins uses a crutch while the referee is distracted, and #DIY finish the match with Meet in the Middle. The interference fits the broader tag division story but also ensures the stipulation does not produce the decisive answer it seems designed to promise.

B- / 7.3 gives credit to four experienced tag wrestlers producing a good match in a difficult position. The fake-tag details and closing combinations are strong, while the title result keeps #DIY's heel identity intact. The match simply feels smaller than everything surrounding it, and the outside interference turns a potentially definitive series into another chapter.

The post-match Street Profits attack does restore some energy and points the division forward. That is useful television storytelling, though it reinforces why the match itself never feels like a major Royal Rumble attraction. On a weekly show this would stand out. In Lucas Oil Stadium, it becomes the bridge between two much larger things.

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens understand that the ladders are not the story. Owens believes Cody betrayed him by aligning with Roman Reigns, Cody believes Owens crossed every acceptable line after losing their previous championship match, and the two belts hanging above the ring are simply the objects that force them to fight until one man can no longer stop the other. That distinction keeps twenty-five minutes of dangerous stunt work from feeling like an exhibition.

The punishment escalates with remarkable commitment. Cody is slammed onto metal, Owens weaponizes broken ladder pieces, Cody takes a Fisherman's Buster onto a ladder bridge inside the ring, and both men repeatedly choose damaging the opponent over making the easiest climb. The match occasionally reaches the point where concern replaces excitement, but the brutality is at least emotionally consistent. These are not wrestlers discovering that ladders hurt; they are two people using the stipulation as permission.

Sami Zayn's arrival adds useful tension without becoming the finish. He has history with Owens, friendship with Cody and every reason to be uncomfortable watching both men destroy each other. Owens eventually attempts a Package Piledriver on the commentary table, only for Cody to counter with an Alabama Slam through a ladder bridge from the table to the ring. It is the visual endpoint the match has been escalating toward all night.

Cody then climbs alone and takes both championships. A / 9.4 makes this WrestleFile's Match of the Night by a narrow margin because the feud, violence and result all point in the same direction. Owens loses without looking lesser, Cody survives a championship defense that feels different from his ordinary matches, and the rivalry receives a finish violent enough to justify the months of anger that preceded it.

The men's Royal Rumble succeeds because nearly every major star enters carrying a different WrestleMania story. Rey Mysterio and Penta provide an athletic opening, Bron Breakker gets to look terrifying, Jacob Fatu spends long stretches behaving like gravity is a rumor, and Joe Hendry appears as TNA World Champion in a WWE stadium. The match keeps introducing possibilities rather than simply filling thirty numbered slots.

The second half becomes absurdly star-heavy. Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles, John Cena, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso and Logan Paul all remain relevant deep into the match, and WWE uses their intersections to create future programs. The best piece of booking comes when Punk eliminates Reigns and Rollins, only for Paul to eliminate Punk immediately afterward. The match technically continues while Rollins, Reigns and Punk turn ringside into the beginning of their WrestleMania rivalry.

That chaos still leaves a clean final act. Cena eliminates Paul and stands across from Jey, creating a result almost everyone can imagine before it happens. Cena is in his farewell year, this is his final Royal Rumble, and one last victory would provide the simplest path to a seventeenth world championship. Instead, Jey survives the Attitude Adjustment attempt on the apron, gets both feet back inside and knocks Cena to the floor.

A / 9.2 reflects one of the best-constructed modern Royal Rumbles. It is long at more than eighty minutes, yet the length is used to create interactions rather than dead space, especially in the second half. Jey's victory is surprising without being random because the crowd has already spent months treating him like a top star. WWE finally allows the booking to agree with the audience.

Cena's reaction completes the moment. He returns to the ring, hugs Jey and leaves the winner to celebrate rather than turning the result into a story about his own disappointment. The Royal Rumble is supposed to change someone's career. In Indianapolis, it does exactly that.