It wasn’t the fairytale win for John Cena or the guaranteed main event for CM Punk – it was Jey Uso who won the 2025 Royal Rumble.
Uso last eliminated John Cena to book his ticket to Las Vegas in April and challenge for one of the two world titles in WWE.
A decorated tag team wrestler, Uso has never tasted world title gold. However, now he has the chance to challenge either Cody Rhodes – of whom he has been a tag team champion with – or Gunther at WrestleMania.
Uso entered number 20 and largely went under the radar while other megastars entered the matchup.
John Cena, CM Punk and Seth Rollins all made their entrances after Uso, but the 39-year-old outlasted them all. Here’s how the match went down:
WWE made the smart call to kick off with Mexican legends in the Rumble; Rey Mysterio quite possibly the greatest luchador ever against Penta, the company’s hottest new hire.
Early on in their exchange, Penta nearly got it all wrong and accidentally eliminated himself, but replays showed it was only one of his feet that touched the floor.
The match really kicked into gear once Breaker got into the match at number seven. Carmelo Hayes immediately ate a spear and got eliminated. Santos Escobar suffered the exact same fate.
iShowSpeed was thrust into action at number eight after Triple H was forced to replace the injured Akira Tozawa. While he did help get rid of Otis, Bron Breakker very quickly decimated the streamer.
The Intercontinental champion chucked Speed to the outside where Otis caught him given the crowd a momentary hope he might not be eliminated.
But, that was short lived as Otis would throw Speed onto the announce table and out of the match.
Jacob Fatu entered the match at number 12 and immediately secured four eliminations, including the legendary Rey Mysterio. A brief face off with Bron Breakker exciting the crowd to say the least.
TNA Champion Joe Hendry made the next shock arrival much to the delight of the crowd. He lasted a few minutes before a spear from the very next entrant, Roman Reigns, saw him exit.
Breakker hit Reigns with a spear, but was duped by the former world champion and chucked out of the ring at the last second, setting up a showdown with Reigns and the dominant Fatu.
AJ Styles made his return from injury before Braun Strowman entered the fray and eliminated his latest rival, Jacob Fatu.
If that didn’t pick up the pace enough, John Cena’s entry at number 23 nearly took the roof off the 70,000 seater.
Want to take it up another gear? CM Punk entered at number 24 and stood across from Reigns and Cena, all three men desperate for a WrestleMania main event.
The stars just kept coming. Seth Rollins was next into the action giving us one of the most star-studded home stretches in Royal Rumble history.
Names like LA Knight and Sami Zayn followed in the final entrants, but Logan Paul was given the honour of entering at the final number 30, something the fans in attendance were not overly enamoured with.
Paul managed to eliminate AJ Styles leaving himself, Punk, Jey Uso, Cena, Reigns and Rollins as the final six.
After Reigns and Rollins cleaned house – former Shield stablemates who were formed and disbanded and then got back together in the very state the show took place in, Indiana – the pair squared off and battled.
However, when they were battling on the apron and trying to eliminate each other, CM Punk chucked them both out. And while Punk was revelling in his work, Logan Paul chucked him out!
Carnage ensued on the outside as Rollins lost his mid and attacked both Reigns and Punk, landing two curb stomps on the latter.
Back in the ring, Cena closelined Paul to the outside leaving just Jey Uso and himself vying for the WrestleMania main event slot.
1. Rey Mysterio
2. Penta
3. Chad Gable
4. Carmelo Hayes
5. Santos Escobar
6. Otis
7. Bron Breaker
8. Akira Tozawa, ended up being replaced by iShowSpeed
9. Sheamus
10. Jimmy Uso
11. Andrade
12. Jacob Fatu
13. Ludwig Kaiser
14. The Miz
15. Joe Hendry
16. Roman Reigns
17. Drew McIntyre
18. Finn Balor
19. Shinsuke Nakamura
20. Jey Uso
21. AJ Styles
22. Braun Strowman
23. John Cena
24. CM Punk
25. Seth Rollins
26. Dominik Mysterio
27. Sami Zayn
28. Damien Priest
29. LA Knight
30. Logan Paul
