Five key takeaways from WWE Royal Rumble as Star of the Year shines, a lost art returns and major name begins to fade

After a huge build-up, WWE Royal Rumble 2025 is done and dusted, and it didn’t disappoint.

From start to finish, a sell-out crowd in Indianapolis were treated to a fine night of wrestling entertainment as a new stretch of feuds, rivalries and battles were pieced together.

WWE/Netflix

Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso were the night’s biggest winners as they won the women and men’s Rumble matches, while Cody Rhodes overcame Kevin Owens in a crunching ladder match to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship.

So much was crammed into the Rumble that, as ever, plenty can get lost in the shuffle so, to assist, here are five of talkSPORT’s key takeaways from WWE’s Royal Rumble 2025:

In case you didn’t know, WWE is huge

Watching WWE Royal Rumble 2025 on Netflix really hammered home just how big a position the company is in right now. It may sound glib, but it has been reinforced massively since the turn of the year and the $5bn deal that’s taken much of WWE on to Netflix.

The company rightly boasted that Saturday night’s Royal Rumble was the biggest in the event’s storied history – over 70,000 packed into Lucas Oil Stadium for the show itself, while undoubted millions will have tuned in via the streaming service. Add that to a string of sell-out shows, international tours and merchandise sales, the buzz – and revenues – are rising at phenomenal speed.

We’re now into WrestleMania season, officially, and you can only imagine WWE getting bigger and better rom here.

WWE still does tag teams

WWE has been on quite the roll under the stewardship of Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque over the last couple of years but, if one criticism might be levied his way, it might just be a lack of focus on the tag team divisions.

Whereas singles titles have been plotted carefully in storylines, tag gold has been more of a hot potato, changing hands numerous times across the last months with no entity really able to stake a claim with a long tenure.

The tag team title match at Royal Rumble was, admittedly, more of a filler treat between the women’s Rumble and the Owens-Rhodes ladder match, but it was extremely watchable as Motor City Machine Guns battled WWE stalwarts DIY.

Levesque ran a tight and talented tag team bunch while in control of NXT, so why the difference at ‘main roster’ level? There are teams at his disposal – not least the Street Profits who featured at the bout’s climax – so it’s time to use them.

Are we at New Day and Usos level right now? You’d say not, but there’s only one way to get back there.

WWE/Netflix

WWE/Netflix

WWE/Netflix

Does Cody Rhodes need some downtime?

This may seem an unthinkable notion given, a year ago, Cody Rhodes triumphed at Royal Rumble and before downing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania to the thrill of pretty much everyone. He’s been on top ever since, but is it time for change?

WWE does nothing for nothing, and wastes very little. Why, then, have so many of Rhodes’ rivals made a point heading into Saturday’s show that the weight of the Undisputed WWE title is looking like too much to carry for the American Nightmare?

Cody himself has even lacked some of his usual lustre and, throughout the match against Kevin Owens, commentators rammed home the narrative about it all getting a bit too much.

The son of a son of a plumber got the job done against KO in a hard-hitting affair, but could he benefit from a break? It’s hard to say Rhodes’ popularity is beginning to wane, but something feels like it could be shifting in his momentum, and the crowd reaction to his victory seemed flat.

Does he simply need a break before Mania, or is bigger change afoot? Time will tell.

Mid-card titles might just be a thing

Neither the Women’s Intercontinental title nor the United States Championship were defended at Royal Rumble – or the men’s for that matter – but the women’s Rumble match, for instance, did a superb job of shining a light on them and furthering the feuds around them.

Ivy Nile looks set to challenge Lyra Valkyria for the IC gold, not least after she dumped her out of the Rumble, and Chelsea Green, too, got a strong showing – her elimination at the hands of pal Piper Niven one of the standout moments.

Pure Fusion Collective briefly dominated the match, too, despite none of its number being an incumbent champion, and new signee Jordynne Grace got a thunderous reaction on her debut. Perhaps, at long last, mid-card titles, particularly in the women’s roster, is doing the job of telling stories beyond who is the women’s champion in WWE. The depth of talent goes beyond World Champ Rhea Ripley and WWE Champ Tiffany Stratton, and the Rumble did a great job of showing it.

Let’s not sleep on Liv Morgan in 2025

Charlotte Flair made her much anticipated return at Royal Rumble and, understandably given their standing, Rhea Ripley and Tiffany Stratton dominate the women’s rosters in WWE as the highest profile female champions, now ably supported by a strong undercard, as noted above.

Michael Cole made the point on commentary at Royal Rumble, though: the female superstar of the year in 2024 really was Liv Morgan. After Ripley was left on the shelf through injury, Morgan stepped up as Women’s World Champion for months and, alongside Dominik Mysterio and Judgement Day, was integral in one of the biggest WWE storylines of the year.

WWE/Netflix

WWE/Netflix

Having been in every Rumble match to-date, she began Saturday’s Rumble match alongside Iyo Sky and went almost the full duration, as if to underline the trust the company still has in her, despite opting to switch back to Ripley where the title is concerned. 2025 could be another big one for Liv. Here’s hoping.