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WWE will present the 2025 Royal Rumble this Saturday on Peacock and Netflix from Indianapolis, Indiana with a 6:00 PM Eastern start time for the PPV. Here is our take on what will happen on Saturday.
Women's Royal Rumble Match
Mike: Charlotte isn't returning in The Rumble match not to win. If anyone but Flair is the victor, I'll be legitimately stunned. I can make a strong case for Liv Morgan as well, but I tend to look at Flair as the victor. Maybe they even have her go 60 minutes!
Richard: In order to prepare for this show, I looked at the current WWE roster and I came up with 12 people who I think have a justifiable argument to win this match and move on to a Main Event match at Wrestlemania. There are some other women in the match who I think will have solid performances but will not win. I am looking at someone like Jordynne Grace, if she is in the match, to have a strong performance as she says hello to WWE as a member of the roster. It would be nice to have someone like Alba Fyre win the match, but she is no longer Kay Lee Ray and has not been given the chance to showcase what she can do. Will Becky Lynch return for the match, because if she does, she is a favorite. I don't know if we will see anyone from TNA or NXT in the match but that could throw things into disarray. I am afraid that they will use the return of Charlotte Flair to give her the win and a shot at the title at Mania. If she wins, you can justify her facing either of the champions in Las Vegas.
Dave: I will go last because Rich is right on the money, there are a LOT of women that can win this match. The best part is, those who could have but didn't win will set up their WrestleMania programs. Unlike when Vince was booking and there were only a few people with a legitimate shot at winning, this match will be what it's supposed to be and I have no idea who will win. Who would I like to see win? Liv Morgan as payback for the great year that she had.
Men's Royal Rumble Match
Dave: I can repeat what I said above as this match is also wide open. Who would I like to see win? After that exchange on Monday I want to see CM Punk win and take on Cody. The build to that will be gold.
Mike: My heart says CM Punk but my head says Logan Paul. WWE did that Punk interview talking about his heartbreak with previous Rumbles, so what if a Drew McIntyre or Sami Zayn causes him yet another? That would put Punk in the position of using that favor Paul Heyman owes him, right? What if Roman tosses Punk? I can absolutely see Logan Paul pulling a Jimmy Hart and hiding, then tossing out the final competitors to steal the match. Lots of ways this can go, and WWE should be very proud of how well primed they set everything up for this match. It's the most interesting Rumble for the Men in years.
Richard: I did the same exercise looking at the men's roster and I came up with 21 people who I felt could win this match. If you included injured wrestlers, the number would be even higher. I think the person who is challenged will determine the winner of the Rumble. If the champion is going to go after Cody Rhodes, I can see CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre among the top choices. If Gunther is going to be challenged, I can see Jey Uso, Seth Rollins, or Logan Paul as the options. If Kevin Owens is the target, what about Sami Zayn? I think Bron Breakker will be the MVP of this match. I can see it coming down to Punk and Roman and Punk throws Roman over the top rope to advance to his dream of a Wrestlemania Main Event.
Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens in a Ladder Match
Dave: I don't see Cody losing. I expect Randy Orton returns here and sets up a Mania program with KO.
Mike: Unless there is an absolutely unfortunate series of calamities that befall these gentlemen, this should be really fun. I have to think this is where Randy Orton shows up and dishes out a RKO on Owens, since one would expect him back in the mix for Wrestlemania season. I would always be for Owens as champion but keeping the belt with Cody right now sets up a lot of potential chess pieces for Mania. I say Cody retains.
Richard: Will Kevin Owens be able to prove to the world that he is the true WWE Champion on Saturday night or will Cody continue to show how bad of a friend he can be by dashing Kevin's dream? I really liked how Punk pointed out that Cody is where he was when he was champion and that the grind has gotten to him. On the other hand, Kevin has done so many small things to make this match so interesting, whether it is the 'Cody Sucks Eggs' shirt or his apparent delusion about the title. This will be a good brawl and I hope the ladder does not upstage either wrestler in this match. While I am not the biggest fan of interference, I think the discussion on this week's No Name Show went through what I think the finish will be. Since we have not heard from Randy Orton since the injury (and I am writing this on Thursday night so Smackdown has not aired yet), but it makes sense for him to cost Kevin the title since Kevin injured him. I can see Kevin about to win the match, but Randy's music plays and he makes his way to the ring. While Kevin follows the rules of stopping while a wrestler comes to the ring to their music, that allows Cody to climb the other side of the ladder and push Kevin off into an RKO. Cody then claims the title belts to win the title.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: DIY vs MCMG in a Two out of Three Falls Match
Dave: This should be really, really good as these four are studs. It has to go to the third fall, where it becomes a coin flip. I say DIY does whatever it takes to retain the Titles.
Mike: This is a great match on paper and a nice throwback to some of the tag team bouts that populated the Rumble undercard over the years. This should be a hell of a match and I don't think I'm misstating that for a lot of fans, it's a dream match. In my mind, DIY should retain but we should go the three falls with the Guns shocking them with a quick victory early on so that DIY are pushed against the wall almost from the start.
Richard: This is not a match I would have thought would be on the Royal Rumble, but I think it is a great option in hindsight. Would any of these four men be a logical choice to win the Rumble match? The Smackdown tag team division has been showcased over the last few weeks and instead of doing the usual 'build a secondary feud into a Smackdown title match before the PPV' situation, they put the match on the PPV. These two teams have great chemistry and by making this a two out of three falls match, it means they will get a lot of time to showcase their talents. I would prefer that this be a two fall sweep instead of the expected two to one match with the team losing the first fall probably coming back to win the match. DIY will want to win this one since they lost the tag titles in Cleveland before SummerSlam. I would love to see the Machine Guns win and then face Axiom and Nathan Frazer.
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