The winners of the Royal Rumble match are always controversial and highly scrutinized. Go back in history and your memory will be jogged by the head-scratching wins from Alberto del Rio in 2011, a returning Batista in 2014, and of course, Roman Reigns getting The Rock booed out of the building in 2015.
The winner of the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble Match was “Main Event” Jey Uso. It’s a decision beloved by many, and questioned by just as many. Some people are calling it a horrible decision. They’re questioning Triple H’s ability as a booker. Meanwhile, we saw 70,000+ go bananas when the bell rang and Jey was declared a winner. Not since, Cody not “finishing the story” back in 2023 has the WWE audience been so split.
So, now we’re about 48 hours or so removed from the event. Let’s all take a deep, collective breath and talk about about why Jey Uso winning was in fact the right call. (Yes, the dyed in wool AEW fan is making a case for Jey winning).
1. Rewarding the Hot Hand: WWE has a .500 record (that might be a generous take) when it comes to rewarding the hot hand. For every CM Punk title win at Summerslam 2011 there’s Triple H beating Booker T at Wrestlemania 19. The Yes Movement was a begrudging decision (remember that Mania was originally designed for Dave Batista winning the title). Kofi Mania was a great moment that was destroyed by Brock less in under five minutes.
However, to anyone with a pair of eyes and has watched wrestling before, Jey Uso is undeniably over with WWE audiences. In many ways, Jey is WWE’s version of The Sandman from ECW. Now before you find some pearls to go clutch, let’s think about it. Jey Uso embodies the big, bright, “aura and vibe” era of WWE, much like The Sandman embodied the gritty, bloody, R-rated alcohol-fueled era of early ECW. The mass appeal of both men lie within their entrance. Their entrances take them through the crowd; creating a sense of inclusion for the fans in the entrance, as they’ve now become part of it. This creates an inexorable bond between the wrestler and the audience, and it results in a surreal, euphoric experience.
In the ring, while Jey is probably better than Sandman — he’s not getting confused with Bryan Danielson. Yet, his matches keep fans invested, no matter the quality of the match. He’s a huge merchandise and box office draw. Google “Jey Uso Merch sales” and you’ll be flooded with articles on how Jey outsold many of the biggest names in the WWE on more than one occasion. And let’s face it…
2. New Stars Need to Be Created: Jey Uso isn’t exactly new nor is he exactly young. He’s turning 40 in August and has been in the WWE system for 15 years. Despite his “Main Event” moniker, he’s never been in that top spot before as a solo act. For years WWE fans have begged the creative team to go with someone new and stop relying on the same old, same old. Well, you got what you asked for. Listen, sometimes moves like this work and sometimes we get what happened with Shinsuke Nakamura.
3. Finishing The Story:Â The jokes write themselves, people. In all seriousness though, there are two very logical stories that dictate why Jey was the right pick as the winner — he has history with both Cody Rhodes and Gunther.
Jey recently lost to ol’ Gunthy at Saturday Night’s Main Event. While this isn’t a long history, the story of Jey chasing the unbeatable champ and finally “living the boyhood dream” is right there for the picking.
Then there’s Cody. Remember the whole “Yeet” movement started during a media scrum when Cody and Jey were tag team champions. Remember that? Feels like a lifetime ago. These two have been the best of friends and the bitterest of enemies. Now, with Cody going on this whole Gollum-esque “the belt is turning me evil” phase, it makes perfect sense for a former friend (Jey) to fight him.
3a. He’s in Good Hands: It can not be emphasized enough how bad that Jimmy vs. Jey match at Mania last year was. While Jey will never be classified as a king of technical wrestling, he’s also not Nathan Jones either. Let’s stop acting like the dude can’t actually perform in the ring. He can wrestle and he can hold his own in the ring — especially when he has the right dance partner. With either Cody or Gunther, he has exactly that, so people should worry (too much) about the quality of the match.
3. Hot Take – His Match Will Not Be The Sole Main Event of the Night: You’re telling me there’s a chance that CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns or John Cena (in his final Mania ever) will not be in a headlining spot because Jey Uso won the Rumble? Sorry, can’t see this happening. Sneaking feeling that we’re going to get a co-main event with Jey’s match being paired with whatever match Roman has (which is looking like him taking on Seth Rollins and CM Punk in a Triple Threat).
Now Let’s Review the Rest of the Royal Rumble 2025:
Men’s Rumble: The 2025 Men’s Rumble was the most stacked Rumble since the Attitude Era. This won’t top the 2020 Rumble (which is excellent), but this feels better than last year which had some odd decisions (Pat McAfee, Carlito, etc.). There were the obligatory eye roll moments like Ludwig Kaiser being the “is that the fastest elimination ever” guy or Tozawa being replaced by IShowSpeed (although the spear he took was cool).
However, there seemed to be more intensity and more stakes in this one than in year’s past. Putting names like Roman Reigns and John Cena in a match that already includes CM Punk, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins will do that for you.
Jacob Fatu, if he wasn’t already, is now a made man. Dude is over with the crowd. He’s the realization of a talented, high-flying, intense big man that people had wished Bam Bam Bigelow to be when he broke into WWE in the ’80s. He’s a monster and the fans love him. And that’s why he had to go before the big names rolled in. Had he stayed in and continued to do what he does best, the crowd would have gotten behind him thanks to his ungodly skillset. The same can also be said about Bron Breakker who came off like a world beater.
John Cena is the MVP: You know who was integral in making Jey Uso’s win mean something? John Cena. Cena, despite his long absences from the ring, knows how to get someone over. His work at the end of the match on the apron with Jey, including his big “Woah Woah Woah Woah” one leg dangling off the apron spot was some God tier stuff.
Motor City Machine Guns vs. DIY: This one broke my heart. The audience absolutely did not care one iota about this match outside one or two spots towards the end. Nor did they seem to care that The Street Prophets returned and turned heel. It absolutely sucks as it’s a pretty damn good match.
This match feels like a “different time, different place” within WWE. If this were 2018, it would have been the main event of an NXT Takeover, had three months worth of build behind it, been given an hour time limit (with a five-minute sudden death period) and then named WWE Match of the Year. Â Sadly, it was given a sub-15 minute slot and should have probably been a one-fall match.here was literally zero reaction to the Guns scoring the second fall. Zero. Dead quiet.
Remember the statement from earlier in the column that Jey Uso embodies the vibe of WWE right now? This match had the exact opposite. This was a technical match between four men with no recognizable music, no catchphrase, no cool entrance, and no real dynamic finisher. This is a mainstream WWE audience who wants stars, sing-a-longs, audience participation and counting down from 10. They don’t care about tag team psychology moves or moves that got over in AIW in Cleveland, Ohio not long ago. It’s almost like this match took place in the wrong promotion.
The Ladder Match: We got blood, which was both a surprise and desperately needed. This was Cody Rhodes’ best WWE wrestling match (a low bar, let’s face it) and a reminder to all that Kevin Owens is the absolute king of violent matches. This told a terrific story of Cody descending further into madness, having to resort to vile and violent means to vanquish his supposed friend. The Sami Zayn inclusion really helped paint how far Cody had gone, but him not getting in Cody’s face was a bit of a missed opportunity (as was everyone including the cameraman missing the ref throwing the X up and Cody continuing the match … also why wasn’t it stopped?). If there’s one match from WWE you need to go watch or go back and watch, it’s this one.
Women’s Rumble: This was an interesting one. The beginning and middle of this Rumble was way better than the beginning of last year’s Rumble, but the ending definitely felt a bit predictable, and there were decisions made that you could tell the crowd did not enjoy, and not just from a heel heat perspective.
Alex Bliss, A Legit Surprise:Â It felt like this was not going to happen since reports came out that Bliss and the WWE were far apart in terms of contract talks. So when she came out in her Fiend/Firefly Funhouse inspired garb to a monstrous pop.
Jordynne Grace: We’ve known for the last year that she was going to sign with WWE. As soon as she entered last year’s Rumble, it was obvious. If it wasn’t obvious then, then the multiple NXT appearances, her contract expiration date being amended and about 25,000 other things screamed Grace was headed to the E. WWE touted her signed as a big deal as even Nick Khan talked about her coming in. That’s essentially like Bob Iger talking about casting news for a Marvel movie. It’s a big deal, and let’s face it Jordynne Grace is awesome and deserves the hype.
So why in the name of everything holy did she get such a whatever Royal Rumble run. Yes, incredible pop. Yes, she had some spots for the crowd to react to. She quickly eliminated Jaida Parker from NXT … and then she blended into the crowd. No. No. No. No. If she’s a big free agent signing, you give her the spotlight. You have her chuck people out. You make her an absolute force to be reckoned with. You don’t…
Make Nia Jax the New Kane:Â Sigh. Yes, reader she had a better run with the title than anyone could have expected (super low bar). Yes, she was put in this position to ensure everyone cheered Charlotte Flair when she won. But, hammers of hell, why did you have her eliminate 9 women including a bunch of them at the same time? These women included Nikki Bella, Iyo Sky, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, Trish Stratus, Raquel Rodriguez, Stephanie Vaquer, Zelina Vega, and Naomi. There’s keeping Nia strong, and then there’s being absurd.
The Women of NXT Looked Strong:Â Stephanie Vaquer, Roxanne Perez, Giuilia, Jaida Parker and Lash Legend all showed up and put the work in. Jaida and Lash got the least reaction of the NXT women, but they won the crowd over by knocking people on their asses and looking tough. Simple, effective. Vaquer and Giulia looked every bit the star they’ve been hyped up to be. Then there’s Roxanne Perez. She became a star, and for those who’ve been watching her on the independents or in ROH before she hit NXT, we knew there was a generational talent here. She was great in every aspect of her game. Rumors are she’s main roster bound. Put the rocket on her back, Paul.
