If I were Triple H, this is how I would book next year’s Men’s Royal Rumble Match, with each entrant in order, descriptions of key events in the match and some context as to the state of the WWE both before and after the match.
Note that I tried to make the Rumble match the perfect blend of established superstars, mid-carders trying to get to the next level, and the next generation of main players.
For some context, Cody Rhodes and Gunther are still WWE and World Heavyweight Champion respectively. Punk, Drew, Seth, Jey, Bron, Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Balor, Melo, Dragunov, Sami, Priest, Gargano, Kaiser, Lee, Braun, Montez, Dirty Dom and KO declare for the rumble ahead of time, whilst the rest of the entrants are unannounced.
- Drew, Punk and Seth are still in their 3 way feud. Drew is still a heel whilst Punk and Seth are still faces, but Seth is starting to show signs of an incoming heel turn. Feuds between Gunther and Punk/Rollins are teased in the weeks leading up to the Rumble.
- Priest is still feuding with Balor and the new Judgement Day.
- Waller turns on Theory, leading to a long-awaited babyface turn for Theory, however neither are in the Rumble match this year.
- Randy has officially turned heel at this point, and his feud with Cody has come to a head.
- Roman is officially a full on babyface, and has realigned himself to fight alongside The Usos and Sami to take on The Bloodline 2.0 (The Rock, Solo, Jacob and the Tongans). They even get a bit of help from Cody in the 5v5 men’s Wargames match.
- KO gets furious about Sami working with the OG Bloodline, leading to a heel turn.
- Bron and Knight dominate the midcard on their respective brands, with Bron having notable feuds with Gable and Dirty Dom and Knight having fun feuds with Melo and Montez (who is now a heel).
- Trick reclaims the NXT title from Ethan Page, and drops the title to Oba in a champ vs. champ match at New Year’s Evil. Both Trick and Oba’s entries are huge surprises, as Trick goes on hiatus after dropping the title and gets called up to the main roster shortly after the Rumble.
- Drew McIntyre
- CM Punk
- Ricky Starks (WWE Debut)
- Montez Ford
- Sheamus
- Je’Von Evans (NXT)
- Ludwig Kaiser
- Finn Balor
- Logan Paul
- Damian Priest
- Joe Hendry (NXT)
- Dragon Lee
- Carmelo Hayes
- Kevin Owens
- LA Knight (United States Champion)
- Oba Femi (NXT)
- “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio
- Johnny Gargano
- Ilja Dragunov
- Sami Zayn
- Randy Orton
- Trick Williams (NXT)
- Braun Strowman
- John Cena
- Bron Breakker (Intercontinental Champion)
- Jacob Fatu
- “Main Event” Jey Uso
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins
- Roman Reigns
- The Rock
Drew and Punk start the match going at it for a while, while Starks, Montez, Sheamus, Je’von and Kaiser enter the fray as the match goes on.
Ludwig Kaiser eliminates Montez Ford
Balor and Logan enter and form a temporary alliance to try and take over the match.
Finn Balor eliminates Ricky Starks, Logan Paul eliminates Je’Von Evans
Priest shows up and brings the fight to Balor and tosses him out.
Damian Priest eliminates Finn Balor
Joe Hendry enters to a massive pop and throws out Kaiser.
Joe Hendry Eliminates Ludwig Kaiser
Lee enters and him and Punk nearly eliminate Logan, Melo enters shortly after and shows Hendry the door.
Carmelo Hayes eliminates Joe Hendry to a chorus of boos
KO and Knight show up, Knight and KO work together to eliminate Logan, and Knight almost immediately eliminates KO for a solid pop.
LA Knight & Kevin Owens eliminate Logan Paul, LA Knight eliminates Kevin Owens
Halfway into the match and Drew, Punk, Sheamus, Priest, Lee, Melo and Knight remain in the match. Femi enters at 16 and begins to dominate everyone, scoring some big eliminations.
Oba Femi eliminates Sheamus and Dragon Lee
Dirty Dom enters next and quickly eliminates Priest much to the crowd’s dismay, the rest of the bunch jumps him and almost eliminates him but to no avail.
Dirty Dom eliminates Damian Priest Priest to the most boos of the night
Gargano enters and Dirty Dom leaves the ring under the bottom rope after Gargano nearly eliminates him. Dragunov and Sami enter next and each begin to take over the match before they have a staredown. Orton enters next and instantly RKOs Melo and sends him out of the ring.
Randy Orton eliminates Carmelo Hayes
Trick enters next with the entire stadium chanting his trademark “Whoop That Trick”, he hits Trickshots on Drew, Punk, Knight and Orton. Braun enters and dominates everyone before having a lengthy staredown with Femi. Cena up next to a huge pop from the Crowd and hits Braun with 2 AAs, but fails to eliminate him. Bron enters next and looks unstoppable, scoring 4 eliminations in rapid succession.
Bron Breakker eliminates Sami Zayn, Trick Williams, LA Knight & Dirty Dom (revenge for last years elimination)
Jacob enters next and unleashes his fury on everyone in the ring, and single handedly lifts up Femi and tosses him out to a shocked response from the crowd.
Jacob Fatu eliminates Oba Femi
4 entrants left and Drew, Punk, Strowman, Dragunov, Orton, Gargano, Cena, Bron and Jacob remain. Jey enters next and throws a superkick party, he gets Gargano out by superkicking him over the top rope.
Jey Uso eliminates Johnny Gargano
Rollins is next and dominates, has a 3 way staredown with Drew and Punk. Roman enters after and scores 2 quick eliminations for a big pop.
Roman Reigns eliminates Braun Strowman & Ilja Dragunov
Last entrant about to come out, still in the ring are Drew, Punk, Orton, Cena, Bron, Jacob, Jey, Rollins and Roman. The Rock enters at 30 to the stunned surprise of the rest of the ring. The whole ring stares down The Rock before Jacob stands alongside him and the 2 of them decimate the rest of the competition.
Orton RKOs Jacob but he no sells it unbeknownst to Orton, this is when Solo appears and attacks everyone in sight, distracting Orton. Orton attempts an RKO on The Rock but it gets reversed and The Rock, Jacob and Solo eliminate Orton together.
The Rock, Jacob Fatu & Solo Sikoa eliminate Randy Orton
The rest of the ring finally fight back against The Rock, Jacob and Solo. Jey and Rollins hit Rock with superkicks before Punk hits a GTS and Drew hits a claymore. Jey and Rollins exit the ring to fight Solo. While Jacob tried to come to Rock’s defense Roman and Bron hit a double spear on Jacob before Cena AAs Jacob out of the ring. Almost instantaneously, Bron tosses Cena out.
John Cena eliminates Jacob Fatu, Bron Breakker eliminates John Cena.
Roman lines up Rock for a spear but accidentally hits Jey instead, Rock throws out Jey.
The Rock eliminates Jey Uso
Final 6 have a staredown. Drew, Punk, Bron, Seth, Roman and Rock. A traditional showing ensues with everyone bringing the fight to each other. Drew claymores Seth over the top rope but Seth hangs on and manages to get Drew over the rope.
Both men are fighting on the apron, and in the biggest “holy shit” moment of the night, Bron simultaneously eliminates Drew and Seth by spearing both men off the apron in vicious fashion.
Bron Breakker eliminates Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins
Bron climbs back into the ring and starts his signature barking, but The Rock catches him off guard and throws him over.
The Rock eliminates Bron Breakker
Punk and Roman temporarily team up to bring the fight to The Rock, and once they have him seemingly incapacitated they turn their attention to each other, shaking hands before they go at it. Punk has the slight edge and goes to the top turnbuckle for a second city elbow drop but Roman gets up and hits a superman punch on Punk.
Roman gets into the corner and gears up a spear, but The Rock stops him with a spinebuster and then hits a rock bottom on Punk. The Rock prepares the people’s elbow, with the dread starting to set in that The Rock’s master plan will be fully executed, and he will successfully win to challenge Cody at Wrestlemania, but as The Rock runs towards the ropes Roman comes out of nowhere to hit The Rock with a huge spear for an insane crowd pop. He gets The Rock back to his feet and tosses him over, but Roman swooping in gives Punk time to recover, and Punk immediately tosses Roman over the top rope to win the rumble!
Roman Reigns eliminates The Rock, CM Punk eliminates Roman Reigns
2025 Men’s Royal Rumble Winner: CM Punk
Punk goes on to challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 41. In this scenario I would have Seth Rollins turn heel and somehow get himself entered into the match, making it Gunther vs. CM Punk vs. Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship as the main event on Night 1 of Wrestlemania 41.
Credit to ryanleech74
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