WWE Fans Show Out For Royal Rumble And Help Set Tone For Game-Changing Partnership With Indianapolis

Zack Heydorn | Feb 2, 2025

WWE.com

The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble event featured surprise returns, big winners, and set the tone for the company as it rolls into WrestleMania season.

The event also set the tone for company's long-term partnership with Indianapolis, and they have their fan base to thank for that.

The WWE presence this weekend in Indianapolis was outrageous -- in a good way. There just isn't a word available to properly describe the reality in play in which it looked like the WWE brand tattooed itself all over the city.

What does the 2025 Men's #RoyalRumble have to say immediately after winning?! 👀 pic.twitter.com/9qzYgp6a8O

— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2025

"This truly was a takeover of the city," Paul "Triple H" Levesque said at the post-event press conference. "When you flew in, it's all you saw. When you landed it's all you saw. When you're walking through the airports, there was places to make signs if you were coming to the event. WWE was everywhere in this city. You could feel it with the people walking around. You could feel it everywhere we went."

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Triple H and WWE aren't known for underplaying things that they do, but that quote did. It wasn't just a takeover, but an onslaught. Levesque is right because yes, driving into the city your eyes were immediately glued onto a massive Royal Rumble banner that decorated what amounted to four lanes of traffic.

After that, smaller banners hung on light posts, local hotels were branded "WWE Royal Rumble" hotels, and digital billboard trucks roamed around in Smackdown blue to advertise the company's standard Friday night event.

Thank the WWE audience

What Paul Levesque forgot to mention were the people. The WWE fans. WWE gets free branding from each and every fan that stepped foot in Indianapolis. Championship belts, t-shirts, toys, jerseys, Steve Austin vests, hats, and other WWE Superstar branded accessories were everywhere and on everyone. The business term is "earned" advertising and WWE got a heavy dose for three straight days that only millions and millions of dollars could have purchased.

As for the city of Indianapolis, well, they were ready for the onslaught. Lines were lines, but restaurants had fair wait times, beer kegs and liquor was in abundance, hotel staff seemed more than willing to make everyone's weekend memorable, and generally speaking, the city seemed happy to have boatloads of new people gallivanting around and experiencing Indianapolis. "I love WWE people," a bartender said to me. "This is really fun. Everyone is so nice."

WWE brought the WrestleMania flavor and impact to a city with a top-four level event. The Royal Rumble is a favorite amongst fans, but until this year wasn't treated as a destination show. After the success of the show this weekend -- which Levesque said broke records and was one of the biggest company gates in history -- don't be surprised to see WWE work to turn more of its PLE's into other city onslaughts.

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The 2025 Royal Rumble was the first of three events that WWE will put on as part of a long-term deal with the city of Indianapolis. Paul Levesque gushed about that deal and clearly was excited about its future when he talked to the media.

"I wanted to thank everybody here from Indiana Sports Core," Levesque said. "Everybody from Lucas Oil Stadium. My friend Patrick Talty who was instrumental in us coming here. Want to thank Tyrese Haliburton for being instrumental in us coming here. And also Pat McAfee. Everybody here in Indianapolis could not be better partners. I know I say that a lot, but this was just a spectacular partnership here."

Just don't forget the fans that stormed the city with open wallets and primed-up credit cards. Just like a wrestling match, WWE dances with their fans. It's a complicated mix of experiences, nostalgia, and merchandise in exchange for hard-earned dollars. This weekend in Indianapolis, both sides danced well.

The NFL is a branding king and juggernaut, but WWE isn't far behind. The NFL is more popular, but based on this weekend, I'm not sure the fan base has the passion for their shield like WWE fans do for the squared circle.

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