WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Card Predictions: Could Cody Rhodes Go For Three In A Row?

Which matches will be on the WWE Royal Rumble card this coming February in Indianapolis?

Could Cody Rhodes get an opportunity to go for three in a row? / wwe.com

The 2025 Royal Rumble is taking place a bit later into the new year than it traditionally has in the past. The annual January event will be held on Saturday February, 1 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Royal Rumble is technically WWE's next Premium Live Event, but the upcoming Saturday Night's Main Event NBC Special and the Monday Night Raw Premiere on Netflix will provide the WWE creative team with more than enough marquee shows in which to wrap up their current longest running storylines.

Not to mention the newly reported Saturday Night's Main Event that's apparently happening a week before the Royal Rumble.

Any attempt to stretch the ongoing Judgment Day vs. Terror Twins saga into February would almost certainly lead to even more fan exhaustion for this rivalry than there currently is.

Liv Morgan has had a career year in 2024, but if her reign as Women's World Champion is going to stretch into WrestleMania season, a new challenger needs to emerge. Her upcoming title defenses against IYO SKY at SNME, and most likely against Rhea Ripley one more time after what happened at Survivor Series, should be wrapped up by the January 6 Raw debut on Netflix. As should Finn Balor's beef with Damian Priest.

EXCLUSIVE: After a frustrating loss at #SurvivorSeries, Damian Priest unleashes on his former teammates in The Judgment Day... 👀 pic.twitter.com/zEe7stkMx2

— WWE (@WWE) December 1, 2024

Tying up some of these creative loose ends will provide WWE a blank canvass to create new paths toward WrestleMania with many of their biggest stars.

It will be interesting to see who emerges as Liv's next opponent should she survive this upcoming onslaught and remain Women's World Champion. A returning Becky Lynch would make a ton of sense given the way Morgan won the title in the first place, but until The Man officially comes back around, it's hard to predict her future involvement.

If the events of the New Day's 10-Year Celebration has taught us anything, it's that nothing is out of the realm of possibility in WWE.

When it comes to the Royal Rumble specifically, the only certainty is that their will be a Men's and a Women's Royal Rumble Match. Given the length of each, there's very likely only going to be two or three additional matches on the card.

Assuming the aforementioned storylines have been wrapped up, here are some possibilities for what we could see come February.

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship

How many more chances will Kevin Owens have to topple Cody Rhodes? / WWE.com

Cody Rhodes has won back-to-back Men's Royal Rumble Matches, but as the reigning WWE Champion he is currently unlikely to get the opportunity to go after a historic three-peat. Unless Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque makes the stunning decision to take the title off of The American Nightmare ahead of WrestleMania season.

Kevin Owens is long overdue for another crack at being World Champion and him toppling WWE's 'golden boy' would certainly shock the landscape of the company. It would also open up many interesting avenues ahead of WrestleMania 41, including potential Owens title defenses against Randy Orton and Sami Zayn - whose sudden willingness to realign himself with Roman Reigns has yet to be addressed by his long-time friend and sometimes enemy.

Cody Rhodes dropping the title anytime soon, however, seems extraordinarily unlikely. As does the WWE Champion sitting out the Royal Rumble entirely. So whom does he face?

The Rock is going to factor heavily into that decision. If the Great One decides to lace up his boots in Las Vegas this year, then anything is on the table for Cody at the Royal Rumble. Including the highly anticipated Rhodes vs. Reigns III.

Best guess, and I cannot stress enough that this is a total guess, is that the working plan for WrestleMania 41 is for Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns to dance one final time on the big stage. At least until The Rock makes his decision once and for all.

The OTC is my current favorite to win the Royal Rumble match with John Cena having already been announced for Elimination Chamber. That opens up the WWE Champion to finish up his current story with Kevin Owens and Randy Orton in Indianapolis.

Nia Jax vs. Bianca Belair for the WWE Women's Championship

Could Bianca Belair become a 4-time Women's Champion at the Royal Rumble / WWE.com

Bianca Belair could certainly stake a claim that she's earned a WWE Women's Championship Match after she beat Nia Jax on Raw to earn the advantage for her team at Survivor Series: WarGames. The caveat being that she required an assist from Bayley to secure that victory.

Pinning the current champion has always carried a certain weight in WWE, regardless of the way it transpired. The losses, meantime, have started to accumulate for Jax. Her only televised win over the past month plus came in the form of a successful WWE Women's Title defense over Naomi. A win she secured with the help of Tiffany Stratton and Candice LaRae.

The circumstances surrounding that match could put Naomi in line for another opportunity, but that could depend on how far she makes in into the Women's United States Championship Tournament.

If Naomi and Bayley are firmly behind Nia Jax for the time being, she'll need a marquee opponent to step forward. Enter Belair who could be searching for a new direction if Jade Cargill is truly injured as recent reports have suggested. WWE could really lean into the backstage attack angle that was used to write Jade out of Survivor Series, ultimately revealing Nia to be the culprit.

Charlotte Flair could also be a strong possibility for this spot against Nia Jax. The multi-time Women's Champion has missed a year of action after tearing her ACL, MCL and meniscus in a match against Asuka during the 2023 Tribute to the Troops special, but she is expected to be back in action sometime in early 2025. The Queen vs. the Queen of the Ring angle writes itself.

No matter who faces Jax for the title, watch out for the long teased Tiffany Stratton MITB cash-in attempt.

Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk

Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk is a WrestleMania worthy match-up / WWE.com

If it wasn't for CM Punk tearing his triceps in the 2024 Men's Royal Rumble Match, these two men very well could have headlined Night One of WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia.

The injury to Punk forced a massive pivot into what turned out to be a spectacular rivalry with Drew McIntyre that culminated inside of Hell in a Cell at October's Bad Blood Premium Live Event.

Rollins had to miss a significant chunk of the year due to his own injury issues, but now that both men are healthy, it appears the green light has finally been given for these men to throw hands.

The promo exchange between Rollins and Punk on the 12/2 episode of Raw should serve as the catalyst for a lengthy program between the two and their first major match should come at the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis.

Punk has already alluded to Paul Heyman's Survivor Series favor being used to help secure him a World Title shot down the line, so he has no reason to give the Rumble match itself another go. Rollins, meantime, is so eager to get his hands on Punk that he'd likely bypass the opportunity for another World Title match just to wring his neck.

It will be interesting to see if this feud runs much beyond the Royal Rumble as both men have a slew of options available to them come WrestleMania 41.

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