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John LaRocca and I are back to talk about the major topics in the world of wrestling on this week’s Fight Game Podcast.
We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before going through our Top Five topics which included:
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Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including tonight’s TNA Impact, last night’s AEW Dynamite, the Royal Rumble looking to do big business, Dark Side Of The Ring, and much more. It’s a fun show as always, so check it out~!
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Jordynne Grace won’t be in Indianapolis for the WWE Royal Rumble this Saturday — allegedly.
In response to rumors that she’ll be a surprise entrant in the women’s Rumble match, Grace posted a tweet today claiming that she will be in Austin, Texas from Friday through Sunday hosting her mother’s 50th birthday party. Grace tweeted a picture of flight information showing that.
While the tweet is an indirect denial, Grace does not outright say that she won’t be in the women’s Rumble. If she does end up appearing, it will be her second straight year competing in the match. She was involved in the 2024 edition due to the partnership that exists between WWE and TNA Wrestling.
Grace finished up with TNA at Genesis earlier this month and has reportedly signed a multi-year WWE contract. She was a three-time Knockouts Champion during her TNA run.
In addition to her Rumble cameo in 2024, Grace made several appearances for NXT last year.
Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is the venue for Saturday’s event. The main show has a start time of 6 p.m. Eastern airing live on Peacock.
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Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including injury updates on JD McDonagh, Apollo Crews and Dakota Kai, RAW with the build to the Royal Rumble, Jordynne Grace and WWE, ratings, Dark Side of the Cage, Moana 2, mailbag, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Injuries and production errors in WWE, Jordynne Grace signs with WWE, a lot of talking on Raw
15:30: Ratings, Dolphins Arena in Nagoya shutting down, Dark Side of the Cage
24:36: WWE Raw recap
47:58: This week’s lineups, Q&A
Below is a list of confirmed entrants for Saturday’s men’s and women’s WWE Royal Rumble matches.
Lists of this kind vary based on what one source may interpret as a declaration, but another may not.
I have chosen to go by the lists officially posted on WWE.com, as well as new declarations from the body of Monday’s WWE Raw.
New declarations from Monday’s Raw for the women’s Royal Rumble are IYO SKY, Ivy Nile, and Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria.
On the men’s side, Logan Paul, Chad Gable, Penta, and Bron Breakker newly declared for the match.
Using WWE.com and tonight’s Raw as a guide, the women’s Royal Rumble entrant list:
The men’s Royal Rumble entrant list:
The card for WWE Royal Rumble streaming live on Saturday, February 1 beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time:
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Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we covered:
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Two new entrants have declared for the men’s WWE Royal Rumble match, plus CM Punk has been confirmed for the bout.
Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk officially declared for the 2025 Royal Rumble in a promo segment on Monday’s WWE Raw. Punk initially declared for the match in a post-show promo last week, but Monday’s segment confirmed his participation.
Rollins and McIntyre are both new declarations for the Saturday, February 1 event set for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Five entrants have officially announced for the men’s Royal Rumble match, with no participants confirmed for the women’s Royal Rumble to this point. Nia Jax insinuated in a promo on Monday that she would enter the women’s Rumble, but WWE has not officially announced that.
The updated lineup for the Royal Rumble, including an updated list of entrants:
WWE Royal Rumble, Saturday, February 1 —
In the middle of two big Tokyo Dome shows, that means a special edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
Journalist and Pacific Rim podcast co-host Fumi Saito joins me from Tokyo to give his first person perspective of last night’s Wrestle Kingdom 19. We talk all the results and give our thoughts on the matches.
Stateside, it’s a new year with a new hour added to WWE SmackDown with the first three-hour show of 2025 featuring a WWE Women’s title change
Plus, the 2026 Royal Rumble is going international and I explain why the location shouldn’t surprise you.
All that and more awaits you below.
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The location for the 2026 Royal Rumble may already be set.
PWInsider reported on Friday that next year’s event will take place in Saudi Arabia. If confirmed, this will be the first Royal Rumble to be held outside of the United States since it became a pay-per-view, and later a premium live event. The first Royal Rumble in Ontario, Canada was broadcast on the USA Network in 1988.
According to PWInsider, WWE’s official announcement could come as soon as this Monday, when Raw premieres on Netflix.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani last May, Saudi Arabia’s chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Alsheikh said the country was speaking with WWE about hosting either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble in 2026 or 2027.
WWE has brought premium live events to Saudi Arabia each year since their ten-year agreement was signed in 2018. In recent years, the company has held King and Queen of the Ring events as well as Crown Jewel. Two television tapings took place in the country in 2024.
The 2025 edition of the Royal Rumble will be held on February 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Royal Rumble 2025 will continue the trend of WWE PLEs having early start times.
In a press release issued on Friday, WWE confirmed that the Royal Rumble 2025 main card will stream live on Peacock starting at 6 p.m. Eastern. It’s the third straight U.S. PLE that has featured an earlier-than-usual start time. The regular time had been 7 p.m. Eastern before being changed for Bad Blood and Survivor Series.
Royal Rumble 2025 is taking place from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, February 1 and will mark the official start of the road to WrestleMania 41. WWE announced today that the Royal Rumble go-home episode of SmackDown will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday, January 31.
In addition to hosting Royal Rumble 2025, Lucas Oil Stadium is also getting a WrestleMania and SummerSlam in the future as part of a deal between WWE and Indiana Sports Corp. When those events will be happening has not been decided yet.
A week after news broke that Saudi Arabia was hopeful to host a big-name WWE PLE in the future, the main man behind that push has provided targeted dates for either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour Wednesday, General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alsheikh said they are speaking with WWE about hosting either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble in either 2026 or 2027 — both of which would be unprecedented considering the history of both shows.
Last week, Alsheikh told ESPN that an “enhancement” to their deal will be announced this month, expected to be next week when WWE returns to Saudi Arabia for King & Queen of the Ring. WWE has yet to comment publicly on any talks.
As part of a contract that was signed in 2018, WWE brings two yearly PLEs to Saudi Arabia: one of which is Crown Jewel that is specific to that country. WWE is believed to take in $50 million per event as part of that deal.
TKO, the parent company of WWE and UFC, has embedded themselves even further with Saudi Arabia and recently announced a new deal that will see them host another UFC event in addition to sponsorship of UFC’s debut show (UFC 306) at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
In its 40-year history, WrestleMania has been held twice on foreign soil, both times in Toronto, Canada. The very first Rumble event was held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1988 but has taken place stateside ever since.
According to the chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority, an “enhancement” to the existing deal between WWE and the Saudis will be announced this month: one that could see a major WWE PLE head overseas.
It’s assumed the new deal will be announced during King & Queen of the Ring which comes to Jeddah on May 25th.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger posted on X that Turki Alsheikh is “is looking to bring January’s annual Royal Rumble or WWE’s top event, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia.”
.@Turki_alalshikh tells ESPN an enhancement to Saudi Arabia's existing agreement with WWE will be announced later this month. Specifically, Alalshikh is looking to bring January's annual Royal Rumble or WWE's top event, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia.
Since 2018, WWE has held at… https://t.co/cU5A7lTUst
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 8, 2024
The news comes on the heels of the UFC and the Saudis announcing an extension of their existing deal, one that will see both UFC and Power Slap return to the country during their annual Riyadh Season festival (October through March) in addition to sponsorship of the UFC’s debut at The Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306 this September.
The UFC will debut in Saudi Arabia this June.
WWE and Saudi Arabia’s controversial partnership began in 2018 with two events brought there annually with the exception of 2020 and 2021 (one each). While shows like the Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel are exclusive to Saudi Arabia, PLEs like Elimination Chamber (2022) and Night of Champions (2023) have also been held there.
Based on previous SEC reports, WWE is believed to take in $50 million per show as part of the deal. Of note, Vince McMahon, the man that orchestrated that deal and also helped in a connection with the UFC’s debut there, is no longer with TKO after he stepped down as TKO executive chairman following the emergence of the current Janel Grant lawsuit.
According to an economic impact report, Royal Rumble 2024 brought $47 million to the St. Petersburg, Florida area.
Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg was the host of January’s Royal Rumble. This week, the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater tourism board presented the results of an economic impact study for the event. The study claimed that Royal Rumble generated $47,047,401 in overall economic impact with $28,337,038 of that coming from direct spending. There were $2,923,664 million tax dollars generated.
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater also highlighted the following:
The Sun Runner bus had a 95 percent increase in ridership on the day of the Royal Rumble.
Ferg’s Sports Bar did seven times its usual business on the day of the event.
Green Bench Brewing Company had a 10-15 percent increase over a typical Saturday.
Imagine Museum had a 25 percent increase in attendance the day after the Royal Rumble.
WWE received $500,000 from Visit St. Pete/Clearwater in its Royal Rumble bid. The tourism board worked with the Tampa Bay Rays, the City of St. Petersburg, and the Tampa Sports Commission to bring the Royal Rumble to Tropicana Field.
The economic impact of Royal Rumble 2023 in San Antonio was said to be $69 million.
Milwaukee is hoping to bring a future WWE Royal Rumble event to the city.
CBS 58 reported this week that Milwaukee leaders have been in talks with WWE and are pitching them about bringing a future Royal Rumble to American Family Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers.
The earliest that the Royal Rumble could take place in Milwaukee is 2026, when scheduled renovations that would allow American Family Field to be used in the winter would be completed. The Royal Rumble is held in late January every year.
American Family Field has a retractable roof. The winterization project will allow the venue to maintain a 70-degree temperature year-round.
“A source, who asked not to be identified because they did not want to share too much about the conversations, said city and state representatives met with WWE officials in Philadelphia last weekend during the company’s biggest annual event, WrestleMania,” the report said. “While WrestleMania is probably out of Milwaukee’s reach, city and state officials hoped to attract WWE’s next-biggest draw on the calendar.”
The most recent WWE PPV/PLE to be held in Milwaukee was Fastlane 2017.
Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida hosted this year’s Royal Rumble.
