The 2025 Royal Rumble officially kicked off the road to WrestleMania on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The night is headlined by the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches with 30 entrants entering the ring. The winner of the Royal Rumble will be guaranteed a championship opportunity at WrestleMania 41 in April.
Both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumbles will feature many of the sport’s top stars, as John Cena, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Logan Paul, and many more will be in action in the men’s match. On the women’s side, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, and Bayley will be among the 30 women competing in the ring.
Also on the card, undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes puts his title on the line against Kevin Owens. The WWE tag team titles will be on the line as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa look to defend their title against Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin).
With all the excitement during the Royal Rumble, the WWE still managed to send a dig toward the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs about the way one of the matches was being officiated.
WWE Wade Barrett Takes a Shot at the Chiefs
During the Royal Rumble, WWE SmackDown announcer Wade Barrett and former NFL star Pat McAfee took a shot at the NFL officials and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Barrett stated, “I have not seen officiating this bad since the last Kansas City Chiefs game.” Absolute gold from Barrett, especially with the controversy from the Chiefs’ last game against the Bills.
NFL officials are catching some serious strays from Wade Barrett at the Royal Rumble.
"I've not seen officiating this bad since the last Kansas City Chiefs game." pic.twitter.com/KEcR35h8jA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 2, 2025
During the AFC Championship Game, two controversial calls lead to a massive debate about the game being rigged. The Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs for a chance to go to Super Bowl 59, and the game came with a handful of controversies.
One involved a play that was ruled a catch for the Chiefs despite the ball hitting the ground. The second was when the Bills had the ball and Josh Allen tried to do the “tush push” in the fourth quarter. The refs ruled that Josh Allen was short of the first-down marker, but fans think that Allen was passed the line for a first down.
Either way, Buffalo ended up losing the game to Kansas City, 32-29, and social media exploded with questions about favoritism towards the Chiefs.
Even with the game taking place last Sunday, Bills head coach Sean McDermott is still complaining about the refs. McDermott held his official end-of-season press conference on Thursday and spoke about how he and the Bills knew the refs wouldn’t be on their side.
McDermott stated, “We’re not going to get calls. And I think just when you prepare a team, you prepare them ahead of time, mentally, for this is the way it’s going down. And you live with that.”
He warned them as much as the team prepared to take on the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champions, but the Bills still fell short. Now it’s up to the Eagles to try to prevent the Chiefs’ three-peat.
