Charlotte Flair won the 2025 WWE women’s Royal Rumble. (Credit: Rob Tringali /Sports Illustrated via … [+] Getty Images)

Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Charlotte Flair won the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble 2025 and unsurprisingly punched her ticket to WrestleMania 41.

In the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view, WWE hadn’t really pushed many stars as viable threats to win the 30-woman battle royal. So, in one of the most predictable outcomes in recent Royal Rumble history, the returning Flair did exactly what just about everyone expected her to do and won the whole thing.

The final four participants in the women’s Royal Rumble were the returning Nikki Bella, NXT Roxanne Perez, Nia Jax and Flair, but in the end, “The Queen” was able to eliminate Jax and Perez in quick succession over to kick off the show in Lucas Oil Stadium.

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Notable Eliminations And Moments

Among the notable moments and appearances were:

• Piper Niven inadvertently eliminated her friend Chelsea Green while trying to attack Naomi.
• New WWE star Jordynne Grace entered at No. 19 to a raucous reaction and almost immediately hit an incredible Death Valley Driver on Piper Niven.
• Alexa Bliss made her shocking WWE return at No. 21, and the crowd absolutely erupted. Much to the crowd’s dismay, she was eventually eliminated by Liv Morgan, potentially setting up a future feud.
• WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus entered at No. 24 to arguably the biggest pop of the match.
• NXT stalwarts Roxanne Perez (N0. 3), Stephanie Vaquer (No. 24) and Guilia (No. 28) all entered the match. Guilia eliminated Grace almost immediately after hitting the ring.
• Charlotte Flair, out of action since December 2023 with a significant knee injury, was the 27th entrant, sauntering down to the ring and lighting up a number of competitors with chops to a chorus of “Woos!” from the crowd.
• Nikki Bella, widely expected to return, was the surprise 30th entrant, making her first WWE Royal Rumble appearance since 2022. She confronted No. 29 Nia Jax, and virtually the entire Royal Rumble feud worked together in an attempt to eliminate the former women’s champion.
• They were unsuccessful, and in one fell swoop, Jax eliminated several marquee performers, including Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi and Vaquer.
• Bella eliminated Bayley to whittle it down to the final four competitors before Jax quickly eliminated Bella for her 8th elimination. Then, Flair eliminated Jax and hit a big boot on Perez on the apron to get the victory. Perez entered the match 3rd and was the last person eliminated.
• Morgan, the No. 2 entrant, set the record for the longest time spent in a single women’s Royal Rumble only for Perez to break it later on.

ForbesWWE Royal Rumble 2025: Nikki Bella And 5 Potential Surpise EntrantsBy Blake OestriecherBut nothing was as big as Flair’s return and her second Royal Rumble win.

Just a couple of weeks ago, WWE revealed via a vignette on SmackDown that Flair was returning and later confirmed her entry into the 2025 Royal Rumble. WWE’s new habit of spoiling major surprises also essentially spoiled the outcome of the match, too.

Because in a women’s Royal Rumble match filled with a ton of stars who aren’t pushed as main eventers, it always figured to be an established name who was going to win it. Becky Lynch was a popular pick given that her WWE return is reportedly around the corner, but “The Man” never showed up in Indianapolis.

Even still, Lynch could be slated for a significant WrestleMania 41 match and is the leading candidate to challenge Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship in what would be a WrestleMania 40 rematch. As for Flair, all signs points toward a first-ever dream match at WrestleMania in Las Vegas.

Flair vs. current WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton has reportedly been “discussed” for Wrestlemania 41 and is the clear favorite to be one of the headlining attractions for Night One or Night Two of the two-night extravaganza. That would be the next step in WWE’s unsurprising plan to get Flair right back in the title picture where she almost always is.

According to WrestleVotes, WWE is considering a title reign for Flair “sooner rather than later,” and at the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble, she took one colossal leap toward securing yet another chmapionship reign.

That is part for the course when it comes to Flair, who rarely participates in a significant storyline that doesn’t involve holding or pursuing a world title. There is certainly nothing new or fresh about another Flair title chase, but given that “The Queen” has been off TV since late 2023, a return to the title scene was virtually inevitable.

The right choice? That’s debatable, but there was a clear lack of other options for top-level WrestleMania world title feuds.

In a way, WWE’s creation of the Women’s United States and Intercontinental Championships has pigeonholed much of its roster into certain positions. That has and will make it difficult for some stars to break through that proverbial glass ceiling and enter the upper echelon of top women’s stars.

Even most of WWE’s women’s Royal Rumble winners were already established as top names. The last four winners are: Flair, Bayley, Ripley and Ronda Rousey. Clearly, those are some of the biggest names in the history of women’s wrestling, but it does speak to a bigger problem that WWE keeps going to the well year after year.

Now, Flair is on track for yet another WrestleMania title match while the same could be true of both Lynch and Ripley. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same, eh.