The Rock's status, massive heel turn coming - 4 things WWE Royal Rumble 2025 subtly told us about WrestleMania 41

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 is officially in the books, and it will be talked about for a long time. The Indianapolis premium live event had it all, from pulsating tag team and brutal Ladder Match action to two very exciting but wildly different Rumble matches. Both Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso divided opinions with their victories, albeit for greatly different reasons, as they punched their tickets to WrestleMania 41.

Given that the events in Lucas Oil Stadium kicked off The Road to The Show of Shows, fans have already begun to speculate how the former show will affect the latter. With over 65 featured superstars interacting across the card, we may have gotten teases for several future feuds to be explored at Elimination Chamber and The Showcase of Immortals or even beyond.

Let's look, therefore, at four things WWE Royal Rumble 2025 may have subtly told us about WrestleMania 41:

#4. Jey Uso will dethrone Gunther as World Heavyweight Champion at WWE WrestleMania 41

Jey Uso won the 2025 WWE Men's Royal Rumble Match to an incredibly polarizing reaction. While a huge section of online fans were quite vocal about their disapproval, the 70,000-strong Lucas Oil Field crowd Yeeted the night away. Regardless of who liked it or hated it, The Yeet Master is going to Las Vegas to compete for a world title.

Main Event Jey strongly hinted in the post-show press conference that he would be going after World Heavyweight Champion Gunther at Allegiant Stadium. It would be the fourth singles bout between the duo, with The Ring General aiming for his fourth straight win. However, on The Grandest Stage of Them All, one would favor the Yeet Master to finally defeat his nemesis and win the big one.

It would be a fitting reward for his incredible connection to the crowd since he stepped out of his family's shadow.

#3. Some top WWE stars may miss WrestleMania 41

Heading into WWE Royal Rumble 2025, several superstar returns were anticipated with varying levels of expectation. The PLE delivered a good portion of these, from likely comebacks like AJ Styles to long shots like Alexa Bliss, much to the delight of the Lucas Oil Field crowd. However, some of these potential returns did not come to pass, casting certain WrestleMania 41 plans into doubt.

The Royal Rumble felt like a good time for, say, Jade Cargill to confront her mystery attacker, or Randy Orton to get some payback on Kevin Owens for putting him out of action in November. Now that it has passed, some fans feel that these stories may not play out on The Road to The Show of Shows. This could mean the likes of Cargill and Orton might regrettably miss the biggest show of the year.

Speaking of big names missing the Grandaddy of Them All, can you smell what's cooking in the next entry?

#2. The Rock may not be coming back for WWE WrestleMania 41

The Rock was originally planned to face Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania XL before the #WeWantCody movement forced a pivot. This led to The Great One turning heel and creating The Final Boss character, delaying the dream match by at least one more year. Throughout the past 12 months, the Stamford-based promotion has continually teased revisiting the feud, perhaps at WrestleMania 41.

However, the events of Royal Rumble 2025 may suggest that this dream match will not take place in Las Vegas after all. The Tribal Chief was eliminated from the 30-man battle royal by CM Punk, after which he received two ringside curb stomps from Seth Rollins. This could point to a Triple threat match in Allegiant Stadium, confirming that The Brahma Bull is not returning for The Showcase of The Immortals.

The only other strong candidate to bring The Rock back is Cody Rhodes, but John Cena's strong advertising for Elimination Chamber seems to have The American Nightmare covered. Which brings us to our final entry.

#1. John Cena or Cody Rhodes might be turning heel on The Road to WWE WrestleMania 41

John Cena and Cody Rhodes are arguably WWE's two greatest babyface champions of the 21st century so far. The Cenation Leader and The American Nightmare were both major players at Royal Rumble 2025, with varying success. The former emerged runner-up in the 30-man battle royal and the latter successfully defended the Undisputed WWE Championship.

Both Cena and Rhodes, despite being long-term babyfaces, exhibited heelish tendencies on the night, which were noticed by some eagle-eyed fans. While the champion was uncharacteristically remorseless towards the sight of a bleeding Kevin Owens, the former Chain Gang Leader briefly teased turning on Jey Uso after being eliminated by the latter in the Rumble match.

Given that The Yeet Master will likely choose to face Gunther and Cena is an overwhelming favorite to win the Elimination Chamber, the latter is likely to be Rhodes' challenger at WrestleMania 41. With the young hero running out of friends and the veteran hero running out of time, one of them is likely to snap and pull off an earth-shattering turn to the dark side.

The question is, who will it be?

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