Backstage Report On Outside Competitor Expected At WWE Royal Rumble 2025

The start of a new year can only mean one thing in the world of WWE: speculation on who may be in the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches. At the time of writing, only John Cena has declared himself for the Rumble on February 1, and with 29 spots to fill in the men's match, speculation is running wild on social media on who may show up. 

Dave Meltzer revealed on a recent episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio" that many people backstage believe that Joe Hendry will be at the Rumble, especially after the recent tease he gave on an episode of "WWE NXT."

"He very much teased that he will be back, and kind of teased it would be on the main roster. Everyone thinks he's going to be in the Royal Rumble. He didn't quite say the Royal Rumble, but he did say it could be somewhere else. So, 'say my name and I'll appear' type of a thing," said Meltzer. 

Hendry became a fan favorite in "NXT," following WWE's partnership with TNA Wrestling, even leading to Hendry headlining the No Mercy Premium Live Event for the NXT Championship against Ethan Page.

One thing that could be a possibility is if Hendry does appear at the Royal Rumble, he could enter the match as the TNA World Champion. Hendry will be challenging Nic Nemeth for the title at TNA's Genesis pay-per-view on January 19, where a win would almost guarantee Hendry to be the champion by February 1 unless something happens on the "TNA Impact" tapings on January 23 and 24 in San Antonio, Texas.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.