Bully Ray Celebrates Moment WWE Created In 2025 Men's Royal Rumble Match

The 2025 men's Royal Rumble match had a few surprising moments, one of which was the almost back-to-back eliminations of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk — three stars who were frontrunners to win the match. While several fans have been unhappy about some of these big-name stars not winning, WWE legend Bully Ray believes that WWE created magic with an angle in the match.

On "Busted Open," Ray spoke about the staredown between John Cena, Reigns, Rollins, and Punk in the ring, stating that WWE booked it to perfection.

"What a finish, what a finale, what a build-up," said Ray. "I was glad that we at least got that three-way staredown because in that you could feel what I was talking about in creating that kind of moment. We got Punk, we had Roman, obviously I mentioned Brock, imagine that would have happened. That's all gone now. But, you've got that feeling, that three-way staredown [Cena, Reigns, and Rollins], and then all of a sudden, 3-2-1, here comes Seth. The heavy-hitters saved to the end, drama, the build, Logan hanging around till the end — there's no holes. There's no putting this under a microscope."

Reigns entered the Rumble at 16, followed by his old foe John Cena at 23, Punk at 24, and Rollins at 25.

Despite not winning the match, Punk is still determined to fulfill his dream of main-eventing WrestleMania, this time targeting the Elimination Chamber match. "The Second City Saint" qualified for the match after securing a hard-fought win over Sami Zayn on this week's "WWE Raw," joining John Cena, who declared himself for the match in the post-Royal Rumble presser. Rollins will have the opportunity to join Punk and Cena in the match if he wins his qualifier against Finn Balor on next week's "Raw." Reigns, meanwhile, will be on the sidelines to recuperate from the injuries he suffered at the hands of Rollins at Royal Rumble.