Every WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Surprise

12. Roxanne Perez

It feels almost wrong to still classify Roxanne Perez as an NXT talent, for the former NXT Women's Champion's time with that brand is expected to wrap up imminently ahead of a move to Raw or SmackDown - a move to Raw seemingly the most likely as Roxanne continues to butt heads with the red brand's Bayley.

Either way, for now, Perez is an NXT talent, and while not exactly shocking - she has appeared in the previous two women's Royal Rumble, of course - the one-time Rok-C's appearance deserves a mention here.

For several of the names who made surprise Rumble appearances, it was a case of getting a few minutes to strut their stuff, maybe grab the odd elimination or two, and then get dumped out themselves. In the case of Roxanne Perez, though, it was a very different matter, entering at #3, putting in a mammoth one-hour-and-seven-minute stint, and making it through until the final two of the match - being the last person eliminated by Charlotte Flair as the Queen became the first women to win two Royal Rumbles.

Roxanne will be officially on the main roster within a matter of weeks, and if the 2025 Royal Rumble is anything to go by, she'll be just fine when that jump comes.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 2nd Feb 2025

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WWE Royal Rumble WWE Royal Rumble 2025