8 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2025

1. A Brutal Battle

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens arguably have had one of the best title feuds in recent memory, with KO being a tremendous foil to the American Nightmare’s heroic champion.

They settled their score in a vicious ladder match that saw Owens repeatedly throw ladders at Cody and powerbomb him onto a ladder, only for Rhodes to respond in kind and backdrop KO onto the side of a ladder. They stayed grounded in the violence, avoiding some of the tropes and typical cartoonish escalation of car crash spots.

Instead, the match turned on an Owens Fisherman’s Buster off the second rope through a ladder bridge, with both men’s heads bouncing off the ladder, knocking them both out. Officials ran down to check on them, and Sami Zayn made his way to ringside. With both men wobbly, Owens went for a Stunner, only for Cody to counter with a Cross-Rhodes.

The champ seemed to get an adrenaline burst, pummeling Owens and putting him onto the announce desk, where KO delivered a low blow and set up for a package piledriver. Rhodes countered that with an Alabama Slam through a ladder bridge from the desk to the apron, folding Owens in half and ending his night.

Cody’s climb to victory seemed almost anti-climactic, but that was the point here: Rhodes had to get dark and violent to finally put Owens down, which he did perfectly. Had they been dragging tables out and wielding chairs, the finish wouldn’t have scanned as a vicious crescendo – it would have looked like another in a series of ECW-lite spots.