Every WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Surprise

10. Jaida Parker

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Alexa Bliss
WWE

One of the more surprising NXT names to turn up in the women's Royal Rumble, much like Lash Legend, that's an indicator of the work Jaida Parker has put in and the improvements she's made across this past year. It's also worth taking note of the strong crowd reaction the 25-year-old received from Lucas Oil Stadium, with the crowd connection shown in NXT from Parker translating to main WWE programming.

The Rumble appearance itself wasn't particularly newsworthy, with Jaida coming in at #16 and lasting seven minutes before Jordynne Grace was credited with her elimination. However, as someone who's only been in the wrestling business for just over two years, being involved with such a huge Premium Live Event should be an extremely valuable learning experience.

Personality-wise, Jaida Parker has been killing it since day one, and if she continues to hone her in-ring work, WWE could have quite the player on their hands in the coming years.

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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, Jamie Hayer, 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.