Every WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Surprise

5. Giulia

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Alexa Bliss
WWE

Rounding out the NXT surprise entrants, current NXT Women's Champion Giulia entered the women's Royal Rumble at #28, getting a ten-minute run that was ended by the woman she took that title from: Roxanne Perez.

Interestingly, Giulia's only elimination was that of Jordynne Grace, with Giulia vs. Grace one direction NXT could take once Vengeance Day is in the books later this month. There, that 15 February event will see Giulia defend the NXT Women's Title in a triple-threat match against Roxanne and Bayley. And should NXT be in need of a next challenger post-Vengeance Day, Jordynne Grace and Giulia has the potential to be special - though Thicc Mama Pump is clearly ready to be inserted into the mix on Raw or SmackDown rather than head to NXT.

Either way, it was a fun Rumble appearance for Giulia, with her mixing it up with Charlotte Flair being a particularly fascinating match-up. The Beautiful Madness surely has bigger and better Rumble outings in her future, but as a first one, this was fine for what it needed to be.

Senior Writer
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, 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.