10 Surprise Entrants We Could See

The Royal Rumble was made for surprise entrants.

WWE didn’t really need to think about that until they were a good few years deep into the pay-per-view era of the thing, but even early events like 1993 had surprises such as Carlos Colon and Genichiro Tenryu. OK, so those weren’t seismic, but they still count. Hell, even Giant Gonzalez ambling down to take out The Undertaker despite never officially entering the match was a big shock at the time.

Things have progressed to the point that such surprises are a Rumble must. People want to see epic comebacks, a few legends and some unexpected delights on their road to WrestleMania. That’s part of the fun. Think Rob Van Dam’s return in 2009, or the ‘no f’n way’ reaction Diesel got for dying his hair and putting on the black gloves again in 2011. 

What does 2025 have in store then? Triple H can drop a few jaws by booking these shockers in both the men’s and women’s matches. All of them are possible due to WWE’s wide net – there are loads of wrestlers currently on the bench, and the company has forged key relationships with other promotions to add to the pool of talent they can pull from.

Literally all of these would get booming pops in Indianapolis on 1 February. There’s probably no chance all 10 happen at the same PLE, but some will surely be pencilled in as potential crowd-popping moments. One or two, in particular, would live forever and rank as some of the best Rumble comebacks ever as soon as they happened.

This rumour won’t die until the day Matt Cardona appears on WWE programming again for the first time since 2020. He’s a perennial Rumble return candidate every single year. Woo, woo, woo…you know it. If anything, the rumour mill has only intensified since Cardona’s wife Chelsea Green returned to the company and carved out a spot for herself as the first ever Women’s United States Champion.

People have been wondering aloud ever since exactly when they’ll see Zack Ryder back in the big time. His immediately recognisable entrance track would go down a storm with WWE fans today, assuming Matt agreed to return under the Ryder name. That’s something he’s been outspoken about in the past, but only time will tell if he’d relent on wanting to go by his real name (the one he’s been using elsewhere for approx five years now).

Something about the thought of Matt and Chelsea under the same banner making memories sounds sweet though. It’s easy to picture one of those emotional backstage embraces WWE previously put out for Edge and Beth Phoenix when he made his return to the ring. Sure, that was under different circumstances, but it’s the kind of real-life mush wrestling fans gobble up, and they’d do so again for Cardona and Green.

Ryder never worked for WWE without Vince McMahon at the helm. By all accounts, it’s a vastly different place under Triple H’s watch, so it’d be fun for the dude to find out if one last money-making run with the market leader would be worth it. This fan is willing to bet it would be.

It’d be personally satisfying, if nothing else.