WWE stirred up a ton of controversy a few months back by having Jey Uso win the Royal Rumble and punch his ticket to WrestleMania. With fans anticipating one of the more frontrunning talents to be crowned the winner — John Cena, CM Punk, etc. — there was quite a bit of blowback on social media. Personally, I’m not bothered by it. The internet wrestling community (IWC) can cry about “work rate” this, or “moveset” that, but WWE fans have consistently shown that they are willing to both pay to see Jey as well as buy his merch by the boatload. But hey, the IWC is gonna IWC. Drawing money!? Pffft.

With WWE 2K25 due for a worldwide release in just a few days, many players will venture to Universe Mode where they’ll book their own Royal Rumble and try to “right some wrongs.” But as a habitual crap-stirrer, I implore you to resist this urge. Instead, let’s try to make people even angrier by booking a different winner that will cause controversy online.

Admittedly, the criteria for this piece was a tricky one to figure out. So, I’ve narrowed it down to this. The winner should be controversial, be it for their antics, how they’re perceived by wrestling fans, or both.

So let’s get some cheap heat, shall we?

Booking Controversial Royal Rumble Winners In WWE 2K25

Logan Paul

Let’s start off with the most obvious candidate: Logan Paul.

I’m not going to sit here and pick apart all of Paul’s past internet antics. Anyone who’s familiar with the guy knows he’s a magnet for controversy and isn’t exactly a shining example of exemplary behavior. That said, one thing can’t be denied: Logan Paul is a pretty darn good wrestler.

The IWC will kick and scream about it, but the eldest of the Paul brothers took to the wrestling business as quick as anyone ever has and has consistently put on bangers with the likes of Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Roman Reigns. His incredible athleticism mixed with his brilliant heel work has always made for good TV, so why not book him to win the Rumble and main event WrestleMania against QB1 himself Cody Rhodes?

You don’t have to put the belt on him per se, but it would still be funny!

CM Punk

A vast majority of wrestling fans will tell you that CM Punk is great. That said, his checkered history in the business — be it his first walkout of WWE or his controversial firing from AEW — has made him one of the most polarizing stars the wrestling business has ever seen. Maybe not in the actual arenas, but certainly on sites like Reddit or X.

Most WWE fans would’ve considered Punk the frontrunner to win the Rumble this past January, and rightly so. Despite being in his late-40s, the Second City Saint did some of his best work in 2024 coming off a brutal triceps tear early on in the year. So, maybe it’s not controversial in the traditional sense. But there will certainly be no shortage of people crying on social media when he points to the WrestleMania sign.

Ethan Page

Wrestlers don’t typically walk onto the main roster and are immediately put in a main event position by winning the Rumble. And there’s a reason for that: The fans would likely resist it and instead want an existing storyline to have a pay-off. But this is WWE 2K25, so why not have fun with it and give an instant push to one of the top stars from NXT?

There are plenty of impressive candidates in NXT that I think will be massive successes once they’re called up to the main roster such as Oba Femi, Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, and Trick Williams just to name a few. But why not immediately call up one of the top heels in Ethan Page and immediately put the rocket boosters on him?

Page is a talented wrestler in his own right and was immediately thrust into the NXT Championship picture upon signing for WWE NXT last year. Why not repeat history a bit with his main roster call-up?

Jade Cargill

Much like Jey Uso, Jade Cargill is a star that has tons of potential in the eyes of wrestling fans as a singles star. That said, she is a little rough around the edges and many fans have questioned whether or not she’s ready to venture out on her own and break away from Bianca Belair with whom she was initially put into a tag team with.

But now that you’ve got the WWE book, maybe it’s time to throw Cargill into the deep end and see if she can swim with the top of the card.

Instead of Charlotte Flair (who was a controversial choice as well), have Jade start as the No. 1 entrant and dominate the Women’s Royal Rumble. If Bianca is your champion, the story writes itself. You can even re-write history a bit and have Belair be the one to put Cargill on the shelf rather than Naomi, making the match between the two have even more heat.

Just be sure to ignore the oddballs on social media in the process, OK?

Solo Sikoa

Since taken over the Bloodline, Solo Sikoa has kind of been lost in the shuffle. And honestly, it was to be expected. The son of WWE legend Rikishi isn’t nearly as charismatic as his cousin Roman Reigns, nor is he as fierce as Jacob Fatu. WWE attempted to give him some rub by putting him in a feud with top guys such as Cody Rhodes, but the fans just haven’t taken to him. At least, not yet.

But as a booker, you can change that. Instead of having a super over babyface or heel win the Royal Rumble, have Solo enter at No. 30 and opportunistically throw out the competition, be it Roman, Punk, John Cena, or anyone else in his way en route to winning the match. Put him in a title feud that will headline WrestleMania Night 2 against Cody Rhodes.

But don’t stop there. Unlike what we suggested with Logan Paul, we’re gonna have Solo Sikoa win the Undisputed WWE Championship over Cody to a chorus of boos and “refund” chants. Then let him carry it until SummerSlam where he’ll drop it to Roman, only for Jacob Fatu to challenge the year after that.

The fans are gonna hate this so much. And it’s going to be super funny!