In the first, #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) by 2–1 in a two out of three falls match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship, while Cody Rhodes defeated Kevin Owens in a Ladder match to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.

It is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five".

On June 24, 2024, WWE announced a partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp. which would see the 2025 Royal Rumble, as well as a future WrestleMania and a future SummerSlam, held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, subsequently marking the first Royal Rumble to be held in a National Football League (NFL) stadium.

[7][11] On January 9, 2025, WWE announced a multi-year deal with Cosm in which select WWE PPV and livestreaming events would be broadcast from Cosm's "shared reality" immersive 87-foot-diameter LED domes, with locations in Los Angeles, California and Dallas, Texas (similar to Las Vegas's Sphere).

[16] During the Raw premiere on Netflix on January 6, 2025, Cena announced he would compete in the Royal Rumble match to try and earn an opportunity to win his 17th world championship at WrestleMania 41.

After the event went off the air, Owens attacked Rhodes with a package piledriver and stole the Winged Eagle belt, subsequently claiming to be the "true champion".

[19] On the December 27 episode of SmackDown, the brand's general manager Nick Aldis demanded that Owens return the Winged Eagle belt or be fired.

[20] After losing the WWE Tag Team Championship in August 2024,[21] #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) vowed to do whatever it took to regain the title.

On the November 15 episode of SmackDown, Ciampa interrupted a title match between The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) and defending champions The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), attacking both teams as Gargano tried to calm him down, further teasing the team's dissension.

[22] On the December 6 episode, #DIY defeated Motor City Machine Guns to regain the title after Gargano hit Sabin with a low blow, revealing that the dissension was a ruse, turning both men heel in the process.

[23] A rematch between the two teams took place on the January 3, 2025, episode, but the match ended in a no contest after a brawl between Los Garza (Angel and Berto) and Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) spilled into the ring.

[24] On the January 17 episode, Motor City Machine Guns defeated Los Garza,[25] and then Pretty Deadly the following week.

Later that night, Motor City Machine Guns announced that #DIY would defend the title against them at the Royal Rumble in a two out of three falls match, which was made official.

Nia Jax (#29) set the record for the most eliminations in a single women's Royal Rumble match at nine, eliminating Sky, Morgan, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair (#10) and Naomi (#15), Zelina Vega (#22), Vaquer, Stratus, Raquel Rodriguez (#26), and Bella.

[1] Next, #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a two out of three falls match.

As The Motor Machine Guns set up for Skull and Bones again, two hooded figures appeared, which caused a distraction allowing #DIY to hit Meet in the Middle and Ciampa pinned Shelley to retain the titles.

After the match, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) revealed themselves as the hooded figures and laid out both teams.

Owens hit a Fisherman's Buster Suplex to Rhodes onto a ladder bridged inside the ring, laying both men completely out as officials, as well as Sami Zayn, came out to check on them.

Outside the ring, Rollins delivered a Curb Stomp to Reigns and then began attacking Punk as officials tried to break the three men up.

Uso subsequently declared that he would face Gunther for Raw's World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41, setting up a rematch from Saturday Night's Main Event XXXVIII.