3 WWE stars who have been officially ruled out of the 2025 Royal Rumble

The majority of the top WWE stars have already declared for the 2025 Royal Rumble, which will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this Saturday night. Roman Reigns, CM Punk, John Cena, and Seth Rollins, among others, have declared for the Men’s Rumble Match.

At the same time, former world champions Liv Morgan and Nia Jax will compete in the Women’s Rumble Match, and top female stars like Bayley and IYO SKY will also participate.

Still, a few names will not compete at the Royal Rumble, and their absence has already been confirmed. In this article, we take a look at three of them.

#3. Bronson Reed will be out for months following surgery

Bronson Reed sustained a serious ankle injury in the WarGames Match between The Bloodline and the OG Bloodline at Survivor Series in late November last year.

Since then, he has been out, and he is not expected to return anytime soon. As the RAW superstar announced on social media, he has been ruled out for the Royal Rumble and will miss the entire Road to WrestleMania and WrestleMania 41.

This is unfortunate news for Bronson Reed, who received a push from WWE Creative and had built some momentum. However, his return is not expected to happen before late spring or early summer.

#2. JD McDonagh suffered an injury on RAW

He got injured Monday on RAW, when he and Dominik Mysterio attempted to reclaim the World Tag Team Titles from The War Raiders. He managed to finish the match, but he will now miss a couple of months with injuries to his ribs and lung.

JD McDonagh will not compete in the Men’s Royal Rumble match this Saturday night and will miss most of the Road to WrestleMania.

However, if the timetable he provided is correct, he will be back on time for WrestleMania 41, which will take place in Las Vegas on April 19-20.

His injury could put an end to The Judgment Day, given that Finn Balor has been off for a couple of weeks. McDonagh and Balor were World Tag Team Champions for a total of 175 days between June and December.

#1. Dakota Kai will miss the Royal Rumble due to concussion

The Damage CTRL star has been out of action lately due to a concussion, which has forced her to miss a few shows. Unfortunately, the injury has seemingly ruled her out officially for the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

What makes matters worse is that she has no exact timetable for returning, as she must first clear WWE’s concussion protocols. When this will happen remains unclear, but she will be back at some point during the Road to WrestleMania.

Dakota Kai had built some momentum as she reached the finals of the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Championship. However, she came up short against Lyra Valkyria, missing the chance to claim her first singles title in her WWE career.

What she will do upon her return remains to be seen. Still, it wouldn’t come as a surprise should she challenge Lyra Valkyria to a rematch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.