Jey Uso replaced former WWE Champion to win the 2025 Royal Rumble; Gunther's original WrestleMania opponent revealed

Jey Uso won the 2025 Royal Rumble Match. (Image via WWE.com)
Jey Uso won the 2025 Royal Rumble Match. (Image via WWE.com)

Jey Uso won the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble Match and went on to become the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 41. He dethroned Gunther on The Grandest Stage of Them All, in what was an emotional moment.

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However, it wasn't the original plan. Jey Uso was factored into the equation due to how over he had become, despite the two men's world title matches already being set for WrestleMania 41. Michael Hayes advocated for him backstage, as shown in the second episode of WWE: Unreal on Netflix.

It was also revealed that Punk was initially planned to challenge Gunther at WrestleMania 41. The Best in the World was discussed to win the Royal Rumble alongside John Cena, with the other one winning the Elimination Chamber. The Hollywood star's Undisputed WWE Title match against Cody Rhodes had been set in stone for a while.

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CM Punk being replaced by Jey Uso in the World Heavyweight Title match had a ripple effect on the top of the WrestleMania 41 match card. He ended up getting his 'Mania main event as a part of a Triple Threat bout with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, who were originally set to fight one-on-one at The Show of Shows.

Since then, Jey Uso did lose the title back to Gunther, and CM Punk will indeed challenge The Ring General at a Big Four premium live event. The two of them are set to headline Night One of SummerSlam, a few months after their planned WrestleMania match was scrapped in favor of The YEET Master.

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Edited by Divesh Merani
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