The 2025 WWE Women’s Royal Rumble provided a number of surprises, including an iron woman showing from Roxanne Perez as well as the in-ring returns of Trish Stratus, Nikki Bella, and Alexa Bliss. On the “Power Alphas Podcast,” former WWE star Mandy Rose specifically weighed in on the latter two’s comebacks.

“I was not surprised about Charlotte Flair [winning]. I thought Alexa Bliss returning was really cool. She had a huge pop, which was really awesome,” Rose said. “Nikki Bella, she was number 30, which I was kind of expecting in a weird way, but that was a surprise. I thought that they did a good job.”

After two years away from action, Bliss returned from the number 21 spot in the Women’s Royal Rumble, equipped with her loyal doll named Lilly and a jacket inspired by the Firefly Fun House theme song. While electric, Bliss’ Royal Rumble outing turned out to be rather brief as former WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan eliminated her within 11 minutes.

Meanwhile, Bella entered from the coveted 30 position, sharing notable encounters with former NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez, Bayley, and Nia Jax. This marked her first professional wrestling match in three years as she last competed in the 2022 match iteration.

In the end, “The Queen” Charlotte Flair won the 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble by eliminating Perez and Jax back-to-back. “I thought the ending could have been a little bit longer,” Rose said, “and a little bit more like ‘Oh my god, oh she’s about to [be eliminated],’ like one of those. I just felt like it was a little bit anticlimactic.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Power Alphas Podcast” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.