On Saturday, viewers of the WWE 2025 Royal Rumble saw something new: graphics at the bottom of the screen designed to make the two titular matches easier to follow.
The graphics were inspired by and functioned similarly to ESPN’s Bottom Line ticker. It was an idea that was discussed in the days immediately after the 2024 Royal Rumble.
In an interview with Awful Announcing, Brian Fadem, WWE’s VP, Line Producer said that the idea was to make the Royal Rumble — which he said was WWE’s “most stats-based match,” easier to follow for fans watching at home as well as in the arena.
What was displayed?
In terms of following the matches, the most notable feature was when the graphic identified how many entrants (of 30 total) had come in, how many were still active in the match, and how many had already been eliminated.
For those unfamiliar with the format, each Royal Rumble has 30 participants. Two start it in the ring, and another enters every two minutes (the interval time can fluctuate from year to year). Wrestlers are eliminated when they go over the top rope and both feet hit the floor.
“If somebody’s watching the Royal Rumble for the first time, yeah, you get the rules off the top of the match,” Fadem said. “But in the midst of it, unless you’ve seen it before, it can be a little confusing. What the clocks are. What the countdown is. When is somebody coming in? How many people are left? So just something that would work for the duration of the Rumble was something that we all agreed in February of last year, which we want to pursue next year.”
The graphics can also be helpful for experienced viewers.
Anyone who’s watched a few Royal Rumbles knows the rules of elimination. “Both feet must touch the floor” became ingrained in Royal Rumble lore in 1995 when Shawn Michaels won after appearing to be eliminated. Michaels was sent out of the ring but managed to hold himself on the ropes with only one of his feet hitting the floor. He pulled himself back into the ring and eliminated the surprised British Bulldog.
Today is Royal Rumble day. Enjoy the ending to the first ever Royal Rumble in Tampa, Florida, from 1995. One foot. First ever to win drawing number one, the GOAT Shawn Michaels. #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/5Z7UB3OYuO
— Based Bayesian (@Aliquickk) January 27, 2024
Because of that — and similar near-eliminations over the years from the likes of Naomi, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, and Logan Paul — longtime fans are conditioned to watch eliminations closely. But what’s harder to track is when a competitor leaves the ring in a way other than over-the-top rope. If, for example, a wrestler rolls under the bottom and falls to the floor to recover or sell an injury that might have occurred during the match, he/she is not eliminated. But if the participant is not in the ring, especially for a significant length of time, it can be difficult for even longtime fans to remember that there are active participants not in the ring.
The graphics help eliminate that confusion.
But more information was shown, which helped contribute to WWE’s recent initiative to have a more “sports-based” presentation. Among that information was how long wrestlers had been in the ring, how many eliminations they had, and who those eliminations were.
Additionally, different information about them was shown as wrestlers approached the ring.
That included — but was not limited to — which country they were from and previous Royal Rumble history, like how many times they’d participated and if they’d ever won.
Any drawbacks?
Generally, the new graphics package has been met with positive reviews, both internal and external.
One issue Fadem said he received was about how much of the screen it took up, with people feeling it was too big.
“If that’s the worst thing that’s come out of it, I think that’s a great way to further develop it and just make it even better for next year,” he said. “But I don’t disagree with that. I think we can size it better. I think this was something new for our world. The model we looked at to begin with was the ESPN model — and the sizing of that, how that fits, what you can do with that.”
By and large, though, the criticisms have been minimal. Much of that is because of something that happened just over two weeks before the Rumble.
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, wrestlers in NXT — WWE’s developmental brand — staged an untelevised Royal Rumble dress rehearsal of sorts. The NXT wrestlers functioned as a scout team and got into the rehearsal in ways beyond even what they were asked to do. While each NXT wrestler knew he or she would be playing the role of a Royal Rumble participant, they went to the next step, coming to the dress rehearsal in cosplay, dressing and acting like the characters they were portraying.
The NXT wrestlers were also told to throw things at the production team that go beyond standard eliminations. That included multiple eliminations taking place at the same time and wrestlers re-emerging after going under the bottom rope to eliminate or attack an opponent. With that, the people who ran graphics during the Royal Rumble were prepared and ready to expect the unexpected.
“We vetted everything as often as we could as much as we could,” Fadem said. “We dedicated two operators during the show making it work and one producer to oversee everything and make sure they were firing graphics and facts and things that correspond with the match. I wouldn’t change anything about that, but I probably would aesthetically look to change the sizing of things. But again, so nitpicky on my end. In our industry and our world, we’re certainly perfectionists.”
Who made it work?
After the idea was conceived in February 2024, the process of putting it together began in May, shortly after WrestleMania 40. Ross, the company that WWE uses for most of its graphics, was also integral in helping to develop the Royal Rumble graphics. It was something of a start from scratch, as neither Ross nor WWE had anything much like it to draw from.
During the Royal Rumble, Marty Miller, who directed the event, made sure that what was happening in the ring could flow with the new graphic. SmackDown Line Producer Evan Kalus produced the ticker during the event, working with Manager of Graphic Operations Maura Connors and Graphics Operator Alyssa Caples. TV engineer Josh Welt was integral in adding late sponsors to the graphic, as well as coordinating with the people at Lucas Oil Stadium to show the necessary parts of the graphics on the ribbon boards in the building, giving live viewers a taste of what the television audience had.
The graphic team was put to the test immediately, as well, as the women’s Royal Rumble match was the first of the show. The men’s match was the fourth and final match.
Going forward
Those who liked the graphics displayed during the two Royal Rumble matches can rest easy. The plan is to continue to use them forward.
While WWE doesn’t lack for stipulation matches, none is like the Royal Rumble. Still, Fadem hopes that similar graphics packages can make their way into more WWE programming going forward.
“As we transition, or attempt to transition, into more of a sports feel, this goes right inside with that,” he said. “I do want to push forward with trying to integrate with something similar in other events and just maybe in general on the overall product. It just helps and gives it a feel of importance when you see numbers and things associated on that sort of level.”
