Photo gallery: WWE Royal Rumble draws record-setting crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium

WWE wrestler Jey Uso is named the winner of Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

John Cena and Taylor Swift have something in common: both have performed in front of record crowds at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.

Tens of thousands of pro wrestling fans packed the NFL stadium Saturday night for the Royal Rumble, the first of three WWE events slated to take over the Circle City as part of a multi-year deal between the Indiana Sports Corp. and the entertainment company.

Early crowd estimates indicated some 65,000 fans would be in attendance, and city tourism officials said hotel rooms were nearly sold out in the days before the event. But by the time the show started, that number had swelled: broadcasters said more than 70,000 packed the NFL stadium Saturday night, a number reiterated by WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque—better known by his ring name, Triple H—following the event. This year’s Royal Rumble was also live-streamed on Peacock in the U.S. and Netflix internationally.

Levesque said the event is the highest-grossing Rumble in history, the third-largest gate—money made off tickets—in organization history and the largest single-night event WWE has ever pulled off. Fans were in attendance from all 50 U.S. states and 48 countries.

Saturday night’s crowd included Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Grammy-winning rocker John Mellencamp, University of Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, YouTuber Kai Cenat and actor O’Shea Jackson Jr.

In his post-event news conference, Levesque said Indiana Sports Corp. played an immeasurable role in the event, which is the first of several that will play into an eight-year deal that will later bring SummerSlam and WrestleMania back to the city after an extended hiatus.

Levesque said the experience has been “incredible,” and he looks forward to making the next events bigger and better.

“I’m not sure how, but I promise you when we get here for the next one, it will be better than this one, and when we get here for WrestleMania, we will blow all this out of the water,” he said. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Saturday was an action-packed night featuring four events: the women’s and men’s Rumbles, the tag team championship and a brutal Ladder Match. In the Rumble, 30 wrestlers—starting with two and adding another every two minutes—vie for a championship match at WrestleMania. In the Ladder Match, two wrestlers compete to climb a ladder and retrieve the WWE championship belt, suspended above the ring.

Charlotte Flair—daughter of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair—won the women’s Rumble; Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes retained his title in the ladder match against Kevin Owens; #DIY retained their title in the tag team event; and Jey Uso bested the soon-to-retire Cena in the men’s Rumble.

See a gallery below for a recap of the action, and click here to see a gallery from WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Inside Indiana Business’ Alex Brown contributed.