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This Saturday I, the relative recluse outside of conventions, am opening up my house to have close friends (and casual acquaintences as well, to be honest) to watch WWE's Royal Rumble 2025. My wife and I don't regularly have people over to our house, but this is the exception to the rule - and its one of my favorite days of the year, even when I'm not a ardent wrestling fan.

Don't get me wrong: I am a fan of wrestling, but I will admit I'm not at my height as I consume more wrestling podcasts than wrestling events these days. But, while my wrestling TV viewing history may be sparse these days, the wrestling shorts on YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, and various other social media channels is at an all-time high because I love the characters and the moments, and sometimes let my imagination fill in the blanks. But I'd never miss a Royal Rumble.

Since watching my first Royal Rumble back in 1990 in my sister's living room (she had 'The Good TV' in the family), I have not missed watching one of these annual events. I've missed the weekly TV episodes and even the annual WrestleManias, Starrcades, Wrestle Kingdoms and All Ins, but Royal Rumble is the epitome of appointment TV for me. I've watched it with family gatherings, I've watched it in friend gatherings.... heck, I even watched it while faraway at a convention by trudging to a dive bar and meekly asked that they turn on the subtitles.

For decades I didn't know why I liked it besides the spectacle, but in the recent year or so I've come to understand my fandom for it thanks to my diagnosis of ADHD.

How the WWE Royal Rumble format fits my ADHD groove

I guess I should explain the format of the Royal Rumble. It is a match where 30 participants take part in an elimination format, with the last person standing wins the match - and gets to challenge for one of WWE's four major titles at WrestleMania later that year - presumably in a marque match (the kind you'd put on the poster). What I described so far is a 'Battle Royale,' but where the Royal Rumble stands out is that instead of all the participants starting at once then whittling it down to the final one, it starts with two - then at regular intervals (60 seconds to 120 seconds) a new participant enters. Eliminations can and do happen at all times, but once the final particpant enters then the whittling down to the final winner begins.

While it might sound complicated in practice, in reality its anything but: every two minutes, someone new enters. And in true pro wrestling style, they enter with theme music, evocative gestures, and the crowd roaring as they see someone new. Die-hard Wrestling fans might chide me in the comments for saying this, but fans reacting to an entrance and their theme music is arguably half the fun for many people. Especially when it's a surprise entrant, as in a former star or someone returning from injury, or even in some cases a non-wrestling celebrity such as Price Is Right host Drew Carey or Jackass's Johnny Knoxville. 

This turns into episodic storytelling at every interval, working out like a series of social video clips you'd watch and then let autoplay on Tiktok or YouTube Shorts. Every interval, like clockwork, it begins again.

Since I've come to understand my ADHD diagnosis, I realize this its on three key areas for me: inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Instead of watching a long 10-15 match (or a 60-minute marathon, which I can be a fan of), the WWE Royal Rumble is the wrestling sampler platter of events offering a new hook (or hit of adrenaline) at regular intervals, giving me something new to be drawn to and process. And also, when watching it with a group it gives you something new to react to, to talk about, to debate, and to make light of.

I'm not here saying that if you like the Royal Rumble that you might have ADHD, but for me this completes a circle I've been unknowingly enjoying for the past 35 years.

Here's a guide to all the upcoming major wrestling events from WWE, AEW, NJPW, and more.