Indianapolis, IN
Many mock WWE. 70,000 fans who shattered Royal Rumble records in Indy ‘don’t give a damn’
INDIANAPOLIS — William Skiler rose at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to a rooster crowing, fed the pigs then made an off-the-cuff, last-minute decision to drive from the land of peaches to his 10th Royal Rumble, buying nosebleed seats in Lucas Oil Stadium on the way.
Skiler is a hard-working farmer outside of Atlanta, Ga., who grew up loving the raucous and rowdy WWE. He was not only at his 10th Royal Rumble Saturday, but he’s been to multiple Smackdowns, Raws and one WrestleMania.
To say he is a diehard fan would be an understatement. He has a cluttered room in his house stuffed to the brim with all the figures, T-shirts, championship belts and autographs he’s gotten of wrestlers through the years.
As he waited in line to buy merchandise inside Lucas Oil before the matches began, he wore a Rey Mysterio mask and a Triple H shirt. There, with more than 300 others waiting in his line and more than 70,000 in the stadium, Skiler said he felt like he could truly be himself.
After all, Skiler said, he sometimes feels judged when he tells people he is a WWE fan.
“We know what they think. We know. I hear it all the time, people making fun of us WWE fans, making fun of the sport,” said Skiler, 45. “I hear it, and you know what? To be honest, I don’t give a damn.
“They’re the ones missing out on greatness.”
What is WWE? That’s the burning question from the naysayers. Is it a sport or not? Is it fake? Is it scripted? Skiler said he often feels as if those naysayers look down on WWE fans, and he doesn’t understand why.
“I’ve never played a day of golf in my life, but there are guys obsessed with it like I am with WWE,” he said. “I don’t make fun of those guys.”
Even if choreographed, these wrestlers are athletes and they have to be in shape to do what they do, said Josef Aguilar, who lives in Indy and was attending his first Royal Rumble.
“Just look at their muscles. They perform just like an NFL player performs,” he said. “People want to say the outcome is written up before but so what. The NFL wrote the Chiefs winning last week and the refs made that happen.”
As Josie Marlin sat in the hallway of the Indiana Convention Center next to her boyfriend, who had two championship belts beside him, waiting for the doors to Lucas Oil to open for the Royal Rumble, she told him to cover his ears.
“It’s so silly,” she said laughing. “I don’t even like it or get the appeal. I’m here because I love him, and he loves it.”
The WWE is definitely a product with little middle ground. “You are either a fanatic about it,” said Claire Sawyer-Mills, of Illinois, “or you hardly have any idea what it even is.”
Per the crowd at Lucas Oil, there are a lot of fanatics. The more than 70,000 fans who descended on the stadium Saturday night shattered the Royal Rumble’s all-time record. It was the largest attendance for any non-WresteMania pro wrestling event in history. Approximately 70% of the fans were expected to be from outside the Indianapolis area.
They watched Jey Uso win the men’s event, eliminating John Cena in his final Royal Rumble, and watched Charlotte Flair as victor in the women’s match.
The crowd also proved there is no one “type” of WWE fan.
WWE fans: Loud and proud
From the world’s most popular streamer Kai Cenat to Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton to 73-year-old musician John Mellencamp to actor O’Shea Jackson, Jr., who is Ice Cube’s son, to women, little boys, teenage girls, grandparents, young parents, middle-aged couples, there was diversity all around.
According to Wrestlenomics.com, about 25% of WWE’s audiences are Black with 12% of viewers Hispanic. Women make up 36% of the fans and the biggest fan base is males 30-44 years old.
While its popularity is unmatched in the United States, the WWE says India is one of its largest international markets. The latest numbers show Raw and SmackDown events in India had an average of 50 million viewers weekly.
The franchise is also popular in Japan, Australia, the Philippines and has held events in Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. For Royal Rumbles, those bring the second largest international crowd of all WWE events. And that crowd is loud and proud.
Outside of Lucas Oil hours before the Royal Rumble began, the golden championship belts glistened in the chilly sunshine, mostly grown men wearing them slung over their shoulders or wrapped around their waists.
Little kids held poster signs, handcrafted tributes to their favorite wrestlers. Women were dressed in fishnet stockings, glittery skirts, emulating the WWE divas they admire. Other fans went full force, wearing wrestling singlets and black boots, the temps barely 40 degrees.
It was not quite the outrageous attire GenCon brings to Indy but, out of context and having no idea one of the WWE’s three main events was in town, some of the fans packing the streets would have seemed completely over the top.
Indy went all out for those fans, dressing the city with its own attire. Twenty-five streets were named for the WWE, including Cody Rd., Bianca Belair Blvd., KO Ave. and Seth “Freakin’” Rd. Indianapolis International Airport went all-in on Royal Rumble and restaurants crafted special menu items.
Indianapolis International Airport welcomes WWE fans for Royal Rumble
Indianapolis International Airport is ready to welcome the more than 50,000 fans arriving for WWE Royal Rumble this weekend.
More than $40 million in economic impact is expected from the Rumble in Indy on Saturday night. It is part of a three-event deal between the city and WWE to also bring Summer Slam and WrestleMania to Indy. Dates for those events are yet to be determined, but all three combined will infuse $350 million into the city, according to Indiana Sports Corp.
Settling the debate over what WWE is and hopefully putting an end to its mocking, Lauren Sparkman, a diehard WWE fan, describes it this way.
“I always say WWE is 100% sport and 100% entertainment,” said Sparkman, who co-hosted the local organizing committee that brought the Royal Rumble to Indy. “It’s absolutely world-class athleticism. It is more cinematic than a soap opera, but a lot more spectacle than a football game. It’s the intimacy of live theater, but it’s also completely electric, like an arena tour. It’s just, it’s completely unique.”
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
Indianapolis, IN
If Anthony Richardson Can’t Beat Out 44-Year-Old Philip Rivers, That’s A Big Problem
Indianapolis’s playoff chances collide with player development as Rivers challenges a cleared Richardson for QB1.
After Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn Achilles, the Indianapolis Colts turned to 44-year-old Philip Rivers. Rivers, who hadn’t taken an NFL snap since January 2021, immediately stepped into the team’s starting lineup and nearly led the team to a shocking upset over the Seattle Seahawks.
But there’s a new wrinkle. Anthony Richardson, the quarterback the Colts selected with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, was cleared to return to football activities. Richardson suffered a freak pregame orbital fracture on Oct. 12.
Now the question for the Colts is simple: Who starts at quarterback when Richardson is healthy enough to play? The decision would be easy if the Colts were out of playoff contention. They would start the young quarterback and hope he shows some of the flashes he displayed during his very short rookie season.
But the Colts are still very much in the AFC postseason picture, currently sitting at 8-6. They are one game behind the Houston Texans for the seventh and final playoff spot with a game against Houston scheduled for Week 18.
They are also two games behind the Jacksonville Jaguars for the AFC South lead, and the two teams meet in Week 17. The Colts don’t control their own postseason destiny; even if Indianapolis wins out, the Texans would get in over the Colts if Houston wins its other two remaining games.
Still, the first step is to win the final three games. That starts with a Monday Night Football matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 16. Rivers is going to start that game, according to head coach Shane Steichen.
This isn’t surprising news, since Richardson hasn’t practiced yet. But there’s going to be a decision between the two starters soon. Who gives them the best chance to win once both QBs are healthy?
Richardson vs. Rivers for Colts QB1
If the answer is Rivers, that’s a death knell for the career of Richardson. Losing the starting job to Daniel Jones was one thing, but failing to start over a 44-year-old QB who spent nearly five years out of the NFL is another matter entirely.
With Anthony Richardson cleared for football activities, the Indianapolis Colts are likely to have to make a decision between the young quarterback and the recently-signed 44-year-old Philip Rivers.
(Imagn Images)
Despite going 6-5 as a starter last season, Richardson completed less than 50% of his passes and threw more interceptions (12) than touchdown passes (8). Of course, Richardson does a lot of his damage on the ground, rushing for 499 yards and 6 touchdowns in his 11 starts in 2024.
Rivers didn’t light up the Seahawks’ defense on Sunday, but he was efficient. He completed 18 of 27 passes for 120 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. The interception came on a desperation heave on the team’s final possession with the game virtually out of reach. Rivers got the ball out quickly, taking only one sack against a very good Seattle defense.
Head coach Shane Steichen was hired prior to the team drafting Richardson, so he has some motivation to ensure Richardson succeeds in the NFL. But he’s not going to put that above the team’s short-term future, which includes an opportunity to reach the playoffs.
Ultimately, Steichen is going to start the quarterback he believes gives him the best chance to win the next three games. If that quarterback is Philip Rivers, it means Anthony Richardson’s NFL future is very, very bleak.
Indianapolis, IN
Philip Rivers fell one throw short of storybook ending in his couch-to-Colts return
He had one last throw left in that 44-year-old wing of his. For most of the afternoon, he’d been able to fool Father Time and frighten 68,771 Seattle Seahawks fans inside Lumen Field who’d come to bury Philip Rivers and, instead, watched him push their football team to the very brink of an impossible upset.
There had been a moment when it seemed Rivers might actually pull off the damn thing, too. That was with 1 minute and 55 seconds left in the game. The Colts led for so much of the game and were behind Seattle 15-13, but the ball was in the old man’s hands now. All day, he’d been careful and efficient. It got him a 13-3 lead at one point. Now, he needed to make a play.
And damned if he didn’t make a play.
Damned if he didn’t throw a 16-yard back-shoulder special to wide receiver Alec Pierce. Damned if that ball didn’t mean the Seahawks were now going to burn all of their timeouts because, in the NFL in 2025, just making it past midfield — as that throw did — means you’re in field goal range.
The Indianapolis Colts have cooled considerably as the season has progressed, going from the NFL’s best record to out of the playoff picture entering Week 15 action.
But one of today’s notable storylines is the return of quarterback Philip Rivers after five years away from the NFL. He’s on the Colts’ active roster as they prepare to play the Seattle Seahawks.
The 44-year-old was on Lumen Field hours before kickoff, taking mental reps.
Colts QB Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending injury last week, and backup Riley Leonard suffered a knee injury, though he remains on the active roster. With Brett Rypien the only other QB on their roster and list of available QBs lacking, the Colts called the last signal-caller to lead them in a playoff game (after the 2020 season).
His comeback has piqued the interest of a former Colts coach and players, his former teammates on the Chargers, former NFL quarterbacks and even those from outside football.
Reaction to Philip Rivers being on the Indianapolis Colts today
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
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