The Royal Rumble is one of my favorite events of the year — icons of the industry in a spectacular, no holds–barred fight, bringing together fans and fighters new and old. If you’re not familiar with the Royal Rumble, the rules are simple: 30 contestants are given random numbers, and starting with those assigned one and two, they fight in the arena with the next number being called in every sixty seconds. If you’re not a fan that watches year-round, it’s a great chance to meet the up and coming ingenues and see your old favorites in action.
I love the Royal Rumble — just not the one hosted by WWE.
While the WWE Royal Rumble is an honored institution of the pro wrestling world, I’m not really into pro wrestling. What I am a fan of, though, are horror movies. “Dead Meat,” established in 2016, is a podcast and Youtube series dedicated to understanding and appreciating the horror movie industry. For the last three years, the “Dead Meat” team has put their own spin on the Royal Rumble.
The event, hosted by podcast co-hosts (and real-life married couple) James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca and called the Horror Royal Rumble, is a spectacle worth watching. 30 computer-controlled custom characters fight through the rumble — provided by the year’s most up-to-date WWE fighting game — with entrants ranging from horror classics such as “The Shining” and “Psycho” to recent hits such as “Longlegs,” “The Substance” and the Terrifier franchise.
The Horror Royal Rumble is a labor of love. The editing team behind “Dead Meat” curates the match, editing together the real gameplay footage of the computer’s fights with pre-rendered fighter entrances alongside customized audio. Every single fighter is customized in the game’s built-in generator by Rebecca herself, a process that she revealed takes a while — and that’s only after picking which 30 characters deserve to be represented.
While I won’t spoil this year’s event, if you’re interested in watching, the 2025 Horror Royal Rumble felt like a “best of the best” match, with plenty of returning icons and recent favorites. Both of the past winners — M3GAN from her eponymous film, and Kiefer Sutherland’s vampiric David from “The Lost Boys” — returned for another shot at the crown, joined by other returning fighters such as Jason Voorhees (of “Friday the 13th” fame) and Brenda Meeks, Regina Hall’s fan-favorite character from the Scary Movie parody series. In fact, Hall’s Brenda has appeared in all three Horror Royal Rumbles and has consistently been a dominating force in the ring.
This year’s line-up leaned more towards the absurd, but in a way, that still felt satisfying. As is tradition, a few real-life figures found their way into the ring: In the debut Horror Royal Rumble, Stephen King found himself face-to-face with his most infamous creation, the clown Pennywise. This year, we had two real celebrities: Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst (not a character he’s played in a film, just real Fred Durst) and iconic writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. While the computers are always evenly matched, both lasted far longer than I expected.
As a horror movie fan, I love the Horror Royal Rumbles. It gives me the answers to questions I’ve always had, from the classic “Who would win in a fight, Leatherface or Michael Myers?” to the old “How good would the guy from ‘Late Night with the Devil’ be at wrestling?” (Spoiler alert: not great.) This year’s match was by far the most entertaining, owing to the diversity in the roster of horror icons. The unexpected final four contestants led to an even more surprising champion. All that, and WWE’s real Royal Rumble was the same day. It’s a great time to be a rumble fan.
