Just under two weeks after coming up short to Ohio State in the College Football National Championship Game, Marcus Freeman made his triumphant return to television – okay, Peacock – at the 2025 Royal Rumble, sitting ringside for the show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

A lifetime fan of professional wrestling who grew up watching shows before he got a more hands-on experience with the sport thanks to his college friendship at Ohio State with James Laurinaitis, Freeman made headlines for discussing his WWE fandom before the National Championship, with fans and wrestlers alike urging him to return to a show during the offseason.

Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish's season didn't end as planned, as they took a loss to Ohio State that wasn't particularly close, but even if his team has extra motivation to win games this fall, that doesn't mean the coach can't take his kids to a wrestling PLE, right, especially considering Indianapolis is under a three-hour drive – or a very short plane ride – from South Bend. Who knows, maybe Freeman will take something from the event he can use this fall, from a new touchdown celebration dance to some inspiration for his interview promo game.

Marcus Freeman hinted at future WWE appearances in January

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Back in January, Freeman revealed the origins of his wrestling fandom to reporters before the National Championship, which go farther back than some fans might have initially expected.

“I grew up a wrestling fan, and he came in the year after I got to Ohio State. When I found out the son of the Animal was coming in, I was a fan, I was a wrestling fan. We did go to a lot of WrestleManias together, I can’t remember how many,” Freeman explained via Fightful.

“But now my kids are fans. If we can get to a wrestling event and I can take my kids there, we try to. We went to one in Chicago, I can’t remember when it was, a couple months ago. It might have been before the season, but we went to a Friday Night SmackDown in Chicago. I grew up watching, I liked it, I don’t know, the characters. I think at different phases, you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real. You ended up idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and all those guys, and then as I got to go to some WrestleManias with James, you got to know some of the people, and now it’s about seeing your kids happy, and if my kids want to go wrestling, as a father, I will try to do that.”

Were some fans online upset to see Freeman at the show? Sure, when aren't at least a few fans upset about everything? Fortunately, the majority of fans were excited to see the Notre Dame head coach spending some time with his kids, who looked very excited to be at the show.