We told you earlier this week that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey was in talks to return to the WWE and this past Saturday night at the ever-exciting Royal Rumble event, she did just that. Entering the historic match at entrant number 28, Rousey eliminated four women to book her place at Wrestlemania in April.
THE ROWDY ONE IS BACK.@RondaRousey is in the #RoyalRumble Match!!! pic.twitter.com/qUEHGwMlhn
— WWE (@WWE) January 30, 2022
The Match Itself
The match started with returning ‘legend’ Melina joining #1 entrant Sasha Banks to kick off proceedings. Fellow legends Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Ivory, Brie Bella, Mickie James, Nikki Bella, Lita and Mighty Molly all joined the match at various points throughout the night.
Rousey’s former stablemate, Shayna Baszler entered the bout at the coveted #30 spot, however, was eliminated by the legend, Charlotte Flair. It would be Flair that would ultimately be left with Rousey in the ring, with only one of the women making it to Wrestlemania. As we now know, it was Rousey that eliminated her former foe, Flair, capturing the opportunity with both hands.
It's down to @RondaRousey and @MsCharlotteWWE!#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/Ny6NNLb9Jc
— WWE (@WWE) January 30, 2022
There’s no denying that Rousey was certainly rusty. None of the spots in the match had her performing any great, technical moves, with her mostly just rushing her opponents into corners and dirty boxing or throwing knees. She was looked after massively by the more experienced athletes. If she’s to get over to the fans in the coming months, she’s going to have to sharpen her technique. With that being said
What next for Rousey?
We will obviously see Ronda Rousey now return to WWE television in the build-up to WrestleMania in April. With two scheduled PPV events before the biggest PPV of the year, Rousey could feature on both. We will likely see her on both RAW and Smackdown before deciding what belt to challenge for. We can’t expect her to challenge Mandy Rose for the NXT women’s championship.
She has already had a rivalry with Smackdown women’s champion, Charlotte Flair and RAW women’s champion, Becky Lynch, so we can expect her to re-kindle each of these rivalries on her road to Wrestlemania.
Featured Image from WWE Twitter
