10 WWE Royal Rumble Wins That Would Have Improved WrestleMania
2. Rhea Ripley (2022)
As a matter of concession, it should be noted that Ronda Rousey is an undeniable household name that will surely help spike revenue for WrestleMania weekend. It’s no secret that Vince McMahon has been DYING to market a one-on-one WrestleMania match between Rousey and Charlotte Flair for the last three years. If not for a certain ‘Big Time Becks catching fire and upsetting the apple cart, he probably would have pulled the trigger in 2019. In their dogged pursuit of box office, however, WWE missed an opportunity to do something special for one of their fastest rising full-time superstars.
On 26 August 2018, Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm to be crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion. In December 2019, she toppled Shayna Baszler to capture the NXT Women’s Championship. After finishing second at last year’s Rumble, Ripley acquired the RAW Women’s strap at WrestleMania 37 and Women’s Tag Team Championships last Autumn. Following equally impressive 30 and 45 minute performances in this year’s Rumble and a recent RAW gauntlet match, only Flair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship eludes her.
A WrestleMania rematch with ‘The Queen’ could’ve meant a measure of revenge for Ripley, who lost her NXT Championship to Charlotte at the same show two years prior. Additionally, it was an ‘opportunity’ (so to speak) to become the only woman to win WWE’s Grand Slam with a bonus UK Women’s Title reign. Instead, she’s been relegated to yet another thrown-together partnership for a last-minute title pursuit in WWE’s patchwork tag division.