12 Biggest WWE Storylines Ever (And How You Never Saw Them Coming)

2. The Royal Rumble Ballad Of Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair & Not Becky Lynch

Ronda Rousey
WWE.com

WWE's women's division was at long last the company's biggest burning issue at the climax of 2018's Royal Rumble main event. It foreshadowed even brighter days for the talented league, even the performer to eventually gain the most spotlight was still hidden in the dark.

Ronda Rousey's transcendent arrival saw her come face-to-face with Raw Champion Alexa Bliss, Rumble Winner Asuka, SmackDown Champion Charlotte Flair, and company chief Stephanie McMahon. She'd dominate the latter at WrestleMania, 'Little Miss Bliss' at SummerSlam and 'The Queen' at Survivor Series, and though an Asuka dream match never came to be in Ronda's maiden year, her biggest rival was still being used for workhorse purposes in the evening's historic headliner.

Four megastars filled the ring as the pay-per-view went off the air, but 'The Man' partly responsible for its final push to the WrestleMania main event had been forced to endure a far less satisfying shift. Entering as #2 and going half an hour, Lynch barely grazed the second half of the contest and only managed a single individual elimination in that time.

She'd wanted what all of the above were set to get that night, but it would take her half a year to figure out how to finally go and get it.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.