5 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2022

by Scott Carlson

1. Rousey Adds Star Power

Ronda Rousey
WWE

Even if you were in the camp that Ronda Rousey had outlived her purpose when WrestleMania 35 rolled around, you have to admit that having her back in WWE adds some much-needed star power to the women’s division.

Rousey powered WWE women’s wrestling into the main event scene during her year on the roster, giving a talented division an extra shot in the arm and making it an attraction rather than a solid complementary part of programming.

If reports are true that she’s sticking around for another full year and going full-time with the company, we could see a similar renaissance – IF WWE can actually book the division properly, and if superstars like Asuka and Bayley return ASAP (or NXT wrestlers like Io Shirai and Dakota Kai get the call), and if WWE can utilize its talent correctly.

Either way, Rousey should be a net plus for WWE, and it’ll be fun to see what comes next.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.