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The 2018 Royal Rumble event will emanate from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be the 30th anniversary of the event and will officially kick off the road to Wrestlemania 34.
On the December 18, 2017, episode of WWE Raw, Stephanie McMahon interrupted a commotion featuring all of Raw's female Superstars to announce the first ever Women's Royal Rumble.
The announcement is believed to have shocked all the women who were present in the ring since none of them expected it. We will, therefore, have two Royal Rumble matches but it is the women's Royal Rumble match that has generated a lot of media interest since it has never been done before.
Speculations on who will win the first-ever women's Royal Rumble has been rife this past week. With a number of surprise entrants widely expected, one name has been widely rumoured to debut on the show.
The name is Ronda Rousey who has been spotted training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida in recent months. The Royal Rumble, therefore, presents the perfect avenue for Ronda's seemingly inevitable WWE debut.
Here are the 5 reasons why Ronda Rousey should debut and win the Royal Rumble match;
#5 Legitimacy to the Women's division
Ronda Rousey is a legend in the world of mixed martial art. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion and was ranked the most dominant active athlete in 2015 by two magazines. She made her first WWE appearance at Wrestlemania 31 where she had an altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Ronda is a decorated judoka, she typically grounds an opponent with hip throws and sweeps, then seeks to finish with strikes or submissions. She is right-handed but is a left-handed judoka fighting in an orthodox stance as a striker. It is therefore quite obvious why she was once the most feared woman in Mixed Martial Arts. A Royal Rumble win by such an accomplished fighter would bring legitimacy to the WWE Women's division and such a move would also make the division grow even further.
#4 Global attraction
Ronda Rousey is a megastar. Besides dominating the world of Mixed Martial Arts, she has been involved in other ventures outside the octagon such as having a range of commercial partnerships, that include mobile network operator MetroPCS, insurance agency Insureon, Reebok, and Carl's Jr.
Also, it is worth noting that a number of starring film roles have been developed for Rousey, including an adaptation of her autobiography My Fight/Your Fight at Paramount, The Athena Project at Warner Bros., the Peter Berg-directed action film Mile 22, and a remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze action drama Road House.
Rousey co-starred in The Expendables 3 (2014), marking her first role in a major motion picture.In 2015, she also appeared in the film Furious 7 and played herself in the film Entourage.
Ronda clearly is a global attraction with millions of fans all over the world. A Royal Rumble win would make her fans cross over to the WWE product for the sole purpose of watching her wrestle and make history.
Ronda debuting and winning the first Women's WWE Royal Rumble Match will add tons of mainstream media coverage to the event.This is something the WWE would fully capitalize on.
#3 Dream match for the Women's Championship
A Ronda Rousey win at the Royal Rumble could set up potential dream matches at Wrestlemania 34 in New Orleans. Charlotte Flair is the current SmackDown's Women's Champion. During the Mae Young Classic on July 14, 2017, Ronda Rousey had a face-off with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Bayley in what appeared to tease a future collision.
A Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair match has mainstream marquee value and is a match the WWE would capitalize on. Charlotte is one of the most established Women wrestlers today and an encounter with Ronda Rosey at the biggest stage would be truly a mouth-watering clash.
Asuka is also a worthy opponent to Ronda following her unbeaten streak. Asuka is considered one of the best workers in the company and has been using the armbar as her finisher which is a move Ronda perfected in the Octagon. A match between the two would, therefore, also be an exciting one to watch.
#2 Redemption
Ronda Rousey, the last Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion, was undefeated in MMA, winning 12 consecutive MMA fights with 6 of her wins in the UFC. She won 11 of the 12 fights in the first round, nine of them by armbar submission. In May 2015, two magazines ranked Rousey as the most "dominant" active athlete.
Rousey's dominance came to an end when she faced Holly Holm in the main event at UFC 193 on November 15, 2015. Holm knocked Rousey out with a high kick to the neck in the second round to end Rousey's three-year reign as champion.
After over a year away from the sport, Rousey returned to face current champion Amanda Nunes on December 30, 2016, in the main event at UFC 207. She lost the fight via TKO in the first round following Nunes’ straight and overhand shots. These two losses were devastating and tarnished her otherwise impressive legacy.
Rousey admitted that suicidal thoughts went through her mind in the aftermath of her knockout loss to Holly Holm in November 2015 during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. A win at the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble would be exactly what Ronda needs to erase the memories of her two devastating losses and to rebuild her legacy.
#1 Women can headline Wrestlemania for the first time
Wrestlemania is the biggest event of the year for the WWE. This is the show in which stars are created, torches are passed and careers ended. For the past 33 years, the WWE has produced some exciting main event matches at the biggest stage. However, all these matches have consisted of male wrestlers, no female wrestler has ever been in the main event match at Wrestlemania.
There have been rumours of a Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns second encounter at Wrestlemania 34. This is the match wrestling observers have speculated to be the main event. Recent happenings in the WWE also indicate the same since Lesnar has not been defeated for the Universal title after he won it at Wrestlemania 33.
The WWE has been building Roman Reigns as the next John Cena and so it all makes sense to have their golden boy slay the beast to cement his place as the "top dog". However, the fans are not so elated with this rumour and with fans not showing any excitement towards the match-up, WWE could pull a fast one and instead have the match but not in the main event.
With Ronda Rousey rumoured to debut at the Women's Rumble match, the WWE could build a big women's match to headline Wrestlemania 34 since Ronda is a big attraction and would generate a lot of mainstream media. Hence, Ronda winning the Royal Rumble would set up a huge Women's Championship match at Wrestlemania.
The women would definitely benefit from this history-making occurrence. This is a move that would trend worldwide and be talked about for years to come and Ronda would be the reason why.
