Grading the 2021 rookie years of new main roster WWE stars

#2. Rhea Ripley and Doudrop should be important pieces of WWE for years.

In 2020 and early 2021, WWE pushed Bianca Belair as a top-name player. She won the 2021 Royal Rumble and then the SmackDown Women's title at WM 37. The last person eliminated in that Rumble was Rhea Ripley.

Ripley was coming off a successful run in NXT, having won the NXT Women's title and WarGames. Ripley defeated Shayna Baszler for the title. Before that, Baszler had been one of the most dominant women in NXT history.

After seven eliminations and lasting until the final two in the Royal Rumble, Ripley sat in limbo for a month. She was instantly inserted into the RAW Women's Championship scene once Charlotte Flair was deemed unable to compete at WM 37. The Nightmare would challenge and defeat then RAW Women's Champ Asuka.

Flair's return immediately coincided with involvement in the RAW Women's title picture. It wasn't long before she defeated Ripley for the title at Money in the Bank.

After title posturing for a SummerSlam match, Ripley and A.S.H. won WWE Women's Tag Team belts from Nattie and Tamina. In her first year on the main roster, Ripley has won both singles and tag team gold.

What hurt her mystique again, however, was falling to Flair. Ripley's first year was pretty good and beating Flair would have made the grade higher. It's not her fault for the booking.

Doudrop debuted as a "protege" of Eva Marie. It meant that Doudrop would do all of the dirty work for the vapid Eva Marie. She stood up for herself and has been positioned as one of the powerhouses in RAW's women's division.

She has agility that goes well with her size. That combination makes her truly unique. It's not something that comes along every year. Doudrop has battled Belair recently, proving to the EST that there are some other strong women in WWE.

Grades: Rhea Ripley - A-; Grade for Doudrop - B-