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Lita believes Vince McMahon was right to announce several returning WWE legends for the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble Match before the event.
The WWE Chairman received criticism from fans when the returns of Lita, Mickie James, The Bella Twins, and many others were announced in advance. WWE usually keeps the identities of a select few Royal Rumble participants a secret, but that was not the case for this year’s women’s match.
Speaking on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show, Lita admitted that she doubted McMahon’s advertisements at first. But in hindsight, she thinks he made the correct decision:
“I was like, ‘All right, isn’t that taking away the thing that’s the most fun for the audience, the surprises? But all right, I don’t own the company, whatever,'" said Lita. "It ended up being the best thing for me because they announced me, the crowd popped, they had me come a couple of weeks before and the crowd was so excited.”
Lita entered the 30-woman match from the 26th spot and lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds. The legendary superstar was eventually eliminated by Charlotte Flair.
How WWE fans made Lita believe in herself
Earlier this year, Lita appeared in a segment on SmackDown with Charlotte Flair in the build-up to the Royal Rumble. WWE fans responded positively to the Hall of Famer’s appearance; in doing so, they gave her confidence heading into the event.
The four-time Women’s Champion, real name Amy Dumas, added that she knew she could perform as Lita again thanks to her loyal fans:
“That helped remind me," said Lita. "Feeling the response online, all that was a huge factor in me that I don’t feel I played into, because you just are Lita when I’m full-time. You don’t get a chance to not be Lita. That helped me so much to go, ‘They believe I can still do it.’ I guess I can.”
Three weeks after the Royal Rumble, Lita unsuccessfully challenged Becky Lynch for the RAW Women’s Championship in a first-time-ever match at Elimination Chamber. It is currently unclear if she will return to compete in any more matches.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
