Return of the Baddest Woman on the Planet: Spotlight on Ronda Rousey, Part 2
After WrestleMania 35, Ronda Rousey would take a hiatus from WWE. During this hiatus, Ronda would start a family with husband, former MMA fighter Travis Brown, while working on their farm, Browsey Acres. It wouldn’t be until the 2022 Royal Rumble match that Ronda would return, entering at #28 and winning it last eliminating Charlotte Flair to win. Ronda would make her choice on February 4th, she would face Charlotte Flair for her SmackDown Women’s Championship.
At Elimination Chamber, Ronda would team up with Naomi to defeat Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville, creating more drama between Ronda and Flair, which would grow bigger until WrestleMania. WrestleMania 38 would roll by and it was time for the two to face off in the highly anticipated match. Unfortunately for the challenger, Charlotte would come out on top, giving Ronda her second ever loss in WWE.
The following SmackDown, Ronda would challenge Charlotte to an I Quit match, which was initially declined. The match, however was made official for WrestleMania Backlash, and Ronda would win her second Championship. On May 13th, Ronda would issue an open challenge for her championship, which was accepted by Raquel Rodriguez, in which Ronda was successful.
At Money in the Bank, Ronda would defeat Natalya in her next title defence, but Liv Morgan would successfully Cash in her newly won Money in the Bank briefcase. Ronda would get her rematch at SummerSlam, but would lose the match in a controversial manner, as Liv got the pinfall victory as she was tapping out to Ronda’s armbar submission.
After the match, Ronda would turn heel and attack Liv and the referee, resulting in Ronda getting suspended (in storyline). Once the suspension was lifted, Ronda would earn a title shot at Extreme Rules against Liv by winning a five way elimination match. Liv would then challenge Ronda to an Extreme Rules Match at the PLE, which Ronda accepted and won, making her a two time SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Ronda would issue another open challenge for her championship, which was accepted by the returning Emma, who would lose the match. Ronda would then go on to defend and retain her title at Survivor Series against Shotzi, with help from Shayna Baszler, and on the December 30th SmackDown against Raquel Rodriguez. After this match, Charlotte would make her return, and challenge Ronda to a championship match, which Charlotte would win, becoming champion again.
After this, Ronda would take some time off, before returning to help Shayna Baszler to Ardlethan Liv Morgan and Tegan Nox. This would be the beginning of an alliance between Ronda and Baszler. The pair would take part in the Women’s WrestleMania Showcase fatal four way tag team match, which they’d win, despite Ronda having little participation in the match due to broken elbow. A month later, Ronda and Shayna would get drafted to Raw.
On May 28th, the duo would win the Women’s Tag Team Championships in a Fatal Four Way Tag Team Match, which were vacant at the time, making Ronda the eighth women’s triple crown champion. A Championship Unification match was set for June 23rd between Ronda and Shayna and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, which Ronda and Shayna would win.
They would go on to lose the Championships to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez a week later at Money in the Bank, after Shayna attacked and choked out Ronda. Shayna would go on to say that she was frustrated that she had to go through the NXT route, pay her dues, and prove herself, while Ronda had her debut match at WrestleMania.
Following this, a brawl between the two would take place, ending in Shayna kneeing Ronda in the face. The following week, Shayna defeated Emma, and Ronda would get to the ring and another brawl between the two would take place. This would lead to a match at SummerSlam. The match they had was an MMA Rules Match, which Shayna would win by technical submission. This would be Ronda’s first submission loss.
This would mark the last match Ronda would have in WWE as she went on hiatus. On October 11th, 2023, Ronda Rousey would announce she was retiring from professional wrestling, although she’d return to the independent scene 2 weeks later.
