The WWE Royal Rumble matches for this year have undergone a few changes. Several plans that were outlined several weeks ago have been nixed.
According to Fightful Select, Ronda Rousey was supposed to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Raquel Rodriguez at the Royal Rumble PLE. The match was pushed back several weeks, and Rousey instead lost the belt to Charlotte Flair.
Charlotte Flair was initially on a “suggested matches” list to wrestle Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship, and Rhea Ripley was scheduled to face Rousey, Fightful Select reports. According to WrestlingNews.co, these are matches that were scheduled for WrestleMania a month ago.
Several creative options were presented to Rousey but did not work out, so the decision was made to move up the match with Rodriguez and then have her hand the belt over to Flair, according to Fightful.
The original plan was for Rousey to reportedly enter WrestleMania as the SmackDown Women’s Champion, according to WrestlingNews.co. It’s now unclear what Rousey’s plans are at WrestleMania.
Rousey is not currently advertised for this weekend’s Royal Rumble PLE.
