Charlotte Flair has retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship seeing off the challenge of Ronda Rousey on Night 1 of WrestleMania, but the match reportedly almost didn’t happen after the UFC legend reportedly stormed out of the Hall of Fame.
At the 2022 Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey returned to action for the first time since being pinned by Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania 35 in 2019. Entering at number 28, Rousey went on a tear, eliminating Charlotte Flair to claim the win.
On February 4th, Rousey appeared on SmackDown for the first time in her career to challenge to 13-time World Champion to a match at WrestleMania. After the former UFC star teamed with Naomi to defeat Flair and Sonya Deville at Elimination Chamber, the bad feeling between Rousey and The Queen went to a whole new level with many thinking a WrestleMania main event may be on the cards.
One of those people was Ronda Rousey herself.
During his review of WrestleMania, Bryan Alvarez noted how Ronda Rousey was “furious” when she found out she wasn’t going to be closing the show, and Alvarez noted that someone close to Rousey said she was so mad, she walked out on Friday before the Hall of Fame.
“She discovered she was no longer scheduled to go on last on Friday, and, in a shocking development, walked out of Friday’s taping before the Hall of Fame ceremony unfolded. Clearly, ‘cooler heads’ did indeed ‘prevail.’ She did the job to Charlotte Flair via ref bump shenanigans in a match Ric Flair has described as ‘the greatest’ women’s match ever.” (h/t WhatCulture)
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😲😲😲😲@MsCharlottteWWE@RondaRousey#WrestleMania#WomensTitlepic.twitter.com/oWZ6XHWVph— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2022
Ronda Rousey had publicly said she was main-eventing the show on Ellen earlier in the week, but instead, the return of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin to defeat Kevin Owens sent the fans home happy.
Rousey, of course, did show up after “cooler heads prevailed” in the words of Alvarez, and lost to Charlotte Flair who retained her SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Read the rest of the WrestleMania 38 Saturday results in full.