It was announced earlier this week that the next challenger for Nia Jax’s WWE RAW Women’s Title would be Ronda Rousey.
The announcement was maybe Monday morning during NBC’s Upfront, when Nia issued a challenge to Rousey for the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV. Which was accepted by Rousey, and has been promoted by WWE all week.
The booking decision to have two babyfaces square off for the belt is definitely an interesting one, especially since at the time of the challenge – Rousey had only had one professional wrestling match, which was her mixed tag match at WrestleMania against Stephanie McMahon & Triple H. Since then Rousey has had her WWE Live Event debut as part of WWE’s European Tour yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.
The match was discussed in the recent issue of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and it was noted that this could be used as an opportunity for WWE to continue the storyline between Ronda Rousey and Stephanie McMahon. This would of course turn Nia Jax heel, after the company had just made her the babyface as part of her program with Alexa Bliss which saw her win the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 34.
WWE could use Nia Jax as a means for Stephanie McMahon to seek revenge against Ronda Rousey after the outcome of their match at WrestleMania. This scenario would actually make sense, and would explain the awkwardness and seemingly out of nowhere challenge that was issued from Nia to Rousey which has had no prior build and has been criticized by many as being “too soon” for Rousey to have a title match.
The possibility of a heel turn for Nia Jax, leaves the door open for a screw job finish to somehow cost Ronda the match and the title. It could easily end up being a “set-up” by Stephanie McMahon, who somehow convinced Nia to side with her to ensure that Nia’s title reign continues.
Editors Note:
While this is all merely speculation/an educated guess as what WWE had in store when the plan was okayed to book the match, it seems to make the most sense. Not that making sense booking wise has been something WWE has been known for lately.
But what seems to be a consensus amongst critics and analysts is that some type of screw-job or run-in will most likely occur. That way you can protect both Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax at the same time. To have Rousey lose cleanly in her second featured match on WWE Programming would kill all the momentum the company has spent months building and investing in. But at the same time, what good would it do to have Rousey go over Nia cleanly? None, all this time was spent building Nia up as a powerhouse would have been for nothing if you have her drop the belt so soon after her push to the top spot.
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