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Ronda Rousey recently won the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Charlotte Flair, defeating the former champion in an “I Quit” match at WrestleMania Backlash. Whilst this victory is a little overdue, it was the correct choice to take the title away from Flair and to allow someone fresh to have a long reign, with Rousey expected to hold the belt until next year's WrestleMania, when a clash with Becky Lynch will likely take place. However, Rousey’s reign is less than a month in, and it already feels as though she has zero challengers for her title, with SmackDown’s roster looking incredibly thin right now.
WWE Is Already Running The Risk Of Ruining Ronda Rousey’s Reign
Although it should have come three years ago, there is still money in a Ronda Rousey vs Becky Lynch match at WrestleMania, and WWE should certainly build towards that. However, there is almost a year between now and then, with Rousey needing to remain strong in order for a likely loss at the hands of Lynch to feel as big as possible. Therefore, there is a lot of time to fill, with Rousey needing to find enough challengers for a full year. And these can’t just be throwaway feuds either, otherwise, her reign will become stale, which could result in the fans turning on Rousey once again.
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With all that in mind, WWE has some serious issues on their hands when it comes to Rousey’s reign as SmackDown Women’s Champion, with there being barely any viable contenders on the blue brand for her to face. With Flair out of the picture, there is a significant lack of star power. There are ways to overcome this, and there are a couple of names who could step up, but these aren’t long-term solutions by any means.
SmackDown’s Women’s Roster Is In Dire Straits
When looking at the current SmackDown roster, there are just 10 names. Flair is taking some time off, whilst Sasha Banks and Naomi have recently been indefinitely suspended. Banks was rumored to be Rousey’s next challenger, with a match between the pair to take place at the upcoming Hell in a Cell PPV, however, this plan has now been abandoned due to Banks walking out of WWE alongside tag team partner, Naomi. Rousey and Naomi had an alliance earlier this year, which could have been the genesis of a match between the two, but now this isn’t a possibility either.
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Outside of Rousey, this leaves just six active competitors on SmackDown presently in the women’s division. This isn’t a division, and to call it that would be an insult. Rousey recently defeated Raquel Rodriguez, who could have been built up as a huge threat down the line, and whilst WWE could return to this at some point, especially since their match was good, it feels like a waste to have already had Rodriguez lose a main roster match.
The likes of Shotzi, Aliyah, and Xia Li don’t have any sort of momentum or believability as challengers, so they are out of the picture. Natalya and Rousey had good chemistry in the past, but there is no desire to see that match take place again, especially not on a PPV. That leaves just Shayna Baszler, and whilst a match between the two best friends could have been a big-time match, WWE has grossly mishandled Baszler over the years, with her stock being very low right now, so she wouldn’t be a believable challenger unless WWE decides to properly invest in building her.
WWE Needs To Find Ways To Build Up Challengers For Ronda Rousey
This leaves WWE with zero good options on SmackDown, which is an issue that has been brought about by themselves with the huge number of cuts over the last few years, coupled with a resistance to consistently book new names. Over on Raw, there are a few matchups that would be good for Rousey, with the likes of Rhea Ripley, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Doudrop, and Bianca Belair all offering interesting potential opponents, but unless WWE decides to completely drop the brand split (which is barely in place as it is), then they aren’t viable options either.
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WWE needs to find a way to fix this soon, or Rousey’s title reign will become a complete waste of time. A draft is upcoming in the next few months, with SmackDown drastically needing a shakeup in terms of its female talents, as they are seriously lacking at the moment. There are clearly no long-term plans in place, with short-term plans looking incomplete too, with Rousey’s next moves not being set out just yet. NXT call-ups moves from Raw, and building up new names should be at the top of WWE’s priority list when it comes to Rousey’s title reign.
