WWE Royal Rumble: Women’s Rumble Match Official for 2018

WWE’s Women’s Revolution continues to evolve with the announcement of the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match for 2018.

The main event on this week’s episode of WWE Raw was a six woman tag match. Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Mickie James defeated Absolution, albeit by disqualification. For the second straight week, the entire women’s division ended up in the ring brawling, with Paige, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville taking on everyone else.

But this week, the brawl was short lived. Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon came down to the ring, stopping everyone in their tracks. With the fighting stopped, McMahon got down to business.

After recapping all the changes in the women’s division over the past several years, McMahon made an announcement that many believed was inevitable. At the 2018 Royal Rumble pay per view, for the first time ever the women superstars will have a Royal Rumble match as well.

It seems like a long time coming to get to this point. The women’s roster in WWE is larger than it’s ever been. By my count, there are 11 active women on the Raw roster, and 10 on the SmackDown side. (This doesn’t count Maria Kanellis and Maryse, who are currently pregnant, or Nikki Bella, who may be retired.) It would be easy to bring a few NXT superstars up for this, though WWE’s announcement only mentions Raw and SmackDown superstars.

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On the heels of the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match, Money in the Bank ladder match, and the first women’s match in the Middle East, a Royal Rumble announcement seems obvious.

WWE is always all about historic events, so getting one more announcement in before 2017 comes to a close isn’t too surprising.

It’s still early in the process of getting to the Royal Rumble, so there are a few unknowns.

Will the women’s Rumble be a 30-woman match? Will the champions from Raw and SmackDown be eligible, since the prize is a WrestleMania championship opportunity? Are NXT superstars going to participate?

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Regardless of details, it’s the right time for a women’s Rumble. There’s no reason not to give the women superstars the same opportunity as the men – and as long as the goofiness from the Money in the Bank ladder match doesn’t repeat the Rumble should be terrific.