WWE Raw Preview and Predictions: Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott
By Bryan Heaton
No Finish? No Problem
If you think there will be a clean finish to the Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott match tonight on WWE Raw, well, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.
Think of all the facts: first, Rousey is the Raw Women’s Champion, and Riott is her most likely championship challenger. Tonight’s match is a non-title affair, so a clean finish would result in a) the champion losing a non-title match, or b) the strongest championship contender getting bumped down the line.
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There’s no chance in hell that Rousey’s first loss in WWE will come in a random, almost throwaway match on Raw — let alone as champion in a non-title affair. So we’re not getting a Ruby Riott “upset” victory. And after Ruby, who’s the next most-well built challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship? Ember Moon? Sasha Banks? No one has really stood out, so I don’t see Ruby losing and falling in the standings.
Instead, the specter of the looming six-woman tag match at Super Show-Down will give us a clue as to what’s going to happen here tonight. Ruby will get some good work in on Rousey during the early part of the match. But Ronda will make her usual comeback in the later parts of the match, and seem poised for a victory.
Maybe Rousey will even get her armbar almost cinched in, but before Riott taps, Sarah Logan will interfere (Liv Morgan, too, if her brain is healthy). The ensuing uneven battle will be matched by The Bellas, because WWE is the most predictable booking entity in pro wrestling.
The only wrinkle I could see being added? During the skirmish after the match, Nikki Bella accidentally (“accidentally”?) connects with a forearm to Rousey, leaving the champion reeling. At Super Show-Down, that altercation will be expanded on to get us to the long-rumored Rousey/Nikki match at Evolution later this month.
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What do you think is going down on this week’s episode of WWE Raw?