The 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble Proved The Future Is Bright

The second Women’s Royal Rumble match in WWE history saw Becky Lynch emerge with a golden ticket to a title match at WrestleMania. While The Man’s victory was the story of the match, a few Royal Rumble surprises foreshadowed a very bright future for the women’s division.

Last year’s Women’s Royal Rumble was a melting pot of active women’s wrestlers and names of the past. While the latter was partially to compensate for WWE’s thin women’s roster at the time, the returning stars were a more than welcome addition to a historic occasion.

Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Lita and others all competed in the Rumble to represent their respective eras.

This year, the Women’s Rumble was slightly different. Rather than rely on nostalgia, the Royal Rumble was comprised exclusively of women from WWE’s active roster. The heavy hitters from Raw and SmackDown such as Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, and Bayley gave this year’s Rumble all the star power it needed.

However, the Rumble also did an amazing job of spotlighting stars of the future.

Lacey Evans—who debuted on Raw the week before by interrupting Alexa Bliss—entered the Royal Rumble at #1. Unfortunately, Evans was eliminated before fans got to see her scramble with the former 5-time champ.

The bright side is that Evans put on a very strong showing, lasting nearly 30 minutes and scoring two eliminations. To date, Evans has yet to officially join Raw or SmackDown, but her solid Rumble performance bodes well for her future on either brand.

Kacy Catanzaro hasn’t been seen very often on NXT since she appeared in the second Mae Young Classic tournament. That didn’t stop the former American Ninja Warrior competitor from becoming one of the Rumble’s talking points.

Facing elimination at the hands of Dana Brooke, Kacy Catanzaro used her insane athleticism to show off her Kofi Kingston-like elusiveness and keep herself in the match.

As par for the course after a wrestler has a highlight reel save, Catanzaro was promptly eliminated by Rhea Ripley less than a minute later, but her guts and athletic prowess were a great impression on fans who weren’t familiar with her work in NXT and the Mae Young Classic.

Speaking of Rhea Ripley, the imposing Australian was the NXT UK brand’s sole representative in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

In addition to eliminating the aforementioned Catanzaro, she also dumped Dana Brooke and Zelina Vega before being eliminated herself by Bayley.

At only 22 years old, Ripley has two Mae Young Classic appearances, an NXT UK Women’s title reign, and a Royal Rumble appearance on her resume. It shouldn’t be too long before Ripley becomes not just a household name on WWE’s roster, but one of the key players on it.

In addition to these amazing entrants, the appearance of Candice LeRae saw a brief rekindling of her rivalry with Zelina Vega. Xia Li showed off her stunning stirking prowess. Io Shirai made her Rumble debut with a breathtaking moonsault on The Riott Squad.

Additionally, Kairi Sane—who Shirai saved from a  post-elimination Riott Squad beatdown—went chop-for-chop with Charlotte Flair and lasted nearly 20 minutes. Nikki Cross also received one of the louder crowd reactions from the Women’s Rumble match and went on a psychotic frenzy, launching herself onto the other entrants.

The inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble match was about making history and showcasing women of the past, present and future of WWE. With the moments that current and future stars of this year’s Women’s Rumble produced, it’s safe to say that the future is in good hands.