Ruby Riott will face Ronda Rousey at the WWE Elimination Chamber Pay Per View in Houston, and this is another huge opportunity for Ruby to show why she’s one of the best wrestlers on the Raw roster.
There’s no doubt that when Ronda Rousey’s name is on the card, she’ll deliver inside the ring. Whether it’s Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Natalya, Bayley, or Sasha Banks, Ronda has put on quality match after quality match, with her Raw Women’s Championship title defense at the Royal Rumble Pay Per View against “The Legit Boss” being the best of the bunch.
At WWE Elimination Chamber, Rousey will face a familiar opponent in Ruby Riott, as WWE announced on Twitter that this match has been made official.
Though there has only been minimal build towards this bout – Ruby ducked a match against Ronda last week – it makes sense for Ruby to get a title match. Rousey is clearly ticketed for a Raw Women’s Championship defense against Becky Lynch – and maybe Charlotte Flair – in the main event of WrestleMania 35, and Ruby is an ideal “spoiler” heel for Ronda, especially if WWE wants to keep the crowd behind Rousey for a bit longer. (Because, as we all saw, nobody is going to cheer a wrestler over The Man at this point.)
JUST ANNOUNCED: @RondaRousey will defend her #RAW #WomensTitle against @RubyRiottWWE at #WWEChamber! https://t.co/OqchgR51B6 pic.twitter.com/8B7cVwq1X1
— WWE (@WWE) February 8, 2019
Ruby’s teammates in the Riott Squad, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan, will compete inside the Elimination Chamber structure in a six-woman tag match that will decide the Women’s Tag Team Champions. Though the IIconics and the Boss’N’Hug Connection appear to be the favorites to grab the titles, Morgan and Logan cannot be counted out, especially with their chemistry and all the improvements they’ve made over the past year on the WWE main roster.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
The fact that Ruby has a different title match from her faction members is notable for two reasons.
Firstly, it leaves open the possibility of the Riott Squad closing out the Elimination Chamber with all of the gold, and while that’s highly unlikely, the fact that they are in this position heading into the Pay Per View says a lot about their standing on Monday nights.
Secondly, it shows that while Morgan and Logan are valued members of the Raw roster, Ruby Riott is the “Squad” leader for a reason. She’s a main event player in the Raw Women’s Division, and she played a valuable role as a heel in rivalries with Nattie, Sasha and Bayley, and Ronda, briefly, during the fall. Morgan, Logan, and Ruby are all future champions, but Ruby is being positioned as the most immediate threat for a title.
Last year at Fastlane, Ruby made a name for herself on the main roster on the road to WrestleMania, facing Charlotte in her final defense of the SmackDown Women’s Championship before breaking Asuka’s undefeated streak. The match between Ruby and Charlotte was a show-stealer, with Ruby hitting the “Riott Kick” early to nearly upset one of WWE’s most dominant superstars.
It was Ruby’s first big star-making performance on the main roster in the ring, as she gave Charlotte all she could handle.
We could see a similar story develop between Rousey and Riott at the Elimination Chamber on Feb. 17, with the two having their best match to date. They’ve had a number of encounters in singles and tag team competition, but they haven’t had a match recently, let alone one of this magnitude with the title on the line at a major PPV on the road to WrestleMania.
Riott has shown at several points in her main roster career that she has a world of potential, but this is her biggest opportunity to date. With her close friends fighting for the Women’s Tag Team Championships, the leader of the Riott Squad can make a huge statement at the WWE Elimination Chamber PPV by going the distance with the Raw Women’s Champion.