Ronda Rousey stepped up to challenge WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair for the title and did not become the new champion.
They wrestled in the main event of the WWE WrestleMania 38 event in Dallas, Texas at AT&T Stadium. The match started off with Rousey going full throttle, but Flair eventually beat her down for a few minutes. They went back and forth by trading submission holds from armbars to ankle locks to kneebars to figure eights.
The finish saw a referee bump then Rousey locked in the armbar and Flair tapped, but the referee didn’t see it. Flair with a big boot to Rousey as Rousey got the referee up for the win.
Rousey earned this title bout and became Charlotte’s WrestleMania challenger after winning this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match, which also marked her return to WWE after having not appeared for the company since WrestleMania 35 in 2019 where she lost to Becky Lynch in a triple threat match with the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Titles on the line.
Rousey teamed with Naomi to defeat Charlotte & Sonya Deville in a tag team match at Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia in February. The match had a stipulation where Rousey had to wrestle with her arm tied behind her back.
