By Glenn Schouw
Johannesburg — The Queen of WWE’s reign is over. Charlotte Flair left the ring in tears and considerable pain with a a broken arm at WrestleMania 38 Backlash held at Providence, Rhode Island, US this past Sunday.
Ronda Rousey, a former MMA star who has an Olympic bronze medal displayed in her cabinet at home, did the honours in a brutal I Quit bout for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
The SmackDown Championship belt will now join the bronze medal.
The superstars delivered a fantastically brutal contest that put an exclamation point on their feud.
Thousands in attendance and millions of fans worldwide, according to a survey, agreed that they stole the show.
Rousey and Flair were left battered and bruised, with the marks on their bodies reflective of a match that achieved a level of intensity fans and competitors deserved a month earlier on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
It was the first match where The Baddest Woman on the Planet looked comfortable.
Too often, she has seemed uncertain since her return at the Royal Rumble in January.
Rousey entered the industry via a five-star Match of the Year with Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in 2018, and she went on to have one of the greatest rookie years in pro wrestling history. However, the former UFC fighter became a victim of her own success, and her struggle to live up to the standard she set brought some question marks.
Those criticisms should be tempered by her performance on Sunday against, arguably, the best female wrestler in the world.
Rousey hung with Flair, delivering a physical match in which she defeated The Queen by getting her to yell “I quit”.
Where this leaves The Queen is anyone’s guess, but SmackDown belongs to Rousey, and a showdown with the recently returned Lacey Evans feels like the most obvious path for the new champion.
Other results
Roman Reigns and Bloodline beat Drew McIntyre & RK-Bro
Cody Rhodes beat Seth Rollins
AJ Styles lost to Edge
Bobby Lashley lost to Omos
Happy Corbin lost to Madcap Moss
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