It’s hard to imagine there would be a WrestleMania where Ronda Rousey is an active part of the WWE roster but not on the card. Cheer her or boo her, but Rousey remains a big name whose value to the company goes beyond the people who tune in to WWE programming every week.
Yet as it stands, eight days out from WrestleMania 39, Rousey doesn’t have a match. A big part of that is because she’s not healthy, suffering an elbow fracture last month. Rousey herself said doctors haven’t cleared her to wrestle yet.
But that could change in time for Los Angeles. In his latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), Dave Meltzer says Rousey is still expected to team with Shayna Baszler at SoFi Stadium, and offers some insight into which match they will be in:
Rousey is still on the show at this point, as far as the newly announced four-team tag team match for both men and women.
The women’s match at this point has only announced Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan. We did confirm Baszler & Rousey were scheduled in this match as of this past week.
The match in question is a WrestleMania Showcase four-way tag team match, which will feature three yet to be named teams along with Rodriguez and Morgan. There’s also a men’s match of the same kind whose field has already been announced.
WWE hasn’t explained the stakes for these matches, but the assumption is that the winners will get to challenge for the tag team titles after WrestleMania. If that’s the case, it could get Rousey and Baszler back on track for what they were reportedly headed for prior to Rousey’s injury, which is a run at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Adding to the likelihood of that idea is the fact that those titles are currently held by fan favorites Becky Lynch and Lita, who are not defending them at WrestleMania. Having Rousey and Baszler go against them for the gold would be a fairly no-brainer program for later this spring.
As Meltzer is fond of saying, plans change. They already seem to have done so with Rousey, and may again right up until next week depending on her health status.