What If WWE Had Introduced The Women’s Royal Rumble Earlier?

The lads’s Royal Rumble first occurred in 1987 at a house show, with the primary official Rumble event debuting a yr later. Although Chyna made history in 1999 when she was the primary woman to ever compete in a Rumble match (she eliminated Mark Henry and was later eliminated by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin) it took 30 years for the ladies of WWE to get their very own Rumble match in 2018.

The inaugural women’s Royal Rumble match featured Superstars from “Raw,” “SmackDown,” and “NXT,” alongside former talent like Jacqueline, Lita, Kelly Kelly, and Trish Stratus. Although the previous Sasha Banks (now referred to as AEW’s Mercedes Mone) lasted nearly an hour, she was eliminated by The Bella Twins. Ultimately, Asuka, who would enter at No. 25, would go down in history as the primary woman to win the ladies’s Royal Rumble.

But what if the inaugural women’s Royal Rumble match had taken place earlier? Who might a number of the initial winners have been? On this edition of What Could Have Been, Wrestling Inc. explores what would have happened if WWE had introduced the ladies’s Rumble 4 years earlier in 2014 — arguably the primary yr they’d the ladies’s roster to support one. What would the 2014-2017 women’s Rumbles have looked like, and who would have won?

In 2014, Aksana, Cameron, Tamina, Layla, Natayla, Summer Rae, and Kaitlyn were a number of the women on the essential roster. WWE would definitely have needed to utilize the “NXT” roster to assist make it to 30 women. The 4 Horsewomen, Alexa Bliss, Paige, Emma, and Carmella could’ve easily been a part of the combo.

Paige was the primary NXT Women’s Champion in 2013. The next yr, she made quite a lot of noise on the essential roster when she defeated AJ Lee to develop into the Divas Champion in her “Raw” debut in April 2014. Lee would win the title back in June and it might be hot-potatoed back to Paige in August. Provided that Lee was champion going into 2014, it would not be much of a stretch to see Paige debuting slightly earlier, winning the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble in 2014, after which defeating Lee at WrestleMania XXX, the night before she did it in real life.

The next yr featured lots of the same women on each the “NXT” and essential rosters. By then, “NXT” had also added Peyton Royce, Billie Kaye, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Aliyah, and Daria Berenato (later referred to as Sonya Deville; now Daria Rae in TNA).

2015 is the hardest yr on this list to work out for the reason that Divas title wasn’t defended at WrestleMania 31 that yr (AJ Lee and Paige wrestled the Bellas in a tag match as an alternative). Provided that Nikki Bella was the Divas Champion in 2015, a fun possibility would have been having Brie win the Royal Rumble to have sister vs. sister for the championship. Bella vs. Bella definitely could’ve been a ‘Mania match that may have cashed in on the recognition of the Bella Twins. 

Lee would have been one other good selection to win since she was one of the vital dominant women’s wrestlers of that era and was feuding with Nikki throughout 2015. Nikki would go on to surpass Lee because the longest-reigning Divas champion. Would which have happened had Lee won the Rumble and challenged Nikki at “The Show of Shows?”

In 2016, “NXT” added Bianca Belair, Ember Moon (Athena in ROH/AEW), Evie (Dakota Kai), Mickie James, Nikki Cross, Mandy Rose, Sarah Bridges (Logan), Victoria Gonzalez (now referred to as Raquel Rodriguez), and Tessa Blanchard. Bayley, Nia Jax, Lana, and Dana Brooke moved as much as “Raw.” Maryse was drafted to “SmackDown,” and Carmella and Eva Marie joined the blue brand too.

The yr prior, Banks had won the NXT Women’s Championship and defended it in several acclaimed matches. To maintain her momentum in the brand new yr, “The Legit Boss” would have been a wonderful alternative to win the Royal Rumble, and he or she did find yourself difficult for the newly restored Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 32 — albeit in a triple threat match with Becky Lynch also difficult the champion, Charlotte Flair. Lynch would have been one other good selection for Rumble winner, although with the brand split later that yr, “The Lass Kicker” became the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion in September. Banks was one of the vital popular wrestlers on the time and winning the Rumble would solidify her as more of a top wrestler and one in all the highest women. She also did find yourself winning the ladies’s title in 2016, but it surely could easily have happened at WrestleMania.

From January until April, Mickie James was on “SmackDown’s” roster. She’d spend the subsequent two years on “Raw.” “NXT” beefed up their women’s roster in 2017 with  Zelina Vega, Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, Ruby Riott, Nixon Newell, Kairi Sane, Taynara Conti (AEW’s Tay Melo), Lacey Evans, and Abbey Laith (Kimber Lee) rounding out the roster. In September, Asuka joined the “Raw” roster. She had been probably the most dominant NXT Women’s Champion, holding the title for 510 days before vacating it. Maria Kanelis-Bennett returned to WWE in June 2017, joining “SmackDown, while Liv Morgan joined the blue brand in November. 

In February of that yr, Naomi won the SmackDown’s Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber. Unfortunately, she only held the title for nine days attributable to a knee injury. She would go on to win the title back at WrestleMania 33. She looks as if probably the most obvious choice to win the 2017 Rumble given her momentum and being a two-time champion before the yr ended.