Last week, Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax were all smiles when discussing their Money in the Bank title match. But on RAW, thanks to the nefarious work of Stephanie McMahon, Jax and Rousey are officially enemies.
In WWE’s patented contract signing segment, Stephanie did her best goad both Jax and Rousey into becoming adversaries. After implying Rousey is a bad loser and Jax is lazy, tensions climbed. As McMahon ramped up her speculation, Nia cut her off and declared that Rousey will not beat her on June 17.
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Rousey’s answer? Not only will she take Jax’s title but she’ll take her arm, too.
.@NiaJaxWWE and @RondaRousey don’t mince words when they sign their contracts to compete at #MITB… #Raw #RondavsNia pic.twitter.com/B35DQJI1Pi
— WWE (@WWE) May 22, 2018
This match has already been subjected to a considerable amount of scrutiny. By WWE essentially shotgunning such a big match some fans feel that WWE rushed what could have been a headlining match for SummerSlam. Even more, some feel slighted that Jax vs. Rousey was made official at NBC’s Upfront Presentation rather than RAW itself.
However, the saltiest of fans believe that Rousey is undeserving of such an enviable spot on WWE card. Afterall she’s ha yet to even have a match on RAW.
But WWE doesn’t need to justify any of their choices to fans. However, reports did surface indicating that WWE believed that Money in Bank was their best option by default.
WWE apparently didn’t want to have Rousey skip yet another pay-per-view and didn’t want her in the actual MITB ladder match either. So instead of having her beat Mickie James in five seconds, WWE figured a shot of Nia Jax will at least make some good headlines.
Asked about the Ronda Rousey v Nia Jax rumors happening at MITB & not SummerSlam… Was told, “if they are true, it’s because they can’t ignore Rousey for another PPV, don’t want her in the ladder match, & can’t have her lose a qualifying match so they had no choice.”
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) May 14, 2018
But is Rousey less than a month away from becoming a WWE Champion? Eh, it’s possible but unlikely. While WWE can’t wait to give the former UFC champion a proper launch, they likely didn’t envision it happening at Money in the Bank. WWE officials like envision Rousey getting her first title at WrestleMania or even SummerSlam. I’ll bet that’s still the plan.
But by no means is Nia Jax pinning Ronda Rousey, at least not cleanly. Instead, she’ll probably get a little help from Mickie James or even Nalaya, which could easily contribute to a non-finish as well.
Other rumors had Jax turning heel by aligning with Stephanie McMahon ahead of MITB, the RAW Women’s Champion played it straight on RAW. But with three episode of RAW remaining before the show, Jax will have plenty of opportunities to reveal some dark intentions.
