Ronda Rousey will take on Nia Jax at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 17 for the Raw Women’s Championship.
Many fans were surprised when the news of the title bout broke on Monday, given how it will be Rousey’s second career professional wrestling match. But if one online source is to be believed, it happened because WWE felt they had booked themselves into a corner.
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The Twitter account WrestleVotes, which has broken the news on a number of backstage stories in the past, wrote on Monday “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.’”
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
This rumor sounds logical enough to be true. The WWE likely doesn’t want Rousey in match as dangerous as the Money in the Bank ladder match yet they still want her on the pay-per-view in some capacity. Plus while it may seem like a sprint on the company’s behalf to get a championship on Rousey ahead of her rumored dream match way down the road at WrestleMania 35 against Charlotte Flair, there’s always a chance the match gets thrown out due to interference.
Rousey and Jax both took part in WWE’s presentation as part of NBC Universal’s Upfront on Monday afternoon in New York City. The two did a brief face-off at the event and commented on the match’s announcement on social media.
“If I’m going to be the best #Raw Women’s Champion, I want to square off against the best. Let’s see how Rowdy @RondaRousey can get,” Jax wrote.
“This challenge came earlier than expected… but I was born ready…I’ll see you at #MITB, @NiaJaxWWE,” Rousey tweeted.
Other matches booked for Money in the Bank include yet another WWE Championship rematch between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura and the two titular ladder matches. So far The Miz, Rusev, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode and Kevin Owens have all qualified for the men’s match while Flair, Ember Moon and Alexa Bliss have earned spots in the women’s match.
Money in the Bank takes place on June 17 at the Allstate Arena just outside of Chicago, Illinois.
