Should there be a women's Royal Rumble match?

[Dave]

We happened to start talking about this in another thread but, perhaps, it should have its own thread so it isn't buried underneath the other conversation.

What with the Womens Revolution now well on its way and women's wrestling being taken far more seriously than it ever has been in the WWE, is now the time to begin a women's Royal Rumble match to capitalise on its sudden meteoric rise in popularity. Of course, the depth of field isn't there to be able to hold a 30 women Royal Rumble match but there is perhaps scope to be able to do 10-15 women for now.

Personally, I can see it being something that the WWE try to do but I can't bring myself to be excited about it really. The difference between the men and women in the WWE is the depth of quality. Outside of the very top names like Cena, Styles, Rollins, Reigns, Lesnar and Orton, there is a wealth of talent that could easily step up and win a Rumble match. The likes of Zayn, Cesaro, Wyatt and Ambrose are names that immediately spring to mind. All of those guys would give both of the champions a run for their money at WrestleMania.

I don't think I can say the same for the women's division right now. Outside of the top name likes Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Becky and Nikki Bella, the talent really seems to fall off of a cliff. Am I at all interested in seeing something like Charlotte against Carmella (if that were possible)? Absolutely not. I just don't think there is enough quality in the women's division to be able to make this passable, especially given that a lot of people believe most of the mens roster to be also rans.

But what do you think?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

There doesn't have to be but I would like it if they tried it. The quality definitely exists in the division. It is simply a battle royal. WWE could easily throw 15 women together between Raw, SD, and NXT. They could bring back a former competitor or two. They could use some of Nia Jax's recent jobbers to fill spaces. Heck, 20 to 25 isn't insurmountable. Throw Maryse in there dammit.

I would say they have as high of a probability to put on a quality Rumble as the men. Probably higher since it would be new.

My only question is in regard to the height of the ropes and whether or not the women can make it look realistic throwing each other over. The men don't always do it that well. I'm sure Nia Jax would have no problem but I'm not sure about the others. Call me sexist if you want but I can't think of any examples of the women going over the top.

But overall it is something I want to see.

 

[OYDK]

This topic always seems to pop up every few months and while many have seemed receptive to the idea, I have never really seen the appeal. In my opinion, there are much easier and more creative ways to go about building the Women's programs heading into Mania, especially considering that there is usually only one real storyline (title program) that features women when we talk about Wrestlemania. The main difference between the men and women in the WWE is that, although the girls have been able to climb their way up the card and make themselves more relevant than they have been in 15 years, they're still very much supporting characters when you look at the big picture. That's not a knock on women's wrestling, it's just the way WWE operates and has always operated, though that may change in the future.

People like Sasha and Bailey may excite people and even draw some ratings, but when you're looking at a PPV card, there's always one women's match (maybe two) surrounded by 5 or 6 men's matches. At any given time, you can have up to 15 male wrestlers who are viewed as "stars" or "blue-chippers", you're usually lucky to find 4 women who the fans are invested in at the same time.

Personally, at this point in time I'm not interested in a Women's Rumble. Imagine watching the women in a 45-60 minute battle royal, than watching a 90 minute men's battle royal in the same night. It's overkill. As I said before, there are much more creative ways to book the women on the RTW. Plus, I don't want to give WWE Creative any more reason to be lazy than they already have.

If one day, we get a WWE that features a women's roster of 60 or if 4 women's matches make it onto the Mania card, than I'll be all for this. Until then, I could do without.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Yes there should, at least IMO. 15-women or 20-women Royal Rumble sounds fantastic. People care about the women now. Why not expand it? There's a lot of talent in the division. Take advtange of it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I have to say that women battle royals have never exactly been all that interesting. One big reason is that they've always been eliminated by being tossed between the top & middle rope or being pushed out under the bottom rope. Of course, to be fair, this was back when women's wrestling in WWE meant little to nothing.

To be perfectly honest, I'd prefer to see some other "firsts" for the Women's Division before a Royal Rumble match. I'd rather see the women have a MITB ladder match, maybe even a HIAC or TLC match. Hell, I'd wouldn't mind seeing some sort of street fight or cage match first.

I wouldn't be against a Royal Rumble match for the women, I just don't think it'll happen anytime soon. I read a report earlier this month stating there was talk of doing a women's tournament sometime in the first 3 or 4 months of next year similar to the Cruiserweight Classic. If true, said tournament could be a means of scouting & hiring some more top talent for the women's division.

I wouldn't be against this if it happened, I just don't see a need for it right now. Not counting those who're just working house shows, there are about 25 or so women on the main & NXT rosters. In NXT, Asuka is the only one ready for the main roster so that cuts the total down to about 16 or so spread out over 3 different brands. There are some talented women on the roster but, aside from those other matches I mentioned, I think they'd be better served by some sort of round robin tournament that stretched out during WrestleMania season with the winner gets a shot a whichever championship she chooses.

 

[Rayne]

It doesn't matter if there should or shouldn't be. It's not going to happen. So there's no point in talking about it

What an insightful and well-thought out post! Thank you for your opinion; we at WrestleZone truly appreciate one person's opinion on what other people should or shouldn't be talking about. Don't confuse this for me being salty; I get five cents every time someone on this board says "that will never happen" when it eventually does, and I'm planning on early retirement in a couple of years with that money.

That being said, the WWE could easily pull off a 20-woman Royal Rumble, between their televised brands, NXT, and surprise guest appearances; and it wouldn't really be different than the male Royal Rumble. Most people in it aren't serious contenders, and it would be used to tell a story between two to four of the main competitors, with perhaps an undercard feud being set up in the meantime. It's not a level of talent issue; battle royals aren't exactly masterpieces of construction to begin with.

A woman's Royal Rumble would suffer from two problems, however. The first is the curse of expectations. The women couldn't go out there and just do a battle royal; if it's not great or even above average, people will shit all over it. The bar has been raised concerning what people expect from the Women's Division, and if they don't meet the high expectations they've set for themselves, people will be disappointed- killing the concept for future years. And doing a great battle royal is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off. Any asshole can send twenty people into a ring and tell them who the last person over is; well constructed battle royals involve multiple moving parts, all executing flawlessly.

Which leads into the second problem- the Royal Rumble is an inherently boring match which takes well over an hour to finish. It has a bit of storytelling with the first two or three competitors, then a lot of dead time as they fill up the ring with people for Kane, Reigns, Big Show or Strowman to eliminate. So on top of the seventy-five minute men's Royal Rumble, we're now talking about adding another forty-five minute women's Royal Rumble. Which sounds like one long-ass boring Network special.

I would really like to see a Women's Royal Rumble, in spite of the above two problems; if there's a group of women that could pull it off and make it interesting, it's the group that the WWE has now. But if the WWE does do a WRR, it can't be half or even quarter assed; and it probably shouldn't happen in January. Unless it's on RAW, which now that I think about it, sounds like pretty good advertising for the men's Royal Rumble.

 

[Azane]

I was really psyched that there might of been a Women's MITB match this year, and when it didnt pan out, I was a bit sad.

I guess the problem with having a woman's rumble, is that they'd have 2 back to back royal rumbles on a card that already gives up half of it's slots to the Royal Rumble, do we want either a pre-show Woman's Rumble, which is an insult, or 2 hours of rumbling?

The best aspect of Royal Rumble, is that it can create a dozen stories within itself, something woman's wrestling has lacked for years has been good stories outside the titles, Royal Rumble brawls can lead to Wrestlemania matches that don't need to involve titles (but in a world with 25 titles, it's less and less likely shared ppvs will have many non-title matchups)

 

[kadroan]

The women's roster isn't deep enough. Only way I could see it work is if the NXT women wrestlers are all involved.

 

[mral82]

The Simple answer is YES! as if you need an example Go watch TNA Knockouts in the Gauntlets Matches as they actually go over the top like Real ppl and not thru the Ropes or under the bottom like WWE Stooges. Plus they've got enuff Women to do it as well as throw in all Active and there's 10-12 then you throw in a few NXT Girls which could be another up to 10 Spots and throw in Legends for the other up to 10 if you go 30.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Absolutely. It would have to be smaller than the mens' Rumble due to roster size though. You could include every woman (disregarding the two champions obviously) on the main roster as well as a couple from the NXT Women's division such as Ember Moon and Liv Morgan, then finally see if a couple of legends/alumni would like to participate. Maybe even Asuka, even if she's still the NXT Women's Champion by then. 15 would be ideal, maybe 20 if there are enough participants available. It is worth a try and I'd want to see it happen. Then the winner, much like the traditional Rumble match, gets to pick either the Raw Women's Champion or the Smackdown Women's Champion to challenge to a match at Wrestlemania. WWE should certainly consider it. The womens division as a whole has improved so much now that they would be able to pull it off.

 

[ShinChan]

Yes there should, at least IMO. 15-women or 20-women Royal Rumble sounds fantastic. People care about the women now. Why not expand it? There's a lot of talent in the division. Take advtange of it.

This.

15-20 women Royal Rumble match could be good. Don't let it be more than a half an hour. Because we know that the men Royal Rumble would surely take atleast 40-50 minutes.

I guess even 20 is an exaggeration. 15 would be the right amount. You could use this to debut someone from NxT or even feature the return of someone.

Still as said by another poster, MITB briefcase for women or another gimmick matches should be preferred before this match as the latter isn't as interesting as the former.