Charlotte Flair

We go back to the ring and out comes Ronda Rousey. Rousey is all smiles as she marches down the ramp with nothing special but custom attire.

Flair takes advantage and rushes, delivering a big boot to the head to knock Rousey right back down. Flair comes back down to the apron and reaches for Rousey but Rousey slams her to the mat and she lands hard with a thud. Rousey charges at ringside but Flair catches her and launches her into the barrier with a big Exploder suplex. Rousey sends Flair to the floor but Flair comes back in and sends Rousey to the floor. Flair gets the Figure Four and bridges to the Figure Eight but Rousey turns it over into another submission. They tangle and Rousey applies the ankle lock, pulling Flair back to the middle of the ring. Flair goes for the bottom rope but Rousey pulls her back. Rousey pulls herself back up and rocks Flair but Flair knocks her back down one more time. Flair with a big boot to the face. Flair keeps control until Rousey tosses her to the mat and then nails a knee to the face for a 2 count. Rousey tosses Flair and takes her back down, going into the ankle lock but Flair scrambles away. Flair stops on the ramp and spins around to show of her robe as the fireworks explode above.

Charlotte Flair is still your SmackDown Women's champion. Flair overcame Ronda Rousey in the penultimate segment presented on Night 1 of WWE WrestleMania 38 ...

Rousey returned in January from a three-year hiatus, winning the women's Royal Rumble match and locking in her spot at WrestleMania. She immediately entered a feud with Flair that culminated in Saturday's match. Rousey attempted to revive the referee, opening herself to a big boot from Flair that spelled doom for the ex-UFC star. Flair avoided or interrupted armbar and ankle locks from Rousey; meanwhile, Rousey becomes the first superstar to ever escape Flair's Figure Eight finishing maneuver.

Ronda Rousey suffered her first pinfall loss in WWE as Charlotte Flair retained the SmackDown Women's Championship. The match was filled with shenanigans as ...

“I was the, part of the first main event with women and this is now the third. Kevin Owens proclaimed he and Stone Cold Steve Austin would main event Night 1 of WrestleMania as Austin’s appearance seemed more and more like it would be closer to a full-blown match. And while Rousey and Charlotte were brilliant during the build to their previous WrestleMania 35 showdown, that spark simply wasn’t there throughout the buildup to their singles match. Poor build aside, If the match itself was going to be anything like their previous one-on-one match at Survivor Series 2018, fans were in for a treat. Charlotte came back with a boot to the face, surprisingly winning the match as a +425 underdog against the heavily favored Rousey (-800). The match was filled with shenanigans as Ronda Rousey thought she had the match won before referee Charles Robinson waved off a three-count due to Charlotte having her foot on the rope.

At WWE WrestleMania 38, Ronda Rousey challenged Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship. Notes from the match (written in real-time):.

Flair hit a boot to the head and she covered Ronda to retain the title. Rousey slipped out of the Figure 4 attempt and she hit a scoop slam and pin attempt. Rousey hit a tornado DDT and Charlotte kicked out of the pin attempt. Ronda hit the Piper’s Pit, Charlotte slipped out of the armbar attempt. Charlotte hit a spear and Ronda kicked out of the pin attempt. Back in the ring, Charlotte hit a hard forearm to the head that knocked Ronda to the mat.

Ronda Rousey made her return to WrestleMania on Saturday night but she fell short in her match against Charlotte Flair.

By all accounts, Rousey is expected to stick around WWE beyond her match at WrestleMania, though she’s never worked a full-time schedule with the promotion. That said, Rousey still pulled off a few highlight-reel maneuvers while trading shots back and forth with Flair. Ronda Rousey made her return to WrestleMania on Saturday night, but she left with a loss after falling to Charlotte Flair in a match highlighted by a few ugly spots.

Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair had a tough act to follow with Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair, especially with the match ...

However, those rumors turned out to be completely baseless as Rousey was there and wrestled. The force of the kick forced Flair into an accidental spear on the referee. Firstly, Ronda Rousey hit Flair with a second Piper's Pit of the match and pinned her for a three count, which the referee fully counted.

Check out Ronda Rousey's losing effort opposite SmackDown women's champion Charlotte Flair earlier tonight (Sat., April 2, 2022) at WrestleMania 38 live on ...

Flair then sneakily launched a front kick that smacked Rousey in the face and allowed the SmackDown champion to pin “Rowdy” and retain her title. A few minutes later Flair sunk in a tight figure-eight submission lock that nearly forced Rousey to tap. Of course, Flair regrouped to put Rousey down with a long front kick.

Charlotte Flair handed Ronda Rousey the first one-on-one loss of her WWE career on Night 1 of WrestleMania 38 on Saturday to retain the SmackDown Women's...

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. After that, the former MMA star wasn't seen again on WWE programming until the 2022 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. But the referee had been knocked out a moment earlier.