On the December 30, 2022 episode of SmackDown, Ronda Rousey defeated Raquel Rodriguez to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Charlotte Flair made her surprise return after the match and defeated Rousey in an impromptu match to win the Title.
In her book, Rousey revealed that she demanded this title change. Here’s what the UFC Hall of Famer wrote:
“I woke up on the bus, parked in front of the Tampa arena for SmackDown, livid. I texted (Paul) Heyman: New plan. I’m dropping the title to Charlotte. Tonight. It wasn’t an ask; it was a demand. Heyman knew me well enough to read between the lines and relay to creative the part that I had left unsaid: that if I didn’t get my way this time, I was going to walk.
I found Charlotte as she was getting ready to rehearse and informed her that she would be walking out of the arena with the title. She didn’t have her gear, she pointed out, but she could send someone to make the two-and a-half-hour roundtrip drive to her house to get it. ‘Do it’, I said.
That night, to the legitimate shock of everyone in attendance, Raquel (Rodriguez) and I had the match of the night. For the finish, she had me on her shoulders atop the turnbuckle in the corner of the ring.
I looked done for, but then contorted myself into a standing armbar balanced on her shoulders. Raquel held onto the ropes, forced to choose between tapping, letting her arm break, or taking the steep fall behind us.
She took the fall. We both crashed down into the center of the ring together, but her valiant effort was in vain. I kept the armbar. She was forced to tap.
The crowd gave her a standing ovation as she left the ring. She was an obvious huge star in the making.
Bruised and battered from a hell of a match, I held up the title. Then Charlotte’s music hit. The crowd roared. Charlotte, arguably the best wrestler of a generation, had the obvious benefit of nepotism. Despite her consistent excellence, the crowd resented her for her birthright advantages. But not tonight.
Charlotte came out and challenged me for the title that I had taken from her the last time we’d met in the ring. I was in no shape to defend, but my ‘pride’ got the best of me.
Shayna (Baszler), who had been ringside, tried to make me see reason, to rest and recover first. But that’s not what a true champion does. I accepted, and quickly lost. The crowd lost their collective minds.”
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