Who Became The No. 1 Contender To Ronda Rousey's SmackDown Women's Title?
As noted earlier, WWE held a six-pack challenge on Friday's "SmackDown" to determine the number one contender to Ronda Rousey's SmackDown Women's Title.
Natalya emerged victorious in the match that also involved Shotzi, Aliyah, Shayna Baszler, Xia Li and Raquel Rodriguez. She pinned Shotzi to officially become the next challenger to Rousey's title.
After the match, Rousey and Natalya had a face-to-face confrontation. The two women have quite a history on WWE TV, tagging several times in 2018 and 2019. Natalya was also Rousey's training partner when the latter made the transition from MMA to pro wrestling. Besides Rousey, several other WWE Superstars have trained at Natalya and Tyson Kidd's invite-only 'Dungeon' in Florida.
Rousey has held the SmackDown Women's Title since defeating Charlotte Flair in an I Quit Match at last month's WrestleMania Backlash premium live event. Her only title defense since then was on the May 13 episode of "SmackDown," where she defeated Raquel Rodriguez after issuing an open challenge.
Natalya previously held the SmackDown Women's Title for 86 days in 2017, her only reign with the title. She won the title from Naomi at SummerSlam that year before dropping it to Charlotte Flair on SmackDown in November 2017.
WWE has yet to announce the date for the Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya title bout.
👀@RondaRousey @NatbyNature #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/1sRW10lLGv
— WWE (@WWE) June 4, 2022
.@NatbyNature is your winner and next in line for the #SmackDown Women's Championship! pic.twitter.com/LQtubPQzbZ
— WWE (@WWE) June 4, 2022