Set Number: X162079 TK1
Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler defeated the tandems of Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi, Bayley and Iyo Sky, and Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match to win the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on Monday night episode of Raw.
WWE @WWE
#AndNew WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions…@RondaRousey and @QoSBaszler! pic.twitter.com/qeaKehth9m
WWE @WWE
Baddest CHAMPS on the planet!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/2KiQyojQtM
The belts were vacated last week after Liv Morgan was injured while she and Rodriguez defended them against Bayley and Dakota Kai on an episode of SmackDown.
Rodriguez and Morgan were champions for over a month, but with the latter on the shelf and unable to compete, the decision was made to strip them of the titles.
Before the belts were officially vacated, Rousey and Baszler returned to WWE programming after being gone for about a month. They target Rodriguez, telling him they will make his life miserable until he agrees to put the titles on the line.
With the championships vacated, a Fatal 4-Way tag match was announced for Raw, and the team of Rousey and Baszler, unsurprisingly, was included as part of the field.
Rousey and Baszler, who have been close friends since their time in the UFC, began working together in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 39, and were involved in a women’s showcase match at the event.
While Rousey and Baszler won the match when The Baddest Woman on the Planet locked one of their opponents in an armbar, that was her only real involvement in the match due to injury.
It was likely that the plan coming out of WrestleMania was for Rousey and Baszler to win the tag titles, but since the former could not compete, Rodriguez and Morgan defeated Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus for the gold when Stratus stepped in for of the injured Lita.
Besides Rousey and Baszler, in addition to Rodriguez with new partner Shotzi, the other two teams in Monday’s game are also looking for the title.
Damage CTRL twice held the women’s tag strap with Sky and Kai, but with Kai’s heels suffering an injury, Bayley and Sky tried to bring the title back to the stable.
Green and Deville also tried every angle to get the belts, even going as far as petitioning WWE official Adam Pearce for another shot because they believed they were wrong.
In the end, Rousey and Baszler prevailed as expected, perhaps paving the way for an unprecedented run of dominance in the women’s tag team division.
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