The 2024 Elimination Chamber was a mixed bag for Rhea Ripley. On one hand, she secured the biggest title defense victory of her reigns with the WWE Women's World Championship thus far, defeating Nia Jax in front of her hometown crowd with some 50,000 Aussies cheering her on, but it wasn't all roses for the Adelaide native in Perth, as she also learned who she will be wrestling at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia and needless to say, it's far from the easiest option on the proverbial board for Mami: Becky Lynch.
Winning her first-ever match in the Elimination Chamber, Lynch now rides into South Philadelphia with insane momentum at her back, looking to recapture her WWE heyday as the first-ever women's WrestleMania main eventer, but to get there, she'll have to take down the “Eradicator” of Judgment Day, a similarly impressive foe who hasn't been pinned in 2024 in any match type.
Discussing the prospects of wrestling Lynch in Philadelphia with Daily Mail, Ripley put over the prospects of the match's weight before noting that over the course of her career, she's sort of had “The Man's” number.
“Mami already main evented her WrestleMania. Why not do the next one as well? I think Becky Lynch and I stepping into the ring is Mania main event-worthy. I really do,” Rhea Ripley told Daily Mail via Fightful. “The last time we faced each other was NXT leading up to Survivor Series and WarGames. That was Mama's time to shine, and it's still Mami's time to shine. Mami is always on top, and I've proved that time and time again. If we are given the opportunity. If we take the opportunity to be main event, I hope Becky Lynch is ready. She can cut me off and run her mouth and say that I'm a lazy champion; I just proved I'm not a lazy champion. I went out there and beat Nia Jax, the person that beat you. I also beat Lyra Valkyria, the person that beat you for the NXT Women's Championship. That's two for two. Why not make it three for three and beat you at WrestleMania.”
Is Mami on the money? Does her experience beating Jax, Valkyria, and Lynch twice make her a strong favorite to come out of the “Showcase of the Immortals” on top? Or will Lynch, riding high on some serious babyface momentum, prove that she's a very hard performer to be against on WWE's biggest stages, as few babyfaces have her resume and track record of success? Needless to say, this match may be main event-caliber indeed.
Becky Lynch explains why her feud with Ronda Rousey fizzled out
While Rhea Ripley was understandably the most in-demand member of the WWE Universe from a media standpoint, Becky Lynch, too, talked at length with media members in the Australian press and beyond surrounding the Elimination Chamber, likely in no small part due to her very good chances to win the match heading into the show.
In one such interview, also with the Daily Mail, Lynch was asked about her WrestleMania match with Ronda Rousey, a feud many fans assumed would be on par with her program with Charlotte Flair but ultimately fizzled out over the MMA legend's run with the company. Though Lynch is proud of her efforts with Ripley, she accepts that the feud didn't end up being evergreen.
“I suppose at the end of the day, I was still able to get the win the main event of WrestleMania, be the first ever woman to win the main event of WrestleMania. Do I think that was the match that everyone was clamouring for? Yes it was. Everyone wanted that singles match, and I think, people thought that moment in time would be evergreen and it wasn't. That's OK too. I think you can't force things when they're not there and I think we see that with what's currently going on with the product,” Becky Lynch told Daily Mail.
“For years, everyone wanted The Rock vs Roman Reigns, but it's not the time for it right now. Everyone wants Roman vs Cody (Rhodes). Some things have their seasons, and we didn't have that season. If she ever comes back again, maybe that season will be right there. Maybe it will be springtime on that story again, but it never got back to that.”
Is there anything WWE could have done to make Rousey more over during her two runs in WWE? Eh, maybe on the margins, but frankly, it seemed like Rousey, the person, is what WWE fans largely had issues with more so than any of the character decisions Vince McMahon sent her way. Still, her WrestleMania main event with Lynch and Flair is truly one of the highlight moments of female wrestling in WWE and will be remembered forever by fans for that significance more than anything that actually happened between the bells.