WWE announces first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match

WWE has announced that the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match will take place at the pay-per-view event on January 28.

The women’s division in WWE has taken giant steps over the past few years and the trend will continue as the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble has been confirmed for the first pay-per-view event of 2018.

Speaking with ESPN on Monday evening, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, who has obviously been a big supporter of the women’s division for a long time, was thrilled about the groundbreaking match, which will take place on January 28, three decades after the inaugural Royal Rumble that aired on January 24, 1988.

"“I think that it’s long overdue. There’s been an incredible movement that’s been happening in our business that started nearly three years ago.”"

The movement she’s referring to is the Women’s Revolution, a movement that began with the “Give Divas A Chance” hashtag following a tag match that saw Paige and Emma take on The Bella Twins in February 2015. The bout went about three minutes, with the entrances taking longer than the actual match, which unfortunately had been a normal occurrence in the WWE women’s division for way too long, even with a talented group of female wrestlers on the roster.

However, things began to change as a new group of women in NXT, essentially the minor-league system for WWE that constantly puts on better shows than the main roster, began to put people on notice that they weren’t going to be second-class citizens any longer. Women such as Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley, collectively known as The Four Horsewomen, showed viewers that they could put on just as good of a show as their male counterparts and even began headlining pay-per-view events, highlighted by a great rivalry with Banks and Bayley.

Charlotte, Sasha and Lynch were soon on the main roster as Bayley continued to thrill in NXT and Stephanie McMahon was right there in the middle of it, getting rid of the word “diva” and also getting rid of the ridiculous butterfly belt that had embarrassed the division for years. Women already on the main roster were forced to step up their game to keep up with these young stars and absolutely delivered. The division would go on to main event episodes of Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live while also putting on the first-ever women’s Hell in a Cell Match and the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

This past summer, women’s wrestling continued to evolve as the WWE Network held The Mae Young Classic, a 32-woman tournament featuring some of the best wrestlers the world has to offer. The response was fantastic and the response to this announcement should be quite similar.

As Stephanie McMahon said, a women’s Royal Rumble is long overdue and should provide for some great entertainment. As I said almost a year ago in an article fighting for this very announcement, this has the opportunity to be something truly special. With so much talent on the main roster and in NXT, there shouldn’t be a problem filling spots, although we don’t quite know just yet how many spots that will be. As it’s been in the past with the men’s Rumble match, this could also provide some great cameos from past superstars.

Kudos to WWE for finally coming to their senses and making this match a reality and big congratulations to each and every member of the WWE women’s division for working hard night in and night out to force creative’s hand into doing what’s right. Bravo, ladies. You deserve this.

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Are you excited for the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.