RAW: To Beat The Clock, You’ve Got To Beat “The Man”

LaToya Ferguson
Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch (source: WWE)

Ronda Rousey came out to start this week’s Monday Night RAW with a microphone and something to say. The Boston crowd made their voices heard with “WE WANT BECKY” chants, and the champ allowed them to get their chants out bebfore she let them know what was actually up:

“For the first time ever, women are going to be the main event at WrestleMania. For the RAW Women’s Championship. It’s gonna be me versus Charlotte versus Becky. And I only have one thing to say: You’re welcome.”

With that, Ronda performed a literal mic drop and started to leave the ring… but then she actually had one more thing to say. In fact, she wanted to make “a promise” to the WWE Universe. A promise that she was going to tap out both Becky and Charlotte at the same time during the main event of WrestleMania 35. “And that’s all I have to say,” Ronda said, before going with another literal mic drop.

Wait, no, Ronda had one more thing to say. About her match tonight: Ronda admit she had “no idea” what a Beat The Clock Challenge is, but she was willing to get “this farce” out of the way. So the Beat The Clock Challenge started the show, with Ronda versus Sarah Logan starting things off. (The rest of the announced Beat The Clock Challenge matches saw Charlotte Flair versus Ruby Riott and Becky Lynch versus Liv Morgan.)

All three members of The Riott Squad entered the ring together, and then “The Man” came out with a mic of her own (and no crutch). According to Becky, while Ronda (or “Ronnie,” as she prefers to call her) may have come into the WWE with a “big money contract” and got a bunch of wins, “nobody gave a damn until ‘The Man’ came around.” Becky went on to call herself “the best thing that’s ever happened” to Ronda, claiming to have “saved” Ronda’s title run. And now look where they are: the main event of WrestleMania. Then Becky promised she’d end that main event holding up that RAW Women’s Championship high… with Ronda’s skull beneath her foot.

Then it was Charlotte’s turn to join the party. “Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah,” Charlotte said, surprisingly not doing an impression of Charlie Brown’s teacher. According to Charlotte, this first-ever women’s main event wasn’t because of anything Ronda and Becky did: It was all her and everything she’s done her seven years in WWE. That’s why she was “hand-picked” to be the main event. Then, having said her piece, the Beat The Clock Challenge could officially begin…


Ronda Rousey def. Sarah Logan, in a Beat The Clock Challenge match

Sarah Logan’s strategy for preventing Ronda Rousey from getting a good time? Well, run away from Ronda, running out the clock. She even used the other Squad members as human shields as she ran. This eventually gave her an opportunity to go on the offensive against Ronda… until the champ turned a submission from Sarah into a rope-assisted submission, then hit Sarah with a punch and an armbar for the submission at  1:25.

Ronda then went to the top of the ramp to watch the other matches, having set a very quick time to attempt to beat.


Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott went to a No Contest in a Beat The Clock Challenge match

Charlotte Flair immediately charged at Ruby Riott with a big boot, but she wasn’t able to get the drop on her, and she clearly got visibly frustrated early on in the match. In fact, Ruby seemingly had Charlotte’s number in this match, even reversing out of a Natural Selection, only to follow up by almost beating the clock herself. Then Ruby started to play with her food, which gave Charlotte time to recover and prevent a Riott Kick, turning it instead into a Figure Eight. But Ruby held strong and didn’t tap with only a few seconds left on the clock, meaning Charlotte failed to Beat The Clock.


Becky Lynch def. Liv Morgan, in a Beat The Clock Challenge match | Becky Lynch def. Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair, in the Beat The Clock Challenge

Liv Morgan taunted Becky Lynch once she got in the ring, allowing an even more frustrated than before Charlotte Flair to hit her with a big boot. Liv was ecstatic over that, as she was given an easy opening to beat the crap out of Becky… but Becky ultimately rallied. And while Becky couldn’t get Liv in the Dis-Arm-Her, she was able to prevent Liv’s finisher and turn it into a jackknife pin, with seven seconds left on the clock. So not only did Becky Beat The Clock, she beat the champ (and Charlotte).

As Becky celebrated in the ring, she and Ronda trash-talked each other—from the ring and the ramp, respectively—while Charlotte presumably went off to develop a new gameplan.


Later in the show, it was announced that all three of these women will be on ESPN SportsCenter tomorrow morning. But even more exciting was the announcement that next week on RAW, they’ll be competing—together—in a six-woman tag team match against The Riott Squad. How on Earth will they co-exist?


There are only a few more days until WrestleMania (April 7), but there are also only a few more days before the LIMITED EDITION Quote Phase t-shirts are gone forever (March 31). Get this main event gear before it’s too late!

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