Ronda Rousey, NXT Stars In WWE SmackDown Dark Matches

By Robert Gunier

As seen in the images below, there was a dark match main event last night after WWE SmackDown concluded that featured the winner of this year's women's Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey. She teamed with Naomi in a tag match against Natalya and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte.

"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey was so dominant in the ring that she made Nattie tap out before Charlotte or Naomi were ever tagged into the match. They celebrated with the fans and sent the crowd home happy afterward.

As noted, last night's SmackDown saw Rousey make her first blue brand appearance, interrupting SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville. The segment led to Rousey picking Flair for her WrestleMania opponent, and then applying an armbar to Deville as Flair looked on.

Drew McIntyre and the Viking Raiders also teamed up in a six-man tag team match to defeat The Usos and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. Before the match, Roman tore a fan's sign who was sitting at ringside. After the match had already started, Heyman got on the mic and told the fan to "sit his Oklahoma a** down or I'll come over there and make you." Heyman then took off his jacket as though he was going to attack but The Usos held him back, and Heyman had to be consoled by hugging Roman. Got some big boos from the crowd. McIntyre scored the winning pinfall when he got the 1-2-3 over one of The Usos. (Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Michael for the added details.)

There were also dark matches before SmackDown aired that featured stars from WWE NXT. Former WWE NXT Women's Champions Io Shirai and Raquel Gonzalez competed in a singles match, which Gonzalez ended up winning, and Tommaso Ciampa and Roderick Strong went one-on-one, with Ciampa coming out on top.

In recent weeks, Strong and Ciampa have worked several dark matches and WWE Main Event tapings, while Shirai was also in a dark match last week. This is Gonzalez' first match on one of the main brands since October.

You can see photos from the dark matches below:

 

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