[2019-02-18-WWE-Raw] Ronda Rousey vs Ruby Riott

[KB8]

This was the only match from Elimination Chamber that I was bothered about so naturally it only lasted a couple minutes and was mostly about the post-match (which was pretty great as an angle, tbf. Becky sure laid it in with those crutch shots). I'm glad they decided to give them some time for a rematch because it was mighty fun. You knew there was going to be some Riott Squad interference in this, but I thought they did it in a way that made Ronda look like a killer who most folk can only beat with shenanigans while keeping it below the point where Ruby looked TOTALLY out of her depth. The interference itself was pretty inventive as well, especially when Morgan and Logan just yanked Ruby out the ring to prevent the armbar, which then led to Ronda hitting that wild cross body where she was all elbows and knees at awkward angles. Some of Rousey's execution is still raw enough that a couple strikes will whiff completely, but on the flipside of that everything else has the recklessness of a legit fighter trying to find her feet pulling off all these pro wrestling moves. Plus her bumping always looks rubbery and she'll often launch herself face-first into things like a nutjob. I liked how she sold the ribs here as well. Riott never went after them for any real length of time, but she threw some knees and bailed herself out with a spear, so Rousey sold it as an injury that hampered her in the first half of the match before it ceased to be a problem. Basically it was a nice example of middle gear selling lots of people don't bother with. Some of my favourite parts of Ronda's matches now are when she'll throw out an awesome bit of offence we haven't seen before and this time it was when she reversed the dragonrana by launching Ruby into the turnbuckle. Her throws at the start also looked great and the armbar setup as she scaled Ruby's body was badass. I dug this.