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WWE Rumors: Ronda Rousey Legitimately Injured but Expected to Work WrestleMania 39

Mike Chiari

Ronda Rousey is reportedly not expected to miss WrestleMania 39 next month despite an injury.

Rousey had been scheduled to team with Shayna Baszler against Tegan Nox and Natalya on Friday's episode of SmackDown, but WWE ran an injury angle, and Rousey accompanied Baszler to the ring with her arm in a sling.

According to Wade Keller of PWTorch, Rousey recently aggravated a legitimate injury, but she is still expected to be available to perform at WrestleMania 39 on April 1-2.

With Rousey unable to wrestle on SmackDown, Baszler faced Nox in a singles match and beat the Welsh Superstar by submission.

It is unclear where Rousey fits on the WrestleMania card, as she hasn't had much direction since dropping the SmackDown Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair in December.

Rousey has transitioned into a tag team with her longtime friend and fellow former UFC star Baszler, leading to speculation that they could challenge for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania.

The titles are in a state of flux, though, as they just changed hands on Monday's episode of Raw with Becky Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Lita beating Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky thanks in large part to another Hall of Famer in Trish Stratus neutralizing Bayley.

While it seems likely that a six-woman tag team match pitting Lynch, Lita and Stratus against Damage CTRL is in the cards for WrestleMania, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News) reported this week that WWE has "twists and turns" planned for the storyline and titles.

If Rousey is healthy, she and Baszler could beat Lynch and Lita for the titles before WrestleMania and defend them against another team on the show.

Another possibility would be for Bayley to have a singles match against Stratus, opening the door for a Triple Threat tag team match among Lynch and Lita, Damage CTRL and Rousey and Baszler on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Despite Rousey's being off the radar compared to other portions of her WWE career, she is still one of the company's biggest crossover stars and figures to have a significant place on the WrestleMania card.

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