From the WWE Rumor Mill: Why Natalya was drafted to Raw and paired with Ronda Rousey
What's the story?
On Monday Night Raw Natalya became one of the more surprising names to move from SmackDown Live. Later on that night, in another surprising move, Ronda Rousey ran out to save Natalya from Absolution and to even the odds.
Whilst this might seem like an odd thing to do Dave Meltzer has reported via Wrestling Observer Radio that there is a backstage reason for these things happening.
In case you didn't know...
Ronda Rousey's first match and feud in the WWE was against Stephanie McMahon, which seems to have finished with Rousey further injuring Stephanie McMahon on the post-WrestleMania Raw.
Natalya has been involved in an on-again, off-again rivalry with Charlotte on SmackDown and despite being SmackDown Women's Champion last year, hasn't managed to gather a huge amount of steam.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer suggests that Natalya has been moved to Raw to work with Rousey because the two are good friends, know each other's wrestling capabilities and styles well and train together, as seen in footage on this video Rousey shared via Twitter.
Meltzer says,
"They know how to work with each other. I mean, they've worked enough with each other, that Natalya has a better read on Ronda's wrestling strengths and weaknesses than almost any other woman on the roster."
Meltzer goes on to suggest that Natalya is a safe worker and her experience and knowledge will be able to protect Ronda Rousey as she looks to build on the momentum her WrestleMania match achieved.
"Protecting Ronda Rousey is one of the main things that they're gonna be doing over the next year."
What's next?
Obviously, we're not quite at a point where these two Superstars will be wrestling each other with Rousey and Natalya currently good friends who have each other's backs as this tweet suggests.
But, given that Natalya was a heel on SmackDown and seems to have randomly turned face for the brand split, I think it's only a matter of time before Natalya gets storyline jealous of Rousey and turns on her.
Author's take
The reason's Dave Meltzer has listed above make total and complete sense. I think Natalya still remains consistently underrated and I think if she and Rousey do end up having a programme together that it'll be a very, very good one.