Lita chats her return to WWE and the upcoming women’s Royal Rumble match.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, Lita made an appearance on WWE’s SmackDown brand two weeks ago. She is scheduled for this year’s women’s Royal Rumble which is her second Rumble appearance. She was a part of the first women’s Royal Rumble in 2018 and to discuss her return and the match, she appeared on Sirius XM’s Throwing Down with Renee Paquette and Miesha Tate.
Prior to the Rumble opportunity, Lita said there were other “potential opportunities floating around”, but the chance to be in the women’s Rumble came about and it was laid out for her in yes or no form with a set date and she agreed.
Yeah, so definitely, like you said [Lita wanting to get one more run in], so pandemic life kind of simplified everyone’s priorities because it’s just like only what’s in front of your plate but then — so I feel like I spent the first half of the pandemic just being like — just eating too much junk and processed food and doing absolutely nothing. I’m going, ‘Okay, so like even if the pandemic ends, you can’t just slowly kill yourself just laying around and eating junk food’ so I had already just started to like lifestyle train which is very different from like G.I. Jane training but I was like, I’m already starting to kind of remember what it felt like to, ‘Oh, it feels good when you move your body. It feels good when you push yourself’ and I think those kind of was — it was a very baby step that culminated with — you know, and there were like potential opportunities floating around that I was like, ‘Well, maybe, maybe, maybe’ and then this thing was just like, ‘Yes or no, do you want to do this Rumble on this day? Like yes or no? Are you in?’ And I was just like — put my feet to the fire. I was like, ‘Yes, I’m in’ and then it was like, okay, so now that I’m in, it’s time to make the most of it.
When it comes to the idea of winning the Royal Rumble and heading to WrestleMania, Lita feels that she’d be getting ahead of herself thinking about that but mentioned that there is already something that has been started between herself and Charlotte Flair. Lita added that she’d be interested in exploring what could be there with Becky Lynch as well.
Yeah, I mean I feel like first of all, that’s getting ahead of ourselves [Lita deciding which champion she would face if she won the Royal Rumble]. I feel like facing Becky [Lynch] or Charlotte [Flair] would be awesome. As far as tried and true champions, if you’re gonna go for it, you wanna prove [it] against the best and those are two of the best. You know, if — Charlotte and I started something last week so I wouldn’t mind getting the better of her but also, there’s just something with Becky. I just feel very connected to her. Like our journeys getting into the business and everything that I’d love to see what that looks like.
Lita mentioned that she has thought about the possibility of being in the Rumble with Shotzi and current NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion Gigi Dolin. She described it as a “misfit crew” and would be happy to see Gigi in the match.
I feel like you’re cheating on WrestleMania by saying Rumble’s your favorite [Lita reacting to Renee Paquette saying she enjoys the Royal Rumble more than WrestleMania] but Rumble’s my favorite. It’s just because it’s so much going on and there’s so many unexpected surprises like, I also have this fantasy of like me and Shotzi and Gigi Dolin being in there at the same time. It’s kind of like we’re the misfit crew, so I would be happy and surprised too if she was in there.
In 2018, Lita spent close to six minutes in the Royal Rumble match. When she got into the match, she went for a moonsault that she admits she was not prepared to do. It was the first time in her career when she questioned herself while setting up for the move.
Like most indie schools or a lot, we’re working with what we got, right? [Lita referring to her training at Hoodslam in California] So like low ceilings. You’re not jumping off the top rope in there so I’m like, ‘Okay, this creates a problem.’ I’m not going in cold to the Rumble again and doing the moonsault in front of a live audience for the first time which is what I did in the first women’s Royal Rumble. It was scary for all of us, mostly me. It was scariest for me but I understand it was scary for you guys. It was the first time I’d ever been up there being like, ‘Oh, is this a smart thing to do?’ And I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always just been like, ‘Cool, now for the exclamation point.’ On that part, I was like, ‘Oh, this could be really bad.’
As of this writing, there are 21 talents announced for the women’s Royal Rumble and to keep up with that list of talent, check out POST Wrestling’s list of 2022 Royal Rumble participants.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit ‘Throwing Down with Renee & Miesha’ with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
