Although there were three different first-place winners of the men’s Royal Rumble match, prior to last night (Saturday, January 28, 2023) Royal Rumble At the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, that never happened in the women’s Royal Rumble match.

Rhea Ripley changed all of that.

In fact, she entered in first place and lasted over an hour, eliminating seven wrestlers along the way, to win the match and book a ticket to WrestleMania 39 Where the championship match awaits. During the post-event press conference, she said she was honored to be the first woman to accomplish this in WWE, but the fact that she made sure to give credit to Liv Morgan for being with her stood out to me:

“I think it’s really cool to be the one to make that kind of history. And to go in first place and hang on to it till the end, and to go that whole distance with someone like Liv Morgan too, like, you need to get credit for that as well. I made an effort.” Lots of effort, and she was going for it, and she didn’t give up. She was very resilient. Lucky for me she got caught by Asuka.”

Morgan entered second (which is effectively the same as entering number one) and made it to the finish line, with three eliminations along the way. She deserves a lot of credit for the work she did alongside Ripley, including putting her in the finale.

The world’s Rhea Ripley is hugely important to professional wrestling, but they just wouldn’t exist without the world’s Liv Morgan. Good on Ripley for recognizing that and giving such credit publicly.