4 Reasons Why Kharma Needs To Enter The Women’s Royal Rumble

I recently compiled a list of five possible surprise entrants for the upcoming, inaugural WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match. As is often the case when putting these lists together, I regret my choices by the time it is published. Sometimes it’s that I feel I got the order wrong, other times, I realise I made an omission. In the case of surprise entrants for the Women’s Rumble, I made a startling omission: Kharma. This article aims to rectify this.

The timing is just right for the woman also known as Awesome Kong to make her big return to the WWE. An appearance in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble would be a major statement for a number of reasons.

 

1. GLOW appeal

No, this has nothing to do with Naomi. One of the biggest television hits of 2017 was the Netflix series GLOW, a fictional account of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion that ran during the 1980s. The show not only resonated with wrestling fans, but mainstream audiences lapped it up and critics showered the series with praise. In addition to reputable Hollywood names such as Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin, GLOW starred Kharma under her real name, Kia Stevens. She was part of the main cast in the role of Tammé “The Welfare Queen” Dawson, a character who ironically has zero wrestling background when joining the promotion.

Stevens was a highlight of the series due to her past wrestling experience bringing an air of legitimacy to the proceedings, and judging by how season one ended, is highly likely to return in season two. As a face now recognisable to mainstream audiences and casual fans, WWE needs to capitalise on Kharma’s extended appeal.

 

2. She has prior Rumble experience

Only three women have ever entered the men’s version of the Royal Rumble: Chyna, Beth Phoenix, and Kharma. Kharma entered the 2012 edition as a surprise cameo appearance, intimidating Michael Cole into leaving the match, hitting her Kharma Bomb finisher on Dolph Ziggler, and eliminating Hunico before being eliminated herself by Ziggler. Not a bad outing. Now imagine her having a stare-down with Nia Jax and tell me that that isn’t an enticing proposition.

 

3. She has unfinished business in WWE

Kharma first appeared in WWE at Extreme Rules on May 1st 2011. She terrorised what was then known as the Divas division, attacking various members of the roster over the course of the month. However, her time on the active roster expired that same month, as on May 30th, Kharma revealed her pregnancy on Raw. The following Royal Rumble would be her only official WWE match. Perhaps, if her GLOW schedule permits, there’s the chance of a WWE Women’s Championship run for Kharma before all is said and done.

 

4. She adds credibility

This one’s less about Kharma and more about the fact that there’s space to fill in the match. The Raw and SmackDown female rosters combine 19 active competitors if you remove each brand’s champion from the equation. That leaves 11 spots to fill. Although that’s more than a third of the overall participants, WWE needs to ensure that those spots are filled by worthy stars, be they from yesteryear or NXT. It’s vital that they keep the crowd happy and to give the women’s version of the Rumble as much credibility as possible in its first iteration.

Whether we’ll see Kharma enter the Women’s Royal Rumble or not is still a mystery and likely will remain such until the match itself. Still, how good would it be to hear that menacing cackle ring throughout the arena once the countdown hits zero?