So I haven’t watched wrestling since I was a kid. Back then I’d watch the WWF which is now known as the WWE. I saw some clips yesterday showing that Ronda Rousey has crossed over to the WWE. She came out donning Rowdy Piper’s old style, walked into the ring, pointed to Wrestlemania, and then tried to shake hands with Asuka. Asuka wasn’t having it and slapped her hand away.
I kind of enjoyed seeing her come out in the clip, but I have to ask myself did Ronda Rousey steal Asuka’s big moment by being introduced in this fashion? Also, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about her rocking Rowdy Piper’s style, though she seems to be a huge fan, and I guess the gimmick can work. I wonder how Piper would feel if he were still around?
This was the first ever female royal rumble, and Asuka is the first female royal rumble champion, so for this sport, this event was historic. I know that the job of these folks is to sell tickets, create buzz, and so on, but I’m not extremely happy about how it went down. Mind you, I don’t know any of these characters, like I said, I haven’t watched wrestling since the days of Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre the Giant. My dad and I would watch the show every weekend, but eventually it stopped. Once I learned it was all scripted, it really stopped. So I missed the whole Rock era, and so on.
I will admit that Ronda Rousey crossing over got my attention, obviously since I’m writing about it. I’m sure that the MMA and UFC crowd are going to call her a sellout. Many will say that she did this because she could no longer hang in the UFC, but I’m sure that Ronda will be the one laughing all the way to the bank given the type of money that I’m sure she’s getting from the WWE. She did her thing in the UFC, I mean she was champion and held it down for a while, so she can now exploit her fame and recognition to garner a bigger pay day from the WWE. We all know that the UFC doesn’t pay the fighters as much as they should, so you can’t hate on her for looking out for herself.
I’m not against her having being brought out during this event, but I think that rather than set up the potential feud the way they did, they could have let Asuka have her moment and introduced Ronda some other way. What do you guys think about this? Either way, I might just start watching wrestling again, if only to check out how this continues. On a side note, I think that Asuka and Rousey both looked amazing last night! Can I be in love with both of them at the same time?
Just a life long New Yorker sharing the journey through my lens. Please take note of a post’s date. The views I express here are subject to change and evolving as I grow and learn.
good article, at least your completely honest. i’ve been a fan since bob backlund, having met him a few times in person when he used to show up at the smithtown youth tournament in suffolk county, ny. unlike you i haven’t missed anything. as far as askua goes, that sort of thing the hand slap, is her M.O, she done worse is NXT and did so the following night to sasha banks on raw. i thought it was cute but i doubt her spotlight was stolen, after all people who didn’t know who she was prior to that night do now. a few years ago i trashed Mrs McMahon on the state of women’s wrestling on her facebook page, it has been solid ever since. roddy piper and ronda have met in person before his passing, he gave his blessing for her to use the rowdy gimmick, also the leather jacket she was wearing was roddy pipers jacket, given to her by his son. not a lot on champions in ufc can defend there title like she did, she will get some haters because she is in wwe but lets be honest, if you really put some thought into it, UFC is tough, and lets take a look she trained and did well in the Olympics in Judo, then she trained well and did well in mixed martial arts, she won the belt, was on top, and with every growing KO or tap out, she became popular, everyone wanted her, either talk shows, movies, tv shows, radio shows, magazine spreads and articles,and special apperances so here is a women who was laser focused, training like a beast, beating everyone in her path. then she became the most sort after person in sports, so doing everything listed above from talk shows to movies, now what do you all think took a back seat while she was in Hollywood or off promoting UFC, she wasn’t able to train like she did. Say she trained 8 hrs a day 5xs a week, with her being as busy as she was she would be lucky to get a 8 hrs a week, and if you watch her fights you can tell when it started, so as popular and busy she is it just doesn’t make sense to do UFC anymore, she can’t commit to that level anymore, so the best thing she can do for her future is WWE, still able to perform but if something comes up and she can’t train as much, well Sasha Banks, or any of the other wrestlers are looking to knock her teeth out. It really isn’t a hard decision at all. Trust me if Conner was bigger he would already be in WWE. Good money, on t.v every week, doing PPV, able to do all your outside projects and not worry about someone who has been training 24/7 looking to knock you into next week. I don’t see too many people having a valid argument, but there will be haters, and we know haters are jealous people wishing they had her options. sorry this was poorly written, trying to take care of daughter and write this is a challenge.
You make many valid points. She’ll do great I’m sure. She has nothing to prove in Mma anymore, get that big pay day at wwe!