In January, Ronda Rousey returned to WWE after a near-three year absence from the promotion.
Returning at the Royal Rumble, Rousey won the Women’s Rumble match, earning a title match at WrestleMania 38 that she’d lose.
Rousey would win the SmackDown Women’s Championship a month later at WrestleMania Backlash, before losing the title to current champion Liv Morgan who cashed in Money in the Bank.
Plans for Rousey
Ronda Rousey is one of the biggest stars to join WWE, having established herself in the Olympics and UFC before signing in 2018.
Since losing the SmackDown Women’s Championship, Rousey has acted as a tweener, bordering on the line between heel and face.
Speaking during Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said the plan is for Rousey to be presented similar to another ex-UFC name (via Wrestling News.)
“They want to get her back to ‘special attraction, big Brock Lesnar star.’ So that’s the goal of what they’re doing right now. The belief was that at the end, because she’s [working with babyface] Liv Morgan, [Ronda] ends up as a heel. What they’re doing now isn’t necessarily to make her a heel, it’s to make her a big big star.”
Meltzer added that recent Google Trends show Rousey falling behind Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, and WWE wants to rebuild her image as a special attraction.
WrestleMania
Despite her impressive performances, Rousey doesn’t have a great WrestleMania record.
The former champion is 1-2 at WWE’s biggest show of the year, having won in 2018 (her WWE debut match) but lost in 2019 and 2022.
Meltzer noted that a year ago, the plan was for Rousey to face Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 39.
This has been a match WWE planned for Survivor Series 2018, but was changed after Lynch suffered a concussion.
It was noted that plans for WrestleMania 39 could change depending on fan reactions.
