After a highly-successful career in Mixed Martial Arts, Ronda Rousey signed her first World Wrestling Entertainment contract in late 2017.
The signing was colossal news within the wrestling world and beyond. Rousey was a very high-profile name, so all eyes were on WWE to see how she would be portrayed on-screen.
It has now been discussed that Ronda Rousey’s signing was so gigantic that it prompted WWE to do a massive makeover of the Royal Rumble format.
WWE Executive Discusses If Ronda Rousey’s WWE Signing Directly Caused The First Women’s Royal Rumble
On his “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, former WWE performer and current executive Road Dogg was quizzed on the relation between Rousey’s signing and the announcement of a Women’s Royal Rumble.
“Yeah 100% Look, that was to me that was the icing on the cake of Holy mackerel. We just, and you can think what you want to think but it feels good to be an employee there and do something like this and feel good about you know, like, wow, we just had the first ever women’s rumble. like, is it too late? Heck, yes. It should have been happening years ago, but but it wasn’t, it is now.
And so this is cool. You know what I mean? Let’s move forward for that to feel like who, we did that. And then Ronda Rousey come out at the end and you go, Holy mackerel, this Mania is gonna be awesome, you know.”
Recently, speculation over Ronda Rousey’s WWE future has been running amok. At the start of the month, it was reported that Rousey would appear at the 2023 Royal Rumble. However, the show came and went without an appearance from the multiple-time Women’s Champion.
Rousey was also pulled from a major WWE show in the last week, furthering the confusion about where her future lies and when she will return to television.