Debuting with WWE at the 2018 Royal Rumble premium live event, Ronda Rousey has since found mass success. Enjoying three reigns as a Women’s Champion and a Rumble match victory at the 2022 instalment of the card, ‘The Baddest Woman on the Planet’ has become the latest ex-MMA fighter to find success in the realm of professional wrestling.
She was, however, the first to make the crossover since Brock Lesnar did so. ‘The Beast Incarnate’, though he’d previously enjoyed a two-year stint on the main WWE roster, was an accomplished UFC legend by the time of his 2012 return. This comeback brought with it a new side of Lesnar, who now focused on an array of German suplexes, and ground-and-pound techniques, often with vicious results.
Ronda Rousey Believes Vulnerability Led To Different Booking Strategies
Speaking on her Ronda On The Road series on YouTube, Ronda Rousey discussed being portrayed differently than Brock Lesnar, despite coming from a similar background. As she explained, former WWE boss Vince McMahon didn’t see her as an “invincible monster” like he did Lesnar:
“Vince doesn’t see me playing the invincible monster like Brock. This is like a more vulnerable side of me, but not vulnerable in [that], ‘Oh no, I’m being hurt’, it’s more of like a, ‘I gotta find ways to challenge myself more and more and more’. I’m not trying to hide from my limits.”
Ronda Rousey returned to WWE as a surprise entrant in the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble match, last eliminating Charlotte Flair to win the bout. She ultimately dethroned ‘The Queen’ for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in an I Quit match at WrestleMania Backlash, now standing in her second run with the blue brand title after unseating Liv Morgan to reclaim the gold at Extreme Rules.
She’ll next defend the title against Shotzi at Survivor Series: WarGames on Saturday, November 26.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Ronda On The Road and link back to this article with a H/T to Inside The Ropes.