Former UFC star Rousey appears set to trade octagon for WWE ring
Ronda Rousey might not yet be ready to rumble.
She posted an Instagram video over the weekend of herself in Colombia enjoying a night out with the crew filming her latest movie.
Rousey is in South America to film the action thriller Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich. She has not fought since she suffered a 48-second loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016.
Her next battle could come inside a WWE ring. Rousey has met with WWE executives about the possibility of leaving the octagon for a career in sports entertainment.
WWE fans have been clamouring for Rousey to make the move and speculation ran wild that she would make her debut Sunday at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
WWE will hold its first women’s Royal Rumble match (an over-the-top-rope battle royale) which seemed for some fans an opportune time to debut Rousey. Rousey told TMZ that she would not return from Colombia until February and ruled out a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble.
“I haven’t signed anything,” Rousey said.
But will the “Rowdy” one eventually make the UFC-for-WWE trade?
UFC President Dana White said Rousey will never fight again for the company. WWE executive Paul Levesque, better known as wrestling superstar Triple H, has met frequently with Rousey to discuss her interest in a deal.
“We’ve had discussions and we’ve talked about a million different things,” Levesque said. “She’s interested. We’re interested. We’ve had back-and-forth conversations. We’re busy. She’s busy. Getting to the point of being able to sit down and hammer something out has not happened yet. But the interest is clearly there.”
Rousey adopted the “Rowdy” nickname from WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. She notably stood side-by-side with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as they fought off the villainous Triple H and his wife and fellow executive, Stephanie McMahon, in a segment at WrestleMania in 2015.
Rousey also appeared at WWE’s Mae Young Classic. Rousey and fellow MMA fighters Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke were known as the Four Horsewomen — a tribute to the nefarious Ric Flair-led Four Horsemen stable of the 1980s and 1990s. Baszler now wrestles for WWE, and the rest of the Horsewomen stable confronted WWE stars Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Bayley at the female wrestling tournament.
“Name the time. Name the place,” Rousey told the WWE stars.
It seems unlikely Philly is the place. Mayor Jim Kenney proclaimed this week WWE Royal Rumble Week in Philadelphia to honour four straight nights of shows that started Saturday and include the Rumble, and televised shows Monday (Raw) and Tuesday (Smackdown Live!).
The best scenario for WWE would be Rousey being used sparingly and steamrollering every opponent, much like she did early in her MMA career.
“Ronda Rousey should go out there and just smash everybody. Ronda Rousey’s matches should look like her early UFC career where she was out there for a minute, 2 minutes, just submitting everybody,” UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier said.