Ronda Rousey Wins Her First Major WWE Championship. So…What’s Next?

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Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and 2008 Olympics judo bronze medal-winner Ronda Rousey hadn’t even signed with WWE until Jan. 2018. Rousey needed less than one year to earn her first significant WWE accolade. At SummerSlam 2018, Rousey defeated Alexa Bliss to capture the Raw Women’s Championship.

WrestleMania 34 was on Apr. 8, 2018. Among the star attractions was Rousey making her WWE debut when she partnered with Kurt Angle in a tag-team match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Aug. 6. featured Rousey making her television debut with a quick victory against Alicia Fox. Rousey finished Aug. 19—not even five months since her wrestling debut—with the women’s top prize from its flagship broadcast.

What’s next for Ronda Rousey? Or maybe the better way to phrase that: why the rush? Here’s a quick breakdown of Rousey’s most noteworthy segments since that WrestleMania 34 spectacle:

  • Multiple attacks on WWE Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon
  • Her first championship attempt came when Nia Jax randomly challenged her.
  • Championship celebration segment beat-down on Alexa Bliss.
  • 30-day suspension.
  • An extension on that suspension that was rewarded with a championship opportunity.
  • One television match that didn’t occur until two weeks before her championship match.
  • Segments where she attacked Kurt Angle, multiple security guards.
  • SummerSlam championship victory that amounted to a squash match against a former five-time overall women’s champion.

WWE has emphasized booking Ronda Rousey as an unstoppable force within the women’s division. That was expected. Rousey carries a vast amount of prestige from her UFC fighting days. Her fame extends beyond the core WWE audience. It extends into other target audiences that few others can reach. Any sensible company would capitalize on the marketing reach that she possesses.

No disrespect meant toward Rousey. She has done a fantastic job handling everything thrown at her with such a limited amount of training time. My concerns center around the storytelling between her April wrestling debut and her August championship. My qualms have nothing to do with her; just the booking team.

Where was the build? Why was such little resistance exerted against Rousey from reaching the top? Her first title opportunity came from a random challenge that Rousey even questioned on whether she deserved it. Rousey received her second title opportunity immediately after her continued misconduct merited an extension on the suspension that she was already serving. Rousey received a suspension extension and a championship match at the same time. That’s like Ohio State Buckeyes football head coach Urban Meyer getting placed on administrative leave and then coming back to a huge pay raise.

Call me old-school. Championship opportunities should come on the extension of great feuds. Think back to that 2000 feud featuring The Rock and Triple H. The Rock spent nearly half-a-year trying to pry away that championship strap from Triple H. Each Raw and SmackDown episode featured cliffhangers that made one eager to witness the following telecast. Another example: Daniel Bryan’s feud with The Authority. Great feuds generate long-term interest for characters.

I’m a fan that relishes a good storyline. WWE has abandoned that art form. What’s depressing is that many newer and younger fans may have no idea what I’m talking about.

Demonstrating greater patience would’ve given fans a more dramatic tale leading to Rousey’s first title. There was no rush to do this; she’s still raw in the ring. Give her time to develop. Let some feuds gain steam. Create animosity toward wrestlers who would’ve unfairly cheated her out of winning her first title.

Let’s slow it down. Build some momentum. Ronda Rousey can’t just plow through the entire women’s roster as if she’s the Golden State Warriors and every other challenger is the Sacramento Kings. That will get boring very fast. It already has started to. How does it make the rest of the women’s division look when someone from a rival company just waltzes in and easily wins the top prize in a few months?

Or maybe that’s WWE’s long-term goal: to utilize Rousey toward the WWE Women’s Revolution as a Cruz Ramirez-type character who’ll win matches against male wrestlers. I mean, she’s already consistently beating the crap out of former WWE all-time greats during segments, e.g. Kurt Angle and Triple H. She wrecked four large male security officers within 10 seconds. Rousey is on record claiming she could defeat former men’s UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Ronda Rousey would definitely win legitimate fights against some of the men on WWE’s roster. 

Shrugs.

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Joshua Huffman was born and collegiately edumacated in Middle Tennessee. That said, Huffman spent 13-plus years with the type of Northern Wisconsinites and Yoopers who turn Nashville bars into alcohol wastelands whenever NFC North teams travel to play the Tennessee Titans. This makes him the NoBro of SoBros. He has published content for Yahoo! Sports (via Contributor Network) and Titan Sized, among other venues. At SoBros, he’ll provide Daily Fantasy Sports suggestions and broad sports coverage. Follow him on Twitter.

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