Ronda Rousey is set to make her in-ring WWE debut at WrestleMania 34 where she teams with
Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
However WWE have wanted to do versions of this match for the last few years.
I am Luke Owen and these are the original plans for Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania.
Ronda Rousey’s appearance at WrestleMania 31 had been set up at the previous Summerslam,
with WWE reaching out to Rousey’s people to get the former Bantamweight Champion to
appear on the show.
In October a few months later, The Rock appeared on Smackdown and shot an angle backstage with
Triple H that was supposed to lead to some sort of WrestleMania match.
However when it became clear that The Rock’s commitments to Furious 7 meant he wasn’t
going to be able to wrestle at the event, Dave Meltzer reported that it was switched
to Triple H vs. Sting with Hunter going over to set up Triple H vs. The Rock at WrestleMania
32.
Rock and Rousey’s WWE angles then ended up being tied together, and it was reported
by WrestleZone that although UFC President Dana White signed off on Ronda’s appearance,
The Rock played a much larger role in getting Rousey to WrestleMania - and would help in
future appearances, “There remains a backstage feeling in WWE, however, that Dana White will
not actually allow Ronda Rousey to wrestle a match in WWE, so it will be interesting
to see what, if any, help The Rock might offer in negotiating that deal.”
The angle – which saw Ronda and Rock take down and embarrass Triple H and Stephanie
McMahon – drew a huge amount of mainstream publicity.
And it was quite clear from both Rock and Rousey that this was not a one-time thing.
Rousey posted on Twitter, “The night: Historic.
The moment: Electric.
The Rock, Ronda &the WWE Universe: Magic.
We're just gettin' started.”
She told Roddy Piper on his podcast, “There’s no way I can’t not go back in there again.
There’s no way.
After experiencing that, there’s nothing like it.”
However both Dana White and Rousey’s agents had other comments to make.
White told The Fight Network, “What she did on WrestleMania was awesome, it was awesome.
It came off great.
I loved it.
She’s a one and done.”
Ariel Helwani added, “I spoke to her agent, and he said this was a one-off.
There’s nothing else scheduled.
He all but guaranteed she wouldn’t show up at any other wrestling shows this year.”
According to Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four, WWE creative were shook up by Dana White’s
comments as they felt the total opposite.
WWE had big plans for WrestleMania 32, which was set to be the biggest Mania of all-time.
WWE wanted to break their own attendance records and have over 100,000 people at the event.
Following WrestleMania 31, there were lots of rumours that WWE had planned to do Rock
and Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer
Newsletter that they actually had two matches in mind.
“The plan, such as it was and as best we can tell, still is, is not for a mixed tag.
The plan is for two singles with HHH vs. Rock and Ronda Rousey vs. Stephanie next year.”
However as the year went on, it became clear that The Rock would not be able to compete
at WrestleMania 32.
In January the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that they had heard he would be involved
in the show but wouldn’t have a match.
Rock has gone on record since saying he wanted to have a match on the show but couldn’t
get past the Hollywood studio politics that have kept him out of the wrestling game – hence
his one-move 3-second match against Erick Rowan.
Dave Meltzer then added that Rock could be in the corner of Roman Reigns who was challenging
Triple H for the WWE Championship, with Vince McMahon in the other corner.
“If Ronda Rousey could appear, this would be the spot where you added her and Stephanie
to the mix.
Normally I’d say that’s ‘too busy.’
In this case, the idea of Reigns standing there at the end celebrating with one of the
biggest movie stars (and possibly the country’s most talked about female athlete celebrity)
is a pretty strong moment for those watching.”
Sadly Rousey revealed that while she wanted to be at WrestleMania 32, she also had movie
commitments which kept her out of a WWE ring.
She told a fan event in Australia in regards to the PPV, “I would love to but I’m going
to be in Jakarta filming [Roadhouse].”
Rousey’s film career didn’t stop WWE making plans around bringing Ronda Rousey back for
WrestleMania 33, however.
After Mania 31 PWInsider reported that WWE considered Rousey “part of the family”
and were doing all they could to make a match happen.
With Triple H and Stephanie McMahon involved in a storyline with Seth Rollins, that opened
up some other avenues for Rousey and Mania.
In November 2016 Cage Side Seats reported, “Plans call for Charlotte Flair to retain
her title against Sasha Banks next week on Raw and move to a program with Bayley, while
Banks feuds with Nia Jax.
This is a big ‘if’, but word is if they can secure Ronda Rousey for WrestleMania 33,
WWE would book her to work with Charlotte at the show.”
Of course that match didn’t happen, with Charlotte instead challenging for Bayley’s
Raw Women’s Championship in a fatal four way that also included Sasha Banks and Nia
Jax.
In the summer of 2017, rumours of Ronda Rousey finalising her deal with WWE were reported
on left, right and centre and she finally made her official WWE debut at the 2018 Royal
Rumble.
PWInsider and several other outlets reported that Rousey vs. Charlotte was the WrestleMania
34 plan, while Dave Meltzer said it would be Ronda and a partner vs. Triple H and Stephanie
McMahon – the match they wanted to do at WrestleMania 32.
Meltzer noted that WWE wanted the partner to be The Rock, but that was unlikely due
to his Hollywood work schedule.
On the 5th March 2018 episode of Monday Night Raw, it was revealed that the partner would
be Kurt Angle – and WWE will finally get their Ronda Rousey WrestleMania Moment