Sports fans had been eagerly awaiting Ronda Rousey’s debut match with the WWE and the former UFC champion exceeded all expectations Sunday night at WrestleMania 34.
Rousey teamed up with former WWE champion and Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medallist Kurt Angle as they took on “Triple H” and Stephanie McMahon in a tag-team match.
As you can see from the video highlights at the top of the page and below, her athleticism, energy and natural grappling ability was on full display.
Many WWE and UFC fans had expressed some skepticism that Rousey would be able to make a smooth transition into a completely new field, but those concerns dissipated quickly once her match began.
“Ronda has been such a quick learner. I mean, not only has she been able to bring in her MMA skills and judo skills, she’s a natural in sports entertainment and you saw it out there,” Angle said in a post-match interview. “That’s her first match and look how she blew the roof off the joint. Ronda has a big future here. This is what she was meant to do.”
Rousey has shied away from the public spotlight ever since leaving the UFC following two brutal knockout losses to Holly Holm in 2015 and Amanda Nunes in 2016.
“It was me versus the world in an individual sport,” Rousey, the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion, told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “I thought I would never say this, but I’m so happy I lost those fights because it led me here. This is so worth it.
“Everything really does happen for a reason. I’m just so grateful. I thought I never would be [grateful] for [the losses], but time is a great teacher. I’m just really, really glad I gave it time instead of giving up and feeling it was the end of the world. There’s so many people who encounter tragedies who feel like the world and time won’t heal it. But all I can say to those people is: Just give it time, even if you think time can’t heal it. You never know what will happen and where it will lead you. Every missed opportunity is a blessing in disguise. I really believe it now.”
The crowd at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans roared for the 31-year-old throughout the match, leading Rousey to admit she may have prematurely judged wrestling fans.
“I owe the WWE universe an apology, because I thought they were going to boo me out of the building from day one,” Rousey told Shelburne. “They really accepted me from day one. Hopefully, I satisfied a lot of skeptics tonight. I underestimated how kind the WWE universe would be. I thought any outsiders would be shunned. I was expecting to get shunned and to have to battle to be accepted. I worked my ass off to pay respect to what’s so important to them, and hopefully they saw that tonight. I’m just so grateful, man. I’m trying my best to deserve it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhV588fDKAr/
There has always been a relatively large crossover audience when it comes to MMA and WWE supporters and it doesn’t appear that’s going to change anytime soon.
In addition to Rousey’s thrilling debut this weekend, her friend and fellow former UFC competitor, Shayna Baszler, was crowned champion in NXT (a WWE feeder promotion) on Saturday.
Also, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar beat Roman Reigns in the WrestleMania 34 main event.
Here’s some more social media reaction to Rousey’s performance at WrestleMania 34.
https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/983227648737329152
https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/983146589844893697
https://twitter.com/RealMickFoley/status/983148259005710336
https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/983147041395179520
https://twitter.com/wai0937/status/983146493937881088
https://twitter.com/JESnowden/status/983154433889619968
https://twitter.com/DalyxmanVX1/status/983144294906302464
Loving all the support Ronda is getting for her #WrestleMania debut! So awesome to see her switch over and doing what she loves
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) April 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/BurnsOrtiz/status/983209877379182592
https://twitter.com/DrAnnMaria/status/983147006154571779
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