Ronda Rousey can follow WWE script to a winning legacy in the ring
Martin Rogers, USA TODAY Published 3:20 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2018 | Updated 3:21 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2018
(Photo: Getty Images)
In case you missed it, Ronda Rousey was back with a championship belt around her waist last weekend. She defeated an outmatched opponent, laid down a signature move, took in the acclaim of the crowd and was the biggest story line to come out of a major pay-per-view.
Less than two years since her final, devastating defeat inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon, Rousey has had her career rewritten for her in World Wrestling Entertainment, a scripted universe that protects her against all the unpredictability of mixed martial arts.
Don’t laugh now, but Rousey might have the most enviable position in sports.
The 31-year-old, who won the WWE Raw women’s title by “defeating” Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam on Sunday, still has pretty much everything she gained by changing the face of the UFC in a dominant run from early 2013 to the end of 2016.
She has a lucrative contract, gets to compete in front of packed audiences, is a household name, has continued her movie career (''Mile 22,'' her latest film, opened this weekend) and is able to showcase the athleticism that took her to an Olympic judo medal.
All that, without any of the downside, like getting punched and kicked and knocked out, like she was first by Holly Holm and then Amanda Nunes, to bring down the curtain on an extraordinary chapter in MMA’s evolution.
The WWE knows all about the power of name recognition and you can expect Rousey to enjoy a long run as champion. If she does lose, at least she’ll know all about it well in advance.
It wasn’t so long ago that Rousey was a figure of pity. She looked timid and tortured against the hungry and ferocious Nunes – who remains the UFC women’s bantamweight champ - in a 48-second, one-sided beatdown in Las Vegas in December 2016.
Amanda Nunes lands a punch during her 48-second beatdown of Ronda Rousey in December 2016. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)
She clearly was struggling with the pressure of her notoriety, not only shunning all interviews but rarely venturing out in public. It seemed to be the classic tale of a fallen star who couldn’t handle the spotlight, and the defeat solidified that sentiment.
With plenty of money in the bank it seemed then she might fade into obscurity. Instead, in the WWE she gets to rewrite her legacy – actually, scratch that - she gets to have her legacy rewritten by a Hollywood-worthy team of script writers.
Rousey’s life made for a pretty good film script in any case. She was unable to talk as a young child, lost her father to suicide, overcame bullying, won an Olympic medal, battled depression and somehow emerged from it all to transform fighting sports.
She loved to win, but it meant so much that losing crushed her soul.
The WWE is a perfect fit. Pro wrestling, or “sports entertainment,” still is derided by some. Rousey always has had admiration and respect for it, having loved Hulk Hogan as a kid and even borrowing her nickname of “Rowdy” from former wrestler Roddy Piper.
She will never be back in the UFC, unless desperate financial problems necessitate it, and there seems little chance of that happening. Rousey and husband Travis Browne live a simple existence based on sustainable living, meaning there’s no reason the money shouldn’t just pile up.
There’s little fun to be had back in the octagon. When Rousey started she was facing women who were training part-time while holding down jobs as waitresses and office workers. Now there is a huge stable of full-time athletes training constantly, some with ferocious desire and vicious striking power, like Nunes.
Modern sports is in a strange place and the lines between fantasy and promotional narrative never have been more blurred.
On Oct. 6, the biggest UFC card of the year will take place in Vegas, with Conor McGregor challenging Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt. McGregor is the UFC’s biggest star, having assumed that mantle from Rousey. But on the same night, three times as many people will be on hand to watch Rousey headline a show called WWE Super Show-Down. The viewing numbers will be far different, as will the way the events are handled by the mainstream media, yet it is easy to see how Rousey has had little trouble in convincing herself that what she’s doing now is just as significant as her previous incarnation.
The WWE event will be at a massive outdoor cricket stadium in Melbourne, Australia, just three miles from where her UFC title was lost against Holm in a stunning upset, and 16 hours before McGregor returns from his own UFC exile.
It is a remarkable twist in an ongoing tale, and such a coincidence that it could have been scripted, like much of Rousey’s legacy now is.
Follow Rogers on Twitter @RogersJourno
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Originally Posted by GeneChing
