Ronda Rousey Appears to Channel Chris Benoit With TLC Ring Gear

Former WWE Superstar Chris Benoit has been a sore subject for wrestling fans for over a decade [...]

By Connor Casey

Former WWE Superstar Chris Benoit has been a sore subject for wrestling fans for over a decade now.

Following the double murder-suicide of his wife and son in 2007, Benoit's name and wrestling history have been scrubbed from any and all mention on WWE television, but fans couldn't help but notice a potential call-back to "The Rabid Wolverine" during the TLC pay-per-view on Sunday night.

Ronda Rousey appeared on the show wearing red, white and black ring gear for her Raw Women's Championship match with Nia Jax. A number of keen-eyed wrestling fans notice the clam mark pattern on her tights looked identical to ring gear Benoit wore during his time in WWE.

The similarities could just be a coincidence as plenty of wrestlers have used claws and claw marks as designs on their ring gear in the past. One fan even pointed out that Rousey's ring gear looked similar to Alexa Bliss'.

But Rousey has been known to reference wrestlers of the past with her ring gear before. Prior to Sunday's match she had typically wrestled in gear based off "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's "Hot Rod" t-shirt, complete with a tartan kilt and leather jacket given to her by Piper's son.

As of Monday afternoon, Rousey has not commented on the similarities to Benoit's ring attire on her social media accounts.

Rousey successfully retained her Raw Women's Championship by forcing Jax to submit to her armbar in just under 11 minutes. But she wasn't done for the night, as the former UFC Champion walked out to the ring during the main event triple threat Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between Asuka, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and pushed the latter two women off the top of a ladder while they tried to grab the SmackDown Women's Championship.

A feud among the three women has been brewing for months. On top of the ongoing speculation of a future Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen eight-woman tag match, Rousey was booked to face Lynch in a champion vs. champion match back at Survivor Series. Lynch was pulled from the match due to an injury she suffered in a brawl with Jax, allowing Flair to take her place. The Survivor Series match was thrown out after 15 minutes when Flair broke out a kendo stick and brutally beat and bloodied Rousey with multiple weapons. All the while Lynch taunted Rousey on her Twitter on a daily basis, leading to Rousey finally retaliating.

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