Ronda Rousey Has Big Time Goals for WrestleMania

Ronda Rousey’s rise to prominence in WWE has been one of the fastest in company history.

The former UFC star wrestled her first match earlier this year at WrestleMania 34 and now finds herself in a WWE RAW Women’s Championship bout with Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam in just over one week’s time. Could the former MMA champion find herself a WWE champion just over four months after her debut?

It’s quite likely given Rousey’s obvious aptitude for pro wrestling and her star power. She spoke about her plans for the future and what she’s already experienced in her brief tenure with WWE during an interview with Sports Illustrated.

In particular, the topic of headlining WrestleMania was broached to Rousey. Many industry experts expect a women’s match to be chosen to headline WrestleMania very soon, perhaps next year even at WrestleMania 34. Rousey would be an excellent candidate to be in such a bout given her mainstream appeal. After all, she’s already headlined a UFC PPV event.

“It’s definitely a goal of mine to be one of the first women to headline WrestleMania,” Rousey told SI. “But who that would be against or even if that would be a possibility is yet to be seen.”

Rousey has already had a great amount of success at WrestleMania. Her debut this past April at WrestleMania 34 saw Rousey team with Kurt Angle to take on Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. It was praised universally as the best match of the night.

“I usually walk out and I’m all business, but Vince specifically told me to go out and allow myself to feel everything that I was feeling and not hide anything,” revealed Rousey. “And not to try and go out and be the tough girl, but to allow myself to smile, to enjoy it because, according to Vince, when I smile the whole world wants to hug me.”

Rousey wasn’t the only person who enjoy that WrestleMania match.

“The most memorable moment of WrestleMania was right after I won,” she said. “I was looking around trying to find my husband and our two boys in the stands. When I did, being able to tell them I love them and share that moment with them was one of the best memories I have because, despite all my previous successes, this was the first time I had my own family there to share it with me.”