Last night may have put a swift end to Ronda Rousey‘s legendary MMA career, but the UFC‘s loss could soon be the WWE‘s gain. After losing in 48 seconds to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, Rousey’s coach speculated that she would be stepping away from the octagon. The prevailing assumption has been that the WWE would be a perfect landing spot for the former bantamweight champion.
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The WWE was one of the first to jump on board the Ronda Rousey hype train when she was a special guest backstage at SummerSlam in 2013. She later stole the show at Wrestlemania 31 when she appeared in a segment alongside The Rock, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon. The WWE has made no secrets about wanting to work more with the UFC star and Rousey has made clear she’ll be coming back someday.
While some say the back to back defeats hurt Rousey’s marketability in the WWE, she would instantly be the most famous woman in the division. Her loss, while devastating, was not unlike many other dominant UFC champions that have come before her, such as Anderson Silva and Chuck Lidell. Once the air of invincibility is gone, it never comes back.
With the WWE rumors in mind, here is how some WWE superstars of the past and present reacted to Rousey’s defeat.
Eva Marie
The reason women can fight in the @ufc and main event world wide is because of @RondaRousey and the trail she has blazed #Respect
Goldust
No prob @RondaRousey , come on over to the dark side! #WrestleMania33
— Dustin Rhodes (@Goldust) December 31, 2016
Jonathan Coachman
This is hard to digest. I don’t want any athlete or human being have that look in their eye. She wanted no part of the octagon. Period.
— Jonathan Coachman (@TheCoachESPN) December 31, 2016
Kevin Nash
@RondaRousey You’ll never understand how many people love you. It’s a loss but she didn’t drop you. Still and always my champion. #headup
— Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) December 31, 2016
Eric Bischoff
Brock was established b4 to UFC. Rousey would be a newbie that needs two years of training before have a match that wouldnt be embarrassing https://t.co/JmdSXkIOxK
— Eric Bischoff (@EBischoff) December 31, 2016
Jim Ross
For those who think that @RondaRousey has no value to movies, TV and in @WWE, I respectfully disagree. @WWE was never more than a 1 off IMO
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) December 31, 2016
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