Ronda Rousey’s emergence at the Royal Rumble sent a shockwave through the entire sports world and with good reason. Rousey’s name alone brought a ton of mainstream attention to WWE and the best is probably yet to come. After all, if Rousey just showing up to smile, wave to the Philly crowd, and point toward the WrestleMania sign got that many headlines, a match featuring Rowdy Ronda is sure to get a ton of press as well.
But it turns out there might be an even bigger backstage reason for Ronda Rousey’s booking trajectory in WWE and it all revolves around Stephanie McMahon. Dave Meltzer commented in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that as it was explained to him the key to all of it goes back to what it took to make Vince McMahon a big star back in the Attitude Era.
Mr. McMahon had some of his most intense confrontations in and out of the ring during the Attitude Era with Stone Cold Steve Austin and apparently, WWE is looking to do a similar thing with The Billion Dollar Princess and Rowdy Ronda Rousey.
The plan for Ronda Rousey involves a big tag match at WrestleMania with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in the picture. WWE wants The Rock to come back and reprise his role in their WrestleMania 31 confrontation to complete the picture and if they can lure Dwayne Johnson to come in and work Mania, it would be a match on an epic scale.
As Meltzer explained, “the key to Rousey is more about Stephanie McMahon” so if this thinking was the case then it could stand to reason that Rowdy Ronda might play an anti-hero role similar to The Rattlesnake against Stephanie to get McMahon over as an even bigger name.
Whether or not Rousey needs a mouthpiece is another story, but the thinking could be that Ronda Rousey is a big enough sports star, in general, being the most searched female athlete in the United States last year that she will elevate Steph to another level. Anything Ronda touches is going to be huge and WWE could want Stephanie McMahon to get that rub to help her not only become a huge name in pro wrestling, but also the rest of the world.
It is interesting to note WWE didn’t include the awkward handshake between Ronda and Stephanie from the Royal Rumble in the highlight footage they showed the next night on Raw. But that doesn’t mean a big tag match isn’t on the way and if it does happen that could mean even bigger things for Stephanie McMahon than just another WrestleMania payday.
