Ronda Rousey is the biggest example to become a top name in women’s wrestling after being phased out from her MMA career. With three women’s title reigns by her name, she has already become one of the most well-known female pro-wrestlers of all time. It was hard for her to achieve the same coming off the world of combat sports. However, she managed to do so with ease.
Previously, Ronda Rousey became the longest-reigning Raw Women’s Champion during her first stint with the WWE. In 2022, made her WWE return at the 2022 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event by winning the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Since that return, she won the SmackDown Women’s Championship on two occasions and also competed in a couple of gimmick matches to solidify her legacy.
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Just like Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar is another name who has had accomplishments in professional wrestling after his mixed martial arts career was done. After his maiden stint in the UFC, The Beast Incarnate returned to WWE in 2012, to become the most destructive superstar of this generation.
Lesnar went on to defeat John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2014. From 2017 to 2018, he became a record-breaking 504-day reign as the WWE Universal Champion. Also in 2014, he conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak to etch his name in WWE history as the all-time great WWE performer.
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Ronda Rousey compared herself to Brock Lesnar
According to Ronda Rousey in her Ronda On The Road YouTube channel, Brock Lesnar solidified his reputation as an “invincible monster” during his tenure in the company having multiple title reigns. Despite coming from a similar MMA background, the two-time Smackdown Women’s Champion also thinks that former WWE CEO Vince McMahon didn’t envision being a reckless force like Lesnar,
“There’s this more vulnerable side of me but not vulnerable like, ‘Oh, I’m being hurt.’ It’s more of like, I gotta to find ways to challenge myself more and more and more.”
During the conversation, Ronda Rousey also said that during her first reign with the Smackdown Women’s Title, she did not try to hide her limits after defeating Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania Backlash. Being a babyface superstar, she didn’t try to “duck and drudge” from challengers but rather wanted to defend it “all the time.”
Those efforts weren’t that well taken by the WWE Universe and for all the right reasons, Ronda Rousey ended up becoming a top heel of the women’s roster in an organic way just like on the road to Wrestlemania 35 in 2019.
