Ronda Rousey made a surprise return to the WWE in January’s 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match. She outlasted Charlotte Flair to win the match and thereby punch her ticket to WrestleMania. Now WWE has confirmed that her title match opportunity against Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair will be the main event of ‘Mania 38 Night One.
Now, Ronda Rousey’s appearance put the fans in doubt since her first arrival, back on the scene didn’t solidify her on-screen TV character. Due to her negative behavior with the audience, she had to be pulled aside and given a quick refresher on the kayfabe perspective in professional wrestling. Officials reminded her that she’s not supposed to be a villain.
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Being a sporting legend, it’s hard to imagine Ronda Rousey getting a negative reaction from WWE fans. However, that was the exact case during her first run with the company. This was the apparent reason that the Baddest Woman on the Planet didn’t really want to get along with the fans following her return.
Ronda Rousey never really forgot about how she was initially treated. Hence, the one-time Raw Women’s Champion talked about it in a YouTube video on her channel. She revealed how she broke her knuckles at WrestleMania 35 but despite the pain, she continued performing only to receive a negative reaction from the fans,
“Everyone was booing me out of the stadium. I was just like, ‘man, f**k these people, I can’t wait to go home.’ A lot of people forget because they weren’t there and they have short memories of these kinds of things. When I left WWE, I had been getting booed out of the stadium every day for months.”
Ronda Rousey was bitter about her earlier experience in WWE
Ronda Rousey proceeded to remind everyone of the hostile territory created by the audience despite her universal babyface character. She said that it was one of the most uncomfortable things she’s ever felt in her career. It was like she was trapped in her role as a babyface and could never react towards them until WWE finally gave her permission to go into a full-fledged heel mode.
“I think one of the most uncomfortable and disingenuous I’ve ever felt was when I had to be a babyface and the crowd was being hostile towards me. I couldn’t just tell them exactly what I f**king felt.” Ronda Rousey continued.
“I was stuck between ‘do I stay true to myself until these people f**k themselves or do I, respect Vince, who has done so much for me, and not go against what he wants me to do?’ So when I finally got to turn heel, I loved it because I felt like it kind of finally got to be myself.”
During her pregnancy hiatus, Ronda Rousey was skeptical about coming back to the WWE for another run due to those fan reactions. But Vince McMahon and other top WWE Officials were able to convince her to make the eventual return, happen to load things up for Wrestlemania 38.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOXvnd8rUI
