Ever since the close of this week’s Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey has been the name on every wrestling fan’s lips.
While we were made to wait for her in-ring debut, the segment at the end of the women’s Rumble match was more than enough to whet the appetite and start thinking about who she could face on the grandest stage of them all.
Despite an announcement on Monday confirming Rousey had signed a full-time contract with WWE, the fact she did not feature in person on last night’s RAW will only fuel speculation.
Following the Rumble the two names that jump out as obvious opponents would be Charlotte Flair, and Stephanie McMahon – and she has history with both.
We all know what went down with Rousey and McMahon at Wrestlemania 31, and the prospect of that conflict being reignited is intriguing.
Stephanie, however, is now 41-years-old, and hasn’t featured in a match since 2014 so the chances of her taking on a wrestling novice on the company’s biggest night of the year must be pretty slim.
Stephanie teaming with husband Triple H, to take on Rousey and The Rock – Wrestlemania 31 all over again – would be incredible, but a lot of stars would need to align for that to come off.
Which leads us to Charlotte.
First the background. Rousey is a well-known wrestling super fan, listing Roddy Piper as the man she got her ‘Rowdy’ nickname from.
In her MMA days, she headed up a group of fighting friends who labelled themselves the Four Horsewomen – a clear hat-tip to the Four Horsemen famously fronted by Charlotte’s father, and wrestling royalty Ric Flair.
Charlotte, along with Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch would also display the famous four-finger salute in their NXT days.
This all led to a backstage confrontation between Rousey and Flair and co at the Mae Young Classic, when then Rowdy one was in attendance to support fellow Horsewoman-turned-wrestler Shayna Bayzler.
And this takes us to Sunday.
With RAW’s Auska having won the women’s Rumble, the natural thing would have seen her challenge current champ Alexa Bliss. In the same way Shinsuke Nakamura challenged fellow Smackdown star AJ Style following his win in the men’s event.
This would have left the door wide open for a Rousey/Flair showdown that would be box-office.
As we know, this didn’t happen so ambiguity reigns supreme. And that’s how the WWE would like it.
Even down to how someone runs their Instagram account.
First she posted a picture of her and Auska with the caption ‘Streaks are meant to be broken.’
So Auska switches to Smackdown and challenges Flair for the strap? Leaving the door open for Rousey to take on McMahon, or even RAW champ Bliss?
Nope.
She later followed up with a pic of herself and Rousey, this time with ‘The @WWE Women’s division is where EVERY woman in sports and entertainment wants to be. Congratulations to every woman in the #RoyalRumble Match and @WWEAsuka for her victory. And as for @RondaRousey…. #ToBeTheWoman’
That last hashtag is the key. Taken from a famous line from Flair senior, who would command: “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.’
So Charlotte/Rousey is back on, and Bliss takes on the winner of the freshly announced women’s Elimination Chamber?
That would make more sense, but unless Rousey rocks up on Smackdown tonight the wait for a little clarity is sure to continue.
