Key Takeaways
- Ronda Rousey made a surprise appearance in Ring of Honor (ROH) as a tag team partner for Marina Shafir, but it was a handshake deal and she is not signed with ROH.
- Tony Khan, owner of AEW and ROH, wanted to settle unfinished business between Rousey and Shafir in the ring and build interest for ROH.
- While AEW loves signing former WWE stars, it's unlikely that Rousey would be accepted by AEW fans due to her mixed reception in WWE.
Friday night was a long night for AEW, as they aired a live Collision and Rampage back to back. Right after that came a taping for Ring of Honor. It was then that the biggest moment of the night happened, when UFC legend and former WWE star Ronda Rousey shocked the crowd by making an unannounced appearance. Rousey was the mystery partner for her longtime friend from her MMA days, Marina Shafir, in a tag team match against ROH Women's Champion Athena and Billie Starkz. Rousey came out to her WWE "Bad Reputation" theme for a match which will air on Thanksgiving Day on the "ROH on HonorClub" streaming service. Rousey had been in the same match the night before for Wrestling Revolver.
So is Ronda Rousey now an official part of ROH? Can we see her in AEW, since Tony Khan owns both promotions, and ROH is basically just another brand to All Elite Wrestling? According to Fightful Select, Rousey's ROH appearance was a handshake deal, as Rousey wanted to work with Marina Shafir, just as she wanted to work with another close MMA friend, Shayna Baszler, on her way out of WWE. Rousey was also never considered to be the Full Gear surprise signing, which ended up being Will Ospreay.
At the Full Gear media scrum, Tony Khan was asked about Rousey's appearance in ROH. He said, "She's not signed, but we had a great conversation. It came about, of course, there was some unfinished business, they had that match and I thought it would be great for our fans to settle it in the ring. At the Wrestling Revolver show, they had the tag match and to be honest, I had spoken to them and I thought it would be great to have a match and build some interest and then have the story come back to Ring of Honor where Athena is the Ring of Honor Women's World Champion, Billie Starkz is her minion, there is a lot of interest in that."
Khan added, "Ronda was happy to come here and she was great. The crowd was really excited to see her and it was a great match. We'd love to have her back sometime. She is a local, she lives nearby and that really helped make it possible, so any time it's convenient, we'd love to have her back because she was tremendous." (h/t Fightful)
Should AEW Sign Ronda Rousey?
While Rousey is a UFC legend, her time in WWE didn't go according to plan. She was a huge name, and was part of the first ever all women's WrestleMania main event, but fans never took to her. Rousey was often booed as a babyface due to her limited mic and in ring skills.
Tony Khan loves to sign former big name WWE stars though, so don't be surprised if he offers Rousey a ton of money to sign with AEW. It would for sure make headlines, but would AEW fans accept her? It doesn't seem likely.
