In case you're somehow living under a rock, you've probably heard that Ronda Rousey made her surprise debut for Ring of Honor at the “Fabulous” Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, last Friday, even if the show won't officially drop until Thursday on Honor Club.
While Tony Khan admitted that the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” isn't currently under contract with AEW the following night at the Full Gear media scrum, noting, however, that he would love to work with her more in the future, that hasn't stopped fans the world over from discussing her appearance and debating how much she could help ROH and, by extension, the bigger brand TK also owns.
One wrestling fan – and WWE Hall of Famer – who isn't particularly high on Rousey's return to the squared circle is Eric Bischoff, who noted on his podcast, 83 Weeks, that he thinks her draw in wrestling is largely overrated.
“Eh. I think she’s, I don’t want to say overrated, but I think in terms of the professional wrestling industry, she’s overrated. An obviously very accomplished mixed martial artist, very accomplished at judo. Phenomenal athlete. But she never clicked for me in WWE, despite a push from the gods. She got an amazing push, but there was something lacking with her, and she never clicked with me. I don’t think she really clicked with the audience,” Eric Bischoff said via Fightful.
“Not long after she first arrived, I think the shine kind of wore off the star pretty quickly, and I never got the feeling that she was really serious about the industry. Don’t get me wrong, not in terms of her performances or what she put in. Not suggesting she didn’t put in her full effort, but it takes more than that, and I never really felt like she embraced the business. After Holly Holm knocked her out decidedly, she left there, kind of whined about it a little bit. Not someone who handled the loss well in the media. Then she segued into WWE, and I don’t know. I just don’t think she’s as big a name as people sometimes think she is. I think she mattered to a buyer. I don’t think that there’s going to be a media buyer out there or a programming buyer out there that’s going, ‘Oh, wait, you got Ronda Rousey? I, too, wasn’t sure about this deal, but now I really want to do it.’ I don’t see that.”
Did TK get into business with Rousey simply because, after making a pair of appearances alongside her good friend Marina Shafir in Los Angeles, he could complete the trilogy at the Forum? Or does he see a world where Rousey's involvement in ROH helps AEW as a whole in its contractual talks with Warner Bros Discovery and beyond in 2024? Fans will have to see how the match and its fallout shake out to draw conclusions about the future.
Maria Kanellis-Bennett loves to see Ronda Rousey in Ring of Honor.
While Eric Bischoff isn't sold on Ronda Rousey in Ring of Honor, one person who is genuinely excited about her addition and everything it could bring to the table is Maria Kanellis-Bennett, who is playing a managerial role with the promotion while her husband is working alongside Matt Taven and Roderick Strong on AEW Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision.
Speaking with 720 WGN Radio about Rousey's forthcoming debut, Kanellis-Bennett noted that the former WWE Champion's interest in ROH speaks volumes about what the women's division is capable of.
“I think it's telling that Ronda Rousey had her match at Ring of Honor. I think Ring of Honor has always been the standard. It's a standard bearer of what women's wrestling can be, what wrestling in general can be. To have Ronda Rousey appear on a Ring of Honor show, it's very telling of what the division is [and] where it can go,” Maria Kanellis-Bennett said via Fightful.
“I'm working with Leyla Hirsch right now and she's coming off of an injury and trying to get her mind right in order to compete in this very intense division, you have Athena who has been Champion forever. I think 20 years now she's been champ and she doesn't just compete, she competes aggressively and she expects those around her to computer aggressively and fiercely and that is what the traditions of Ring of Honor has always been, ‘Who is going to put on the best match?'” Kanellis-Bennett asked.
“We have our struggles in Ring of Honor. We are a subscription-based show we are a show that has a lot of underdogs, a lot of people trying to make it to the next plateau of their career, and I think that's the heart and soul of Ring of Honor. For me, the first time I was in Ring of Honor, before I went to IMPACT Wrestling, before I went back to WWE, that is what truly changed my mind about what wrestling can be. It can be that mentality of, ‘We are just going to show people how talented we are by our work.' That's what we do at Ring of Honor. It doesn't matter the adversity we face, we are going to prove it in the ring, backstage with our attitudes, and the way we fight for this company.”
Unfortunately for Maria, as TK pointed out, Rousey isn't signed to AEW and may not ultimately land in the promotion long-term, as she has plenty of other options outside of the ring like her Stars on Mars show or her forthcoming book, Our Fight, which is expected in 2024? Still, even her one-off appearance should draw plenty of additional eyes to the show this week and may even keep a few around long-term as the brand vies for a television contract long-term.
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