Earlier in the day, talk went around about Ronda Rousey being at AEW’s Collision and Rampage show in Inglewood, California tonight (Nov. 17).
Some, including yours truly, didn’t think it was that surprising. The former UFC & WWE star is from Southern California, and just wrestled in the Los Angeles area for Wrestling Revolver at their Unreal show on Thursday night. What’s more, her friend and tag partner Marina Shafir works for Tony Khan, so it seemed likely she was just visiting friends backstage at Kia Forum.
And that’s probably what she was doing during the AEW shows. But once the Ring of Honor tapings started after Rampage went off the air... Rowdy Ronda went ahead and made her ROH debut.
ronda rousey has officially debuted for ROH pic.twitter.com/nNNYWrrOr7
— alexia (@turnstiletribe) November 18, 2023
TK ponied up for her Joan Jett entrance music, too.
Ummmmmmmmmm @ringofhonor @RondaRousey LLLEEETTTSSSS GOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/xEDPFjZrqh
— Justin Ashton (@BashtonBigMan) November 18, 2023
The AEW & ROH owner hyped the match without naming Ronda.
Justified "Holy shit!" chants for @ringofhonor with ROH Women's World Champion @AthenaPalmer_FG + her minion @BillieStarkz vs @MarinaShafir + her handpicked partner!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) November 18, 2023
It was a rematch of the Unreal main event, as Rousey teamed with Marina Shafir against ROH Women’s champion Athena and her minion-in-training Billie Starkz. Which made sense, seeing as that ended in a no contest.
This one had a result, with Rousey & Shafir winning. But it left the door open for more, as Athena hit Ronda with her famous Eclipse finisher but the referee wouldn’t count the pin since she wasn’t the legal competition. Rousey eventually tapped out Starkz with her armbar. Athena tried to hit Ronda with her belt again like she did on Thursday night, but was cut off. The segment ended with Rousey taunting Athena with the ROH strap, and prompting speculation this could be set-up for a singles match on PPV at Final Battle next month.
After her WWE run ended at SummerSlam, Ronda dipped her toe back in the pro wrestling water with an impromptu independent match last month. She must have liked wrestling outside WWE, as she quickly booked her Wrestling Revolver match after that.
Now, Rousey’s ROH debut will presumably air on the Honor Club subscription service’s weekly streaming show on, perhaps as soon as next Thursday’s episode. And after that?
Give us your guesses below, and we’ll keep you posted.
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