Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is slated to team up with WWE Hall of Famer and current Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to take on Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in a Mixed Tag Team Match at WrestleMania 34.
Jonathan Coachman spoke with TMZ Sports about Rousey appearance at WrestleMania 34. In this interview, he defended Rousey from criticism and those certain female stars who are complaining about her spot in the WWE. Here is what he had to say:
“There’s been so many different reactions to Ronda coming in to the WWE,” Coachman said. “Some really, really positive, some skeptical and some in between. Here’s the difference with Ronda Rousey compared to probably anybody else you can name in the history of the business. She’s coming in right at the top, her in-ring debut is gonna be at WrestleMania. You talk about pressure! I mean, that pressure is real, it’s legit.”
“Yeah, she’s been in main events before in the UFC, but this is on another level,” Coachman responded. “We’re talking millions upon millions of viewers. Here’s the thing that people don’t think about, just the pressure to perform in front of her new peers. Because she’s come in and taken a very lucrative spot at WrestleMania. Now, I don’t really give a damn whether she’s earned it or not. Her star power has earned it, but now she has to go out there and perform, that’s the beauty of WrestleMania and coming in where she has come in at. So, I think there’s a lot of people anxious to see exactly how a match with Ronda Rousey is going to look.”
WrestleMania 34 goes down tonight at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This event airs on pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network. It’s the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. Both Raw and SmackDown rosters will be featured.
Coachman continued, “Trust me when I say that there are a long line of females that would love nothing better – I don’t care what they tell you – than to run a program with Ronda Rousey,” Coachman said. “When she comes out to the arena – I’m there – she’s gets as big a pop, if not the biggest pop of anybody on the show, but that’s only going to last for so long until she starts working matches. If the girls are smart, they don’t complain about Ronda Rousey, they embrace her and say, ‘Let me help you, because that is what’s good for business, and what’s good for business is good for me.'”
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcript.
