This past weekend in New Orleans former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made her in-ring WWE debut at WrestleMania 34. The Rowdy One teamed up with Kurt Angle to pick up a win over Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in Mixed Tag Team action.
Despite fans’ initial expectations, Rousey actually did very well for herself inside the ring and wound up picking up the win for her team after locking in an armbar on McMahon. WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin took to his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to grade Rousey’s performance.
The Texas Rattlesnake said he “absolutely loved” the match and found it very entertaining:
“This was such an entertaining match and I was really wondering how Ronda would handle the moment. Some people have questioned some of her interview skills, and she’s not used to being on an RF mic in front of 20,000 people in these arenas. Mostly it’s trash-talk, and soundbites, and stuff like that and a shoot aspect, and not following storyline stuff, I was wondering, ‘would the moment be too great for her?’ And this match was so damn entertaining.
“There were so many twists and turns, and submission-type moves, and right when you thought, ‘well, here’s the finish,’ they extended it – that wasn’t the finish. And the crowd bought into this. It started off a tad slow. People were wondering, I think, just like I did, but boom! They set the hook there, mister. And, damn near from the bell, it was on. That crowd, everybody there was into that match.”
Austin then broke down Rousey’s body language during the performance, specifically noting how The Rowdy One was smiling from ear to ear when she made her way to the ring:
“When she came out smiling, she looked like a million bucks.” Austin recalled, “I liked the plaid skirt and she came out. She had her gear on and then it was time. She got her game face on at the point, but I know where that came from. I’ll guarantee you that was straight out of the old man. ‘Go out there and smile’ because we know she’s a badass. We know she [has] got that mean mug face when it’s time to go out there and do business.
“And there were plenty of opportunities, and that did happen during the course of the match, but it felt a little weird to me, too, but, I think that he wanted her to smile just to be accessible, maybe to calm the nerves or maybe she’s more free when she’s focused, that laser-focus that she has. But I didn’t expect her to smile.
“But it was her first big performance in front of 78,000 people. Some people were knocking her on it. I could go either way on it, but I do know that when the bell rang, I was watching her body language and hang onto that tag rope.”
With all that being said, taking into account Rousey’s overall performance on The Grandest Stage Of Them All, Austin gave Rousey an A+ – and offered the same grade to the match as well:
“Obviously, they put a lot of time into this, she’s obviously a very talented person, and you had three hands in there with Kurt, Steph, and Triple H being able to go out there and help along with the referee,” Austin explained. “So all of the pieces were set in place for this thing to be, and this thing was built to make all of them shine, but specifically Ronda and help get her over.
“And yeah, this one, I thought they knocked a grand slam, the bases were loaded, and they knocked it out of the park. And so, we’ll see what happens in the future when she starts moving into single’s endeavors, tag team endeavors. Yeah, this was great and they pulled it off. So she still has work to do, but as far as her performance goes, I give her an A+. And I give the match an A+ because that’s how entertained I was by it.”
You can listen to The Steve Austin Show by clicking this link here.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptionsÂ
