UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey's WWE debut initially generated a great deal of excitement among fans. Unfortunately, the company dropped the ball by booking the Baddest Woman on the Planet as a happy-go-lucky smiling babyface.
Rousey struggled to connect with fans as she couldn't seem to understand why they were booing her and a heel came too little, too late. After a lengthy absence, she returned, only to be slotted into RAW and SmackDown like just another woman on the card.
It hardly came as a surprise then that, following an "MMA Rules" match with Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam earlier this year, Rousey left WWE. Since then, she's made a handful of appearances on the independent wrestling scene and now appears to have signed with the AEW-owned Ring of Honor.
There were rumblings yesterday that she's been spotted backstage at AEW Rampage and Rousey later made her debut during the episode of "ROH on HonorClub" which was being recorded before airing on Thanksgiving Day.
Coming out to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation," she received a warm welcome from fans amid chants of "Holy sh*t!"
Rousey went on to team with longtime friend Marina Shafir against ROH Women's Champion Athena and Billie Starkz. This was a rematch from the previous evening when they clashed at a Wrestling Revolver show (it was there speculation started running rampant about her potentially being signed by Tony Khan).
Will she be his big free agent signing announcement at AEW Full Gear this evening? That remains to be seen, but if so, it's fair to say the cat has already been let out of the bag.
Shortly after leaving WWE, Rousey made it clear she has little love for that company's fans. "What am I doing it for if I'm not being able to spend my time and energy on my family, but instead spending my time and my energy on a bunch of f***ing ungrateful fans that don't even appreciate me?"
"I love performing. I love the girls. I love being out there...but, at the end of the day, I was just like, 'F*** these fans, dude.' My family loves me and they appreciate me and I want all my energy to go into them. So that was my decision at the end of the day. It's like, 'Hey girls, love what you're doing. I'm gonna try and take all my momentum and push you guys as far as I can. Fly little birds, fly! I'm going f***ing home!'"
You can check out some fan-recorded highlights from Rousey's surprise ROH debut in the Tweets/Xs below.