Ronda Rousey is in the headlines again this week for comments she made bashing WWE fans.
In an interview on the “Wild Ride” podcast, which is hosted by Steve-O of Jackass fame, Rousey again ripped into WWE fans, who had a less-than-cordial relationship with Rousey during her run as a performer with the company last year.
Talking with Steve-O about her decision to leave wrestling, Rousey asked: “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 [expletive] ungrateful fans that don’t even appreciate me?”
She continued: “I love performing. I love the girls. I love being out there … but, at the end of the day, I was just like, ‘[expletive] these fans, dude.'”
Her hatred of the WWE fans seems sincere enough, but this is also the WWE we’re talking about here. Which leads us to the big question: Is this all a work?
(Quickly, for the non-wrestling fans: A “work” is any planned or scripted part of the ongoing, never-ending storytelling that exists in the world of professional wrestling. A “shoot,” on the other hand, is when an unscripted moment occurs.)
And, as far as I can tell, WWE fans can’t quite make up their minds with this right now. Is Rousey just baiting fans intentionally, staying relevant to the sport while she takes a break from WWE, and setting up her inevitable return as a heel? Or does she genuinely hate the fans for the way they treated her during her run?
No one has any idea. Look at what it’s doing to these poor fans.
I don’t know I find more hilarious – WWE fans continually insisting Ronda Rousey is terrible at the business while seemingly never being able to tell if her comments are a work or a shoot or Ronda Rousey getting angry about being disliked by fans while playing the role of a heel.
— Jordan Patu. (@Jordan_Patu) April 11, 2020
Upon listening to the Rousey podcast, it sounds more like a work to me. People are taking it as a shoot, but she was on her way to turning heel before Mania. And Steve O seems to be leading her. Steve O has ties to the WWE so to be it sounds more like a work.
— Noy Chanthavisouk (@WMDLaotian) April 10, 2020
Some things to consider:
1.) WWE fans really, earnestly did not react well to Rousey when she joined WWE. Not in a “we get mad at the heel” kind of way. She wasn’t a heel (“heel” is a villain in wrestling parlance). More in the, like, “we just hate this person and don’t want to watch her” kind of way. They let her know about it, too. So for her to be genuinely angry isn’t out of the question. Score one for shoot.
2.) Steve-O has appeared on WWE before. Score one for work.
3.) Rousey keeps talking about WWE openly, and making sure to disparage fans, instead of just dodging the question, which anyone with her media training absolutely knows how to do.
The more I read up on it, the more I think we’re in a wonderful, muddled middle ground here. A worked shoot, or a shoot that’s slowly being worked. Or something. Rousey is genuinely mad at WWE fans for things they said to her, but also smart enough to realize she can channel that anger into a possible WWE return as a heel in the future.
So is Rousey using her twitch/Facebook stream to do work shoot interviews to establish a character? Cuz it sounds like she'll return as a heel, if at all. Can't just call WWE fans "ungrateful" and not get NUCLEAR heat for it. Especially if that's how she really feels.
— Mike J. Bautista (@MikeJBknows) April 10, 2020
The best moments in WWE recently (other than insane WrestleMania, filmed boneyard matches) have come when the writers find genuine, real-life disagreements and transform them into works.
If Rousey takes the hurt she felt from WWE fans, who thought she was uninteresting and handed too much too soon after her transition over from UFC, and channels that into something interesting, that’s great. It will actually go a long way toward making her more believable as a WWE character.
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