Ever since competing in her final WWE match at SummerSlam this past August, the professional wrestling career of Ronda Rousey has taken somewhat a strange turn. The WWE Women’s Triple Crown winner made her unannounced return to the ring at a Lucha VaVoom independent event before going to make her debut for The Wrestling Revolver a few weeks later. But even more surprising was the moment Rousey made her surprise Ring of Honor debut at a TV taping last week.
In what became a rematch from Revolver’s event, Rousey was unveiled as the mystery partner of close friend Marina Shafir to take on Billie Starkz and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. Unlike their clash the night before, which ended in a DQ after Athena hit Rousey with her title belt, Shafir and Rousey came out victorious with the latter using an armbar on Starkz to get the submission win. Following the taping last week, the match officially aired last night as part of a special Thanksgiving edition of ROH TV.
Writing in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that Rousey’s appearance was both a favor for Shafir and part of a deal between AEW and The Wrestling Revolver. Initially, Tony Khan did not want Athena and Starkz, who are signed to AEW full-time, wrestling at a Los Angeles event when AEW was already hosting three separate shows in the area in the same week. Eventually, a deal was struck where the Revolver match could take place but had to end in DQ and in return, a rematch would take place on the ROH taping the night after. Jon Moxley is said to have played a role in the deal as he’s close with the promotion’s owner Sami Callihan and is high on Shafir.
In regards to Rousey’s status in ROH and/or AEW going forward, Meltzer notes that there are currently no plans for Rousey to appear in either promotion any time soon. Despite Rousey and Athena getting visual pins on each other and Rousey making motions indicating that she wants Athena’s belt, a title match between the two is not said to be planned. Additionally, it was added that Rousey has no interest in doing wrestling regularly and much like her recent appearances, simply wants to do it for fun.