MARCH 2019 WRESTLING TALK.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

4 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

 

As for why WWE would want her? Well, she's a star who gets them mainstream attention, which is pretty much all Vince seems to care about. She's also picked up wrestling quicker than just about anyone ever in her first year, and really can only get better if she so desires to do so. WWE may have the ability to fuck just about anything up, but if they can't promote a Ronda comeback as anything more than the return of a washed-up MMA fighter who lost the big one at WrestleMania then they're not even worth talking about any more, let alone watching.

That's such an easy one too. She loses, goes home for a few months (maybe 6?) while Becky reigns over the women's division. Ronda shows up, asks for a rematch. Beck denies her. Why should she wrestle her again? She beat her on the biggest stage and sent her packing. Come back when you've proven something. Ronda runs roughshod over the rest of the women and we get the rematch at the Rumble or maybe stretch it to Mania. A competent company that has patience could easily book a long term program out of this. Considering who we're talking about though.....

[Craig H]

20 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I am so glad you didn't snip any of that quote box for this

This is probably more of a question for the other folder, but when I go to quote someone with a video link or picture, it's like 50/50 for whether or not the video or image will show up. When I click quote, just the text comes up, but not the image or video, and then after I submit my reply, sometimes the video or image shows up and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know if that has to do with my browser or what.

[OSJ]

2 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

Well, Ronda is a multi-millionaire, so she doesn't really have to do anything after wrestling if she doesn't want to. She's also a star outside of the wrestling world, and could probably see out her days doing movies and TV and other media stuff if she so desired.

Regardless, it was my understanding that she was done full-time, but would still be a part-timer going forward. What exactly that means I'm not sure, but it suggests to me that she'll at least be coming around for the big shows, and will probably be, at minimum, on a Lesnar-like contract. Try as I might, I can't forget about Lesnar, so I doubt the WWE Universe is going to forget about Ronda anytime soon.

As for why WWE would want her? Well, she's a star who gets them mainstream attention, which is pretty much all Vince seems to care about. She's also picked up wrestling quicker than just about anyone ever in her first year, and really can only get better if she so desires to do so. WWE may have the ability to fuck just about anything up, but if they can't promote a Ronda comeback as anything more than the return of a washed-up MMA fighter who lost the big one at WrestleMania then they're not even worth talking about any more, let alone watching.

Ehh, "doing movies and TV"? Are we talking about the same person who can't get through a two-minute promo without getting flustered? I'm sure that there are lots of things that Ronda can do if she wants to, but I don't see anyone wasting the time or energy to try and get her to act through a motion picture or TV series. Re-takes are expensive and from what I've seen, I just don't think she has what it takes mentally to do much in the way of acting. I suppose they could utilize her as they did with Wilhelm Von Homburg in  Ghostbusters II where Von Hornburg's dialogue is dubbed in so basically all he had to do was stand around and look menacing, but that sort of thing gets old really quick. 

With all that they've done right with the women's division, I can't imagine how wonderful it would be for morale to have Ronda show up for maybe the four big shows every year and prance around talking about what a real badass she is and how everyone else is fake fighting. Yeah, Charlotte, Becky, Asuka et al are just going to love that. 

As far as mainstream exposure, as much as I love MMA, I'm going to have to admit that it's even more of a niche market than wrestling. I seriously have doubts that the average WWE viewer would have any idea who Ronda Rousey is without being "educated" by the announcers. Brock Lesnar for any number of reasons (and not all of them good) was a lot more in the public eye than Ronda. Brock may not be the sharpest pencil in the drawer but he does know enough to surround himself with people who do know what they're doing when it comes to marketing him as an MMA fighter, pro wrestler, etc. Sure, no one thought for a second that he was really going to walk on to an NFL team having not played football since high-school, but it kept his name in all the sports sections across the country. To his credit (and I really detest everything about him) Brock knows what he doesn't know and is smart enough to have the right people around him to fill in the blanks. It's no accident that he wound up paired with one of the great talkers in the wrestling business, yes, Heyman is so over the top he borders on self-parody, but he does know how to work a crowd and make everything he says seem important. Exactly the kind of pairing that Lesnar needs.  I know that New Mexico is MMA-crazy, but the night that Brock faced Randy Couture if you weren't in the bar by 5PM, you weren't getting a seat, it was just that simple. Contrast that to Ronda getting her ass handed to her in rapid succession by Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes and I don't see a lot of mainstream cross-over appeal no matter what the crazy old man that runs WWE may think. So who's going to be the magic voice for Ronda? Yeah, she's picked up the fundamentals of working a match far quicker than one would have expected, but she lags way, way behind on being able to cut a promo without tripping all over herself. She needs a mouthpiece, but thus far it seems like she's convinced that she doesn't need one and she may have just enough creative control to be able to veto any attempts to pair her with someone that can actually talk. 

Going to be very interesting to see what happens post-Wrestlemania.

[OSJ]

27 minutes ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

That's such an easy one too. She loses, goes home for a few months (maybe 6?) while Becky reigns over the women's division. Ronda shows up, asks for a rematch. Beck denies her. Why should she wrestle her again? She beat her on the biggest stage and sent her packing. Come back when you've proven something. Ronda runs roughshod over the rest of the women and we get the rematch at the Rumble or maybe stretch it to Mania. A competent company that has patience could easily book a long term program out of this. Considering who we're talking about though.....

"A competent company that has patience could easily book a long term program out of this." 

To quote the late, great Gorilla Monsoon: "Will you stop!"

[Rehabilitated Rick]

Wrestling and MMA are synonymous with each other. Thinking the same Ronda Rousey who broke into the Hollywood and the mainstream news realm and drew a million buys on PPV three times isn't a big enough star for the average WWE consumer to know who she was without education from the announcers is highly disingenuous and driven by personal bias. That's also ignoring the pop she got on her debut at the Rumble with no prior ''education''.

Her promos aren't that bad either.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Rick

[Overly Critical Man]

Wow, so people are going to “forget” who Ronda is within two years? Really? From the company that still parades people around from the Attitude era that was 20+ years ago and practically lives on nostalgia acts?

Thats about as hilarious as “We need Charlotte in the main event to be the heel because Ronda will get so flustered by being booed that she might accidentally break Becky’s arm.”

[scatterheart]

OSJ with some brain dead takes there.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

7 minutes ago, Rick said:

Wrestling and MMA are synonymous with each other. Thinking the same Ronda Rousey who broke into the Hollywood and the mainstream news realm and drew a million buys on PPV three times isn't a big enough star for the average WWE consumer to know who she was without education from the announcers is highly disingenuous and driven by personal bias. That's also ignoring the pop she got on her debut at the Rumble with no prior ''education''.

Her promos aren't that bad either.

I don't know if I can agree with your "synonymous" point, but I saw her in a 4 on 4 match at a house show last summer and she got a bigger pop than anyone I've ever seen live in that building except maybe Hogan, Flair or Michaels

[Brian Fowler]

She's unquestionably known and generally liked.

But I'm not sure she's proven to be any kind of draw in wrestling

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

Has Brock? And Vince sure doesn't have a problem backing up the money truck to him.

[OSJ]

15 minutes ago, scatterheart said:

OSJ with some brain dead takes there.

Well, you certainly add a lot to the discussion... 34 posts! I'll bet we've missed out on some real insights.

However, your ideas intrigue me, and  I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter, (assuming that it isn't written in crayon.)

[Rehabilitated Rick]

Anything outside of anniversary specials that get weeks of build and promises of Attitude era guys coming back isn't going to draw in pro-wrestling, it's just the reality. 

Roman's return did the best viewership this year, then the number dwindled down to the year average this past week.

Would Ronda have been a bigger draw on a Brock type schedule? 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Rick

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

46 minutes ago, OSJ said:

Ehh, "doing movies and TV"? Are we talking about the same person who can't get through a two-minute promo without getting flustered? I'm sure that there are lots of things that Ronda can do if she wants to, but I don't see anyone wasting the time or energy to try and get her to act through a motion picture or TV series. Re-takes are expensive and from what I've seen, I just don't think she has what it takes mentally to do much in the way of acting. I suppose they could utilize her as they did with Wilhelm Von Homburg in  Ghostbusters II where Von Hornburg's dialogue is dubbed in so basically all he had to do was stand around and look menacing, but that sort of thing gets old really quick. 

I mean, you do know she's already made several movies, right? 

[Rehabilitated Rick]

Yo @Niners Fan in CT

bUt SasHa hAs moRe fOlLOwErS

[dragonzombie]

WWE doesn't want or care for making a new draw, the brand is the draw and Wrestlemania more so. Vince doesn't really want another Hogan going to WCW event ever again.

 

[Ryan]

All I get from this is Naomi Osaka and Yuna Kim should be brought into NXT.

[joseph2112]

I think people blaming Ronda for all of this Twitter shoot BS is ignoring the much larger part that I'm sure WWE is driving the whole thing. 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Ronda Rousey, 11 year old efedder is quite the gimmick. 

Her match with [email protected] will be something 

[The Green Meanie]

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

She's unquestionably known and generally liked.

By whom? She's anti-trans and a domestic abuser.

[OSJ]

52 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

I mean, you do know she's already made several movies, right? 

Yes, and I'm sure that her mantle is getting crowded with all those Oscars... Oh, nevermind... Yes, she's perfectly adequate as the female badass who doesn't have loads of dialogue, but let's not kid ourselves, the second coming of Dwayne Johnson she isn't.  I really don't see her as even getting to the level of Chuck Norris and that's a pretty low bar.

[OSJ]

3 minutes ago, The Green Meanie said:

By whom? She's anti-trans and a domestic abuser.

Curt Schilling, perhaps?

[John from Cincinnati]

12 minutes ago, The Green Meanie said:

By whom? She's anti-trans and a domestic abuser.

You think the average person who just knows her name is aware of this and the other ugly views she's held? I think you've got to be in the loop or have a long memory to know about all that.

Unlike (because @OSJ dropped the name and it makes a decent comparison) Schilling, Ronda hasn't spent the last however many years doing everything she possibly can to burn what's left of her name. She has some shitty views, but it's reasonable to believe a lot of people haven't noticed. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by West Newbury Bad Boy

[The Green Meanie]

4 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I think you've got to be in the loop or have a long memory to know about all that.

Unlike (because @OSJ dropped the name and it makes a decent comparison) Schilling, Ronda hasn't spent the last however many years doing everything she possibly can to burn what's left of her name. She has some shitty views, but it's reasonable to believe a lot of people haven't noticed.

That's the crux of the issue. People have short attention spans.

[OSJ]

2 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

You think the average person who just knows her name is aware of this and the other ugly views she's held? I think you've got to be in the loop or have a long memory to know about all that.

Unlike (because @OSJ dropped the name and it makes a decent comparison) Schilling, Ronda hasn't spent the last however many years doing everything she possibly can to burn what's left of her name. She has some shitty views, but it's reasonable to believe a lot of people haven't noticed. 

Yeah, this is likely true. I think Ronda's as stupid as a piece of wood, but she isn't up at 4AM posting batshit insane memes like Schilling is. However, the more times she has a live mic in front of her the odds go up that she's going to say something really unpleasant that the WWE isn't going to be able to backpedal away from. I don't think it's so much a question of "if" as it is a question of "when".

[John from Cincinnati]

Just now, The Green Meanie said:

That's the crux of the issue. People have short attention spans.

Sure. Just answering your "By whom?" The answer is most people because not everyone's well-informed about all her views or they don't remember. 

I don't think it's an "issue." People are busy, there's a lot of noise out there. Reasonable that most don't keep up on every detail of a C-list celebrity's time in public life.