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Whether you’re just a big-time Becky Lynch fan, you just don’t like Ronda Rousey’s awkward phrasing or you have some sort of social justice ax to grind (which in my opinion, there’s much more justification to grind elsewhere in WWE) hating on “The Baddest Woman on The Planet” for being a major part of the spotlight is awfully absent-minded of you.
Ronda Rousey isn’t an actress above an athlete. Sure, she’s been in a few feature films but so was her role model Roddy. So was Terry Funk and Andre The Giant.
Those three legends all had to memorize scripts for the silver screen, but not in the ring. Unfortunately for Ronda who floats in WWE’s one-dimensional universe, she has to do both. And those scripts don’t show up at her doorstep three months in advance, but it’s probably closer to her getting handed them three hours before showtime. Every week. For the majority of the year.
Ronda also hasn’t had the promo training that the majority of the rest of the women’s roster benefited with our boy Dusty down in NXT and unlike the majority of talent WWE oversees, she’s expected to be a major part of their television time. It’s been baptism by fire for Ronda, and for the better part of the year, she’s shown that she’s inflammable. I’d even argue that she only got a touch burned on Monday. Like a Terry Funk, Ronda Rousey speaks with conviction and passion when the script isn’t tripping her up.
I’m all for fans reacting how they want to, but those in attendance in Phoenix were teetering on the edge of bullying Monday. “Let’s boo the star to get her off her game,” and they did. Ronda was flustered, she admitted such and she recovered in extremely convincing fashion. It would have been an unbelievable turn-around for a stage actor, let alone an athlete, and moments like that should assure viewers that Ronda will continue to impress.
That moment on Monday, wasn’t entirely the fault of the fans, however.
For the better part of 14 years, WWE has force-fed its’ major muscle-man acts down the gullets of their fanbase and we’ve had to swallow it or just change the damn channel. A good batch has done the latter, but the ardent fans are a little tougher to shake off that branch. Like a petri dish would off a dirty sponge, the lack of competition cultivated corporate complaceny . That has morphed fans into the jealous lover, grasping to those everlasting hopes of a healthy long-term relationship. The “long-term” was there, but the “healthy?” Not so much. WWE was too busy courting those two prettier gals named “mainstream acceptance” and “brand identity.”
That’s where the act of Ronda Rousey is deceiving. She’s those two pretty gals rolled into one It was plenty attractive to WWE, later FOX (oh, poor FOX), and even to those temperamental folks known as wrestling fans. Her flipping Triple H over her head and breaking Stephanie’s arm (an arm which later seemed to have magical healing powers) during her WrestleMania debut personified what a lot of the fans were searching for: an empowered women’s act that fought back against “the corporate man.” Ronda was the first woman to see that anti-authority push on WWE television despite the company’s self-back patting at any mention of a women’s main roster “revolution.”
Then the other “Man came around” with her authentic charisma and fans couldn’t help but back up a true underutilized underdog. Becky Lynch became an equal adversary to the norm and had to fight against the stubborn-filled strategy of Vince striving to get Charlotte over as the next top face, priming her against Ronda for that WrestleMania main event. Then Becky sucker-punched those plans to smithereens and here we are.
Ronda Rousey being booed to silence last Monday is the after-effect of the organic and the conventional clashing yet again. Becky is indeed on that organic side and so Ronda if you just part those tea leaves. She is just guilty by association with the conventions of the company she works for, but she’s just as fresh and just as valuable as she was when WWE signed her. Just like Becky Lynch.
Those unexpected chorus of boos coaxed a sheepish Ronda to say, “you guys got me” on Monday.
She’s right. We do. And if we’re smart enough, we shouldn’t take her for granted.
