Ronda Rousey made her return to the ring in an unexpected venue.
Rousey competed in a tag team match with Marina Shafir against Taya Valkyrie and Brian Kendrick on Thursday night. The match took place on the first night of Lucha VaVoom’s two-night Area 51 event in Los Angeles.
Lucha VaVoom teased a surprise appearance earlier in the night, noting that “if you miss this tonight, you’ll be kicking yourself tomorrow.” Taya Valkyrie also commented on the match, writing the following on Twitter:
This is Ronda Rousey’s first wrestling match since she lost an MMA Rules match to Shayna Baszler at WWE SummerSlam on August 5. This is also her first-ever pro wrestling match to take place outside of a WWE ring.
Ronda Rousey commented on her return to the ring and shared match footage on Instagram:
“@luchavavoom was honestly the best Lucha/burlesque hybrid show I’ve ever had the pleasure of jumping into unannounced. Anyone who doubted me and @marinashafir could make magic in a ring is an idiot – thank you @thetayavalkyrie and @mr.briankendrick for being down to get down with us,” Rousey wrote.
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Shayna Baszler
WrestleZone spoke to Shayna Baszler about what it was like fighting her friend Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam. Baszler said it’s just fun fighting in general, but it helps being in the ring with someone that you’re familiar with.
“Fighting is just plain fun regardless of who it is. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s fun to fight someone that knows what they’re doing. Every fighter, whether no matter, UFC, MMA, whatever,” Baszler explained, “when you interview them, even though obviously you want to win as fast as you can. There’s a certain crazy side of you that craves for that kind of war with someone. And it’s good too, to think the possibility of that here is high.”
