Speculation Rampant on Ronda Rousey's Next Steps After Second WWE Stint

This past Thursday marked Ronda Rousey's return to wrestling action since her defeat to Shayna Baszler at WWE Summerslam 2023. Dave Meltzer from F4WOnline.com provided some intriguing commentary on her future in the industry during an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer said, “She wrestled last night at Lucha Vavoom in Mayan Theater in LA. She just wanted to team up with Marina and she might be doing a Revolver show. Did you hear about that? I think it might be like in November. There’s a date in November. I think it’s maybe the 16th. but there’s a Pro Wrestling Revolver show in Los Angeles, and Ronda Rousey basically tweeted, ‘Isn’t that interesting?’ I think she wants to team with Marina. Marina does a lot of Revolver. So maybe there’s something there. She’s certainly teasing it. And she is a free agent. She can do what she wants. She’s doing it for fun. I mean, it’s LA. She doesn’t have to travel. So, like, hanging out with Marina. So, yeah. I didn’t expect her to wrestle. It was funny because, last night, as I was putting the Observer together, I got a message from somebody. It’s like she’s in the front row, and all the wrestlers playing to her. Even then, it wasn’t like, did you expect, nobody said like, ‘Oh, she’s going to wrestle tonight.’ I didn’t hear that. They wanted to keep that one a secret.”

The wrestling analyst also commented on why Rousey might not be the best fit for AEW at this time. “I don’t know if she’s cost-effective for AEW because you know what she made with WWE. Everyone’s cost-effective with WWE, but with AEW, it’s like the bloom is off the rose. I mean, it’s like, yeah, people talk about her and everything like that. But the bloom is kind of off the rose. The novelty effect of Ronda Rousey as a wrestler. And it’s been more and more years. It’s been years now since she fought. And she’s not the celebrity that she was when she was a fighter. I wouldn’t like to rule it out or anything, especially with all the people it does bring in. I guess you could. I wouldn’t rule it out, but I. It wouldn’t be a move that I would make now. But I suppose if you like, you get a Mercedes [Mone]. but I don’t know. I mean, Ronda didn’t knock him dead on her last WWE, but maybe in a new fan base and a new place, but it’s also a different crowd that’s more into the wrestling and less into the name, I don’t know. Yeah, it’s interesting, I don’t see her like I don’t see her as like a big ratings mover right now. Like when she was in WWE when she first came back, yes, there was interest and certainly on her first run, a lot, a lot of interest. But I just felt on the last run, it wasn’t really that strong. They never went there [WWE going back to Rousey vs. Becky Lynch]. They never went there, which was the original idea. And yeah, they never went there. I think some of that, just because I think the feeling is, is that Ronda wasn’t as strong as a character.”