Recent WWE signee and former UFC women’s bantamweight champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey now has her Wrestlemania match.
Raw General Manager opened Monday Night Raw to announce that he and Rousey would take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at the Show of Shows.
Yup, it's happening. @RealKurtAngle & @RondaRousey vs. @TripleH & @StephMcMahon on The #GrandestStageOfThemAll, #WrestleMania! #RAW pic.twitter.com/bkjgwYQefO
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) March 6, 2018
McMahon attempted to get out of the match, saying she is an executive and she couldn’t compete at Wrestlemania. The Olympic Gold Medalist fired back by saying she and Triple H had deals as WWE superstars and used the technicality to set up the match between the two teams.
Like any good team, Angle and Rousey took down Triple H and McMahon, officially kicking off their feud.
WWE has been building toward this match in the last couple of weeks, starting at Elimination Chamber when Rousey signed her contract and put Triple H through a table. Fans could even say the angle began three years ago during Wrestlemania 31 when Rousey was in a segment with The Rock, Triple H and McMahon.
There have been reports that Rousey’s Wrestlemania match would involve Triple H and McMahon, though there were questions as to who she would team with at the event. Angle’s name was among the potential partners for the Rowdy one, as were The Rock, Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins.
It’s speculated that The Rock wouldn’t compete at Wrestlemania due to his role in Hollywood while Strowman and Rollins are potentially competing for the Intercontinental Championship at the event. There’s even rumor that Strowman is a backup plan for the Universal title picture in case Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar are unavailable for Wrestlemania.
The benefit of having Angle in the match as opposed to The Rock is that a full-time individual will compete at Wrestlemania as opposed to a part-time competitor. Although Angle is the Raw General Manager, he has competed in two matches since he returned to WWE – teaming with Dean Ambrose and Rollins at TLC and the captain of Team Raw at Survivor Series.
Pairing Rousey with Angle makes sense for this match. Angle is the benevolent authority figure – the yin to McMahon’s yang – on Raw and he would want to make sure his investment in Rousey is protected.
They are also accomplished athletes in their respective combat sports backgrounds – and they are Olympic medalists. Angle won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in 1996 and Rousey won a bronze in judo in 2008.
The match will be a good test to see how far Rousey has come in her training, It also gives Rousey her first big WWE win without the company having to sacrifice one of the superstars in their women’s division.
Having experienced wrestlers like Triple H and Angle can alleviate some of the weight off her shoulders.
WrestleMania 34 will take place April 8 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Matches confirmed for the show include
- Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns
- Shinsuke Nakamura challenging the WWE Champion – the winner of the six-pack challenge at Fastlane
- The finals of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship tournament
- Asuka challenging for the Raw or Smackdown women’s championship
