Prior to AEW’s Collision and Rampage taping on Friday night, news spread that Ronda Rousey was backstage. This led many online to assume she would debut for AEW during one of these shows. However, instead, she was the mystery partner for her close friend Marina Shafir against current ROH Women’s Champion Athena and Billie Starkz in a match taped for an upcoming episode of ROH television. The former WWE star would enter to her regular theme music, Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” and there were dual chants of “We want Ronda/no we don’t.“
36-year-old Rousey returned to WWE in January 2022 after giving birth as a surprise entrant in the women’s Royal Rumble match, which she’d go on to win. Still, her second run was less than spectacular, with #FireRondaRousey even trending on Twitter due to fans being disappointed with her performances. Her final match for the promotion would be against Shayna Baszler at Summerslam in what many thought at the time could be her final pro wrestling match. Yet, she has since wrestled on two indie shows and now looks set to be an ROH regular.
