Much as been made this week about Ronda Rousey and her pals Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler, and Jessamyn Duke entering the world of WWE. After a brief altercation with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Bayley, it appears some sort of MMA/WWE super fight is in the works. But to Sasha Banks, Rousey and other MMA stars are nothing special
Banks appeared on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and opened up on the subject of Rousey in WWE. While she seems enthusiastic about the potential, she ultimately feels that Rousey should be forced to pay her WWE dues like everyone else.
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“I feel like I keep hearing rumblings of that too, which is cool. It’s awesome, but we are The Four Horsewomen and they’re just fans. Yeah, and if they wanted to fight us, they need to get in the back of the line like everybody else, get a contract, train down at the [WWE] Performance Center, get on NXT, and try to get called up [to the main roster] just like everybody else,” she asserted.
Banks would add a final back-handed compliment.
“She’s an amazing athlete. She [has] changed the game. She’ll never be [on Banks’ level in the pro wrestling ring,” she said.
The Boss’ disposition against Rousey and her comrades is hard to confuse. It sounds like Banks will be staunchly against Rousey popping into WWE and being inserted into WWE’s main event. But unfortunately for Banks that might be exactly what happens.
Rousey is already rumored to have a WrestleMania match against Charlotte Flair. Despite the success of the women’s’ Revolution there has yet to be a one-on-one match at Wrestling Mania during the new era of women’s wrestling. Instead, there’s only been Triple Threats and Fatal 4-Ways. They’ve been fun, but there’s no doubting that women like Banks want their own singles match at WWE’s biggest stage. However, it’s all too likely that Rousey gets that opportunity before Banks.
If Rousey comes to WWE (she is), the wrestling conglomerate has no choice but to stick her under the brightest of lights. If she is indeed committed to becoming a WWE Superstar, not just a celebrity one-off, then WWE will have to put time into developing her. That said they won’t be able to hold off on her long as they’ll want to yank that money lever as soon as possible. As nice as wrestling technique can be, it’s star power that rules the day in WWE.
At the least, it sounds like Sasha could have a great feud with Rousey.
[H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription]