February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831085 I think, and I'm sure that this will flip many times, that for now they are going with the idea that their top star is a woman so they have to get the women over as their top stars instead of the men for the first time in the history of the company. So I'd expect lots of women to get chances. It'll be interesting to track, whether I'm right or wrong.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831090 Yeah Dave mentioned that earlier this week. Their biggest star right now is a woman. Ronda is a bigger star than Lesnar, I don't really think that is debatable now. But... with the outside success Cena has had the last few years is she a bigger star than him? I guess Cena is technically part time but we don't yet know what kind of schedule Ronda is working. It certainly is close
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831091 I don't think Ronda's currently a bigger star than Cena (I think she was a couple of years ago when she was in bigger movies and he wasn't) but she might be a bigger draw until the novelty wears off.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831093 They have to be careful. Baszler is a prodigy with a head start. I am actually a bit concerned about that, for Shayna's sake. They're not likely to run with two "Uber Legit MMA" heels. I suppose they could use their past friendship and make a faction out of it. Perhaps a killer tag team. Much as I like Ronda - and I like her a lot - I hope Shayna isn't buried by this. They could weave this into the official narrative and bring Shayna up to feud with her quite easily too
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831094 I know someone like Dave would disagree, but I personally think Ronda is only a bigger name than Cena if you accept the premise that in a world of all things, pay-per-view matters most of all.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831096 For a purely sports fan POV, Ronda's probably got more of a Q-factor than Cena, but I don't think that's even WWE's audience anymore. We can't escape the Cena-is-an-elephant pistachio commercials just watching normal TV. Bumblebee's going to make a bazillion dollars in China. Etc.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831098 Cena is 100% a bigger star because he's on morning TV shows, awards shows, movies, reality shows and stuff. A wider section of the population is aware and familiar with him. But is the housewife who watches whatever the big US morning show going to check out Raw or get WWE Network for a big Cena match? Probably not. He's been around long enough that he draws the audience he draws and that's probably that. Ronda has the novelty factor of wrestling for the first time and for this being her first big post-UFC move. There's also the chance that the sort of person who was invested in her fighting career might be more likely to watch one of her wrestling matches than someone catching Cena on a chat show or whatever. But then I think she needs to work differently and be presented differently than anyone else, because I can imagine the sheer corporate phoniness of the WWE presentation alienating those who tune in on a whim to see what Ronda's getting up to.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831100 Can anyone imagine what Dave will be like if wwe screws it up with Ronda? It will be a Dave we've never seen before. You can tell by how he's acted this week how important this is to him
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831102 I was wrong enough about the women's rumble that I have to give them at least a little bit of the benefit of the doubt on this one.
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831104 I'd be shocked if they book Rousey like a heel before Mania - especially if the rumored match (HHH/Steph vs. ____ & Rousey) is going to happen. I mean, who could they team with Rousey that's going to get booed over HHH/Steph? The Miz maybe? Jason Jordan? I think it'd be far easier to play it as HHH and Steph antagonizing Rousey by talking about how its "their house" and Kurt Angle backing up Rousey because he's RAW's GM and when he came into the business, people like Steph and HHH tried to "keep him down" too because he was an outsider. Even if its 50/50 in terms of crowd responses, at the actual show, the story will be Rousey is triumphant and the crowd loved every minute of it (just like the story of the Cena & Nikki vs. Miz & Maryse match was that Cena and Nikki got engaged as the crowd applauded despite the fact that the loudest pops of that whole match were for the Miz kicking Cena in the chest repeatedly). The night after Mania, though, is when the audience reactions can really help guide a storyline when handled correctly (see the Ziggler/ADR cash-in for a decent example). Rousey can come out and, by this point, without HHH and Steph to draw the heat, the audience will likely by against her or, at best, neutral. Then, Asuka comes out to a huge applause. Or Charlotte. When you have Rousey actually juxtaposed with a popular, established female performer, that's when the audience will really turn on her. I just don't see that happening if she's paired up with Steph, even if they attempt to make Steph out as some sort of godmother of the women's division (in which case I think the whole angle will just get shit on).
February 3, 20187 yr comment_5831107 Anyone who has followed her career will tell you that Ronda has clearly dreamed of being a pro wrestling heel. Her Strikeforce act was completely that. Having said that; no way they allow her to move to the dark side before the new TV deal is signed. They're counting on her bringing the positive press that they hope will make them hundreds of millions extra.
February 7, 20187 yr comment_5831577 It's 2018, positioning her as a heel on the TV show is not going to diminish whatever positive press they are going to get from Ronda wrestling.
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