4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 25)
1. The Opening Promo Struggles
Ronda Rousey's promos are a grind.
Her nervousness still comes across whenever she's holding the microphone, and that contrasts poorly with her 'Baddest Woman On The Planet' aura. Granted, there's a serious problem with how WWE produces these segments. They're formatted so tightly that performers seem more concerned with saying things in the right order than anything else.
Workers often have to talk for much longer than they're comfortable doing too. That was definitely the case with Ronda during SmackDown's open, and that led to some stilted/awkward exchanges with Michael Cole mid-ring. Then, neither Sonya Deville nor Charlotte Flair could rescue things with their own lines.
WWE want Rousey to be a fire-breathing bad ass who tears down all-comers on the mic, but it's not happening. Being brutally honest, she comes across as someone who has learned nothing about how to plough through these skits or talk over a live crowd.