10 Most Infuriating Stephanie McMahon Moments

4. Surely She'll Sell For Ronda Rousey...

Stephanie McMahon slaps Roman Reigns
WWE Network

Cast your mind back to 1998, when Mike Tyson was drafted in by the WWF to help promote WrestleMania XIV. He was never booked to intimidate McMahon, but if he was, you can be assured that Vince would have gulped, wide-eyed, in that inimitably hammy way of his.

Fast forward to 2015, and then-baddest woman on the planet, Ronda Rousey, gets in Steph's face at WrestleMania 31 in a segment also involving The Rock and Triple H. Steph sold fear only halfheartedly, only bothering to look semi-worried when Rousey grabbed her by the arm.

Rousey is a woman, evidently, so it's not as if Steph could use the male on female violence copout here. As the hardest woman in the world at that point, one morally clear to smash her face in, Steph should have reacted to Rousey's intimidation by squealing to compound her flailing around, at the very least.

The whole ordeal ate up so much airtime, and denigrated The Rock's Attitude Era credentials so thoroughly, that many were convinced it was orchestrated to set up a mixed tag in Dallas the next year. There must have been some sort of endgame...but no, there wasn't.

That may have been the result of scheduling and contractual conflicts on the part of Rock and Ronda, but unless WWE had every intention of being able to follow this through, they shouldn't have bothered.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!