Why WWE WrestleMania 38 Reeks Of Desperation

Charlotte Flair Ronda Rousey
WWE.com

Bringing back Ronda Rousey was never a bad idea. The former UFC champion took to sports entertainment like few could have ever imagined, surpassing even the most optimistic person’s expectations.

By the time she left WWE after WrestleMania 35, Rousey had truly elevated women’s wrestling and raised the bar for the competition. Three years later and things have almost completely fallen apart due to injuries, releases and motherhood.

Still, Rousey was barely on the radar when a buzz quickly stirred up in the days before the Royal Rumble and she was suddenly heavily rumored to be a surprise entrant. Sure enough, there she was, tearing through everyone and punching her ticket to WrestleMania, one of the biggest crossover, mainstream stars WWE has had in the past several years.

Naturally, they put her up against the woman whom they feel is their biggest star: Charlotte Flair. Flair has name value in wrestling circles, while Rousey still is a household name for sports combat fans. Never mind Sasha Banks, she can compete for the women’s tag titles. And Asuka can continue to sit on the sidelines with no storylines from creative. Rhea Ripley can continue to tread water. Lita can get a payday in Saudi Arabia. And Alexa Bliss’ revenge can wait.

Rowdy Ronda is back! And that’ll move the needle. But just in case it doesn’t…

CONT’D (3 of 7)

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.