Professional wrestler, Ronda Rousey, has starred in quite a few gripping Hollywood projects, including Fast & Furious 7 as Kara. Before becoming who she is today, Ronda Rousey was the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in Judo at the Summer Olympics (2008). Ten years later, the wrestler began her journey in professional wrestling and has since won many feats going forward. Ronda Rousey’s name cannot be mentioned without bringing up her longtime close friend and wrestler, Shayna Baszler.
Together, the two of them have been one of WWE’s top female duos as they were practically undefeatable when they worked together. That was until Shayna Baszler turned on Ronda Rousey at Money in the Bank. Thus began a feud between the two friends which eventually led to them fighting each other at the SummerSlam (2023). Unfortunately, the fans weren’t big fans of the match as they voted the Rousey vs. Baszler feud as one of the top five worst feuds of 2023.
An Unfortunate News for Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler had similar origin stories in many respects, and hence their alliance in early 2023, wasn’t a huge surprise. The duo went on to win the women’s WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match at WrestleMania 39, which gave their team a huge boost in popularity. The two superstars got drafted into Raw as a tag team, and in late May last year, they won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
However, soon their fascinating alliance soured after a short reign as champions. This snowballed into a nasty feud between the two fighters, which saw Baszler kneeing Rousey in the face. Next, Rousey lost to Baszler in an MMA rules match at the 2023 SummerSlam, and things took a turn for the worse.
However, their much-publicized feud wasn’t well-received by fans. Recently, in a poll conducted by Observer, they were ranked as the fourth worst feud in the WWE in 2023 with Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho following close behind. The top spot, however, went to MJF vs. The Devil.
WON 2023 Worst Feud of the Year (as voted by Observer readers):
1. MJF vs. The Devil 167
2. Outcasts vs. AEW Originals 114
3. Tyrus vs. EC3 74
4. Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler 57
5. Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho 48 pic.twitter.com/8ROxv24217— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) February 23, 2024
This puts a black mark on Rousey’s legacy as a WWE superstar, and ironically mirrors her tragic downfall in her earlier promotion: the UFC.
A WWE Veteran Was Not a Fan of the Feud Right from the Start
It looks like that not only the fans, but some of the prominent names in WWE were not too impressed by Baszler and Rousey’s feud. During his appearance at the Legion of RAW, Vince Russo opened up about the dispute between the two wrestlers and called it the “worst thing” on the show. He even put Baszler on blast and stated that she was not the “babyface” she was being portrayed as.
“This is the worst thing on the show that they’re doing because here’s what they’re trying to do. Rousey is on her way out. So they’re trying to bury Rousey as ‘she always looked down her nose at professional wrestling.’ That’s what they’re trying to do. But with Shayna Baszler as the babyface?”
In wrestling, ‘babyface’ is a person who is presented as the good/heroic guy you want fans to support. In the fight between Baszler and Rousey, the former was deemed as the babyface and Russo is simply not on board with this decision. The one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion stated,
“Shayna Baszler will never in a million years be a babyface… She wears that eye makeup, and she’s a she-beast, you can’t, bro. If you want to do that with Ronda Rousey, that’s fine but do it with somebody that she can make a babyface out of. Shayna Baszler will never ever be a babyface.”
While feuds offer added excitement to the WWE and are often loved by the fans, it looks like Baszler vs. Rousey wasn’t that well-received by the audience, especially after that match!
