Dave Meltzer has given his thoughts on the possibility of Ronda Rousey joining AEW.
On October 26th, Ronda Rousey made her return to wrestling, but to the surprise of many, it wasn’t in a WWE ring. Instead, the former Women’s Champion teamed up with Marina Shafir to defeat Taya Valkyrie and Brian Kendrick at a Lucha VaVOOM event in Los Angeles, California.
Rousey has also now been advertised for Pro Wrestling Revolver’s LA event on November 16th. It is currently unknown who she will be facing at that show.
With Rousey now back on the wrestling scene and not under a WWE contract, speculation has inevitably turned to whether she will join Shafir in AEW.
On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave his thoughts on the possibility, questioning whether it was “cost-effective” for the company.
“It’s funny, because man, I don’t know if she’s cost-effective for AEW. Because you know what she made with WWE? Everyone’s cost-effective with WWE, but with AEW, it’s like, the blooms off the rose.
“Yeah, people talk about her and everything like that, but the blooms kind of off the rose. The novelty effect of Ronda Rousey as a wrestler, and it’s more and more years it’s been years now since she fought, and she’s not the celebrity that she was when she was a fighter.
Despite wondering about the value of the star, Meltzer wouldn’t rule out the move, suggesting it could work if Mercedes Mone also signed with AEW.
“I wouldn’t like rule it out or anything, especially with all the people AEW does bring in… but it wouldn’t be a move that I would make now. I suppose if like you get Mercedes [Mone] but I don’t know.
“I mean, Rhonda didn’t knock them dead on her last WWE run, but maybe a new fan base in a new place. But it’s also a different crowd that’s more into the wrestling, unless into the name.”
Meltzer doesn’t see Ronda Rousey as a ratings mover right now, especially after her less than strong 2023 run in WWE.
“Yeah, it’s interesting, but I don’t see her as a big ratings mover right now. Like when she was in WWE when she first came back, yes, there was interest, certainly on her first run, a lot of interest. But I just felt on the last run, it wasn’t really that strong.”
Why did Ronda Rousey return to wrestling?
Following her departure from WWE, many believed that Rousey was done with wrestling altogether. Meltzer speculates that the main reason for coming back was simply that she wanted to have fun with her longtime friend, Marina Shafir.
“She just wanted a team with Marina and she might be doing a [Pro Wrestling Revolver] show. It might be in November, maybe the 16th, but there’s a Pro Wrestling Revolver show in Los Angeles and Ronda Rousey basically tweeted, ‘Isn’t that interesting?’
I think she wants to team with Marina and Marina does a lot of Revolver [shows]. She’s certainly teasing it. She’s a free agent, she can do what she wants and she’s doing it for fun. It’s in LA, she doesn’t travel, likes hanging out with Marina.”
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