How Does This Wrestling Fan Feel About Ronda Rousey vs Nia Jax for the Women’s Championship?
The future of the WWE Women's Division? Possibly! Ronda Rousey challenges the champion, Nia Jax at Money in the Bank, Sunday June 17.
By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)
5/14/2018
A little over a month after Ronda Rousey claimed her very first victory, in her very first match, over the Game, Triple H and the Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie McMahon, Ronda has been lightly sprinkled on WWE programming. If you blink, you might miss her.
Currently feuding with Mickie James and her new found buddy, Natalya, Ronda seemed to be looking to get a few more PPV matches under her belt before making her way to the main event. A feud here, a tag match there, and she’d be at least a tad bit more seasoned than the rocky start in March and April.
However, on May 14th, just a few hours before Monday Night Raw, the internet is all abuzz over the challenge issued by Nia Jax to Ronda Rousey. On the program NBCUniversal Upfront, E! News got the exclusive exchange from the two women of the Raw roster. Nia offered the championship shot and Ronda “humbly obliged”.
It what will continue to shake the earth under wrestling fan’s feet for hours, days, and weeks to come, Ronda has been catapulted out of the mid card and pointless feuds, to glory and main event status. After only one PPV match…ONE…Ronda is on her way to winning the Women’s Championship and ruling the division…AND I LOVE IT SO GOD DAMN MUCH!
There are so many reasons for us to be excited about this and it starts with Nia Jax. Regardless of how you feel this is going to turn out, Nia can now finally distance herself from that cruddy storyline that turned the self-proclaimed “monster” into a weeping mess. Don’t get me wrong. I think emotion is fine and have argued that the feud with Alexa started out okay. But what it never evolved to was the emotional release that we sometimes need to take place to truly get beyond a tough situation. Alexa wasn’t damaged enough and wasn’t really taught any lessons. The bully is still a bully and there should be a better way for kids to see that situation turn out.
Nia’s character should be similar to the Juggernaut from the X-men. Nothing can stop the Juggernaut and nothing should be able to stop Nia. She should have either steamrolled Alexa in their feud or laid waste to her long enough to let her know that her 'bullying ways' will not help her advance. Since it’s difficult to say that was the final result, its time to give Nia an opportunity to move away from that feud and turn into the monster again.
So all of those nice words for Nia are great, but why Ronda Rousey? Anyone could’ve been the next feud for Nia Jax. Why not let Sasha Banks back in the main event scene? Why not give Ember Moon the opportunity at gold instead of a briefcase? And we know Ruby Riott can handle herself in the ring, why not Ruby?
Sasha is in a happy spot with her gray area feud with Bayley and current feud with the Riott Squad. Ember Moon will get the title and she’ll be great. Now just isn’t the right time. And anyone else would just feel like…well…it would feel like the nothing feuds we’ve been served up for the last couple of PPVs. You can tell me right now that you’d rather have buffer feuds for Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey (build both characters and result in a longer, more meaningful feud at SummerSlam), but that isn’t what the WWE Universe wants as a whole and they proved it at Backlash.
What do I mean? As Roman Reigns awaits his winning contest with Brock…whenever that happens…he will feud with guys like Samoa Joe. Guys, who could honestly use the victory. But the problem is that it creates a storyline with a predictable ending. The writers could obviously swerve us and give us a different conclusion. Samoa Joe could’ve walked out of Backlash with the victory and we probably would’ve appreciated that as fans. Instead, fans walked out of the arena during the match (the main event of the night) and those who stayed, showered the ring with chants of “boring”. Not something you expect to see from the “big guy” on your roster.
Why does this effect the Women’s roster? Because we can’t have two separate divisions doing buffer feuds. We need something to get us excited and something that will keep the fans’ butts in the seats. Whether you want to complain about Ronda skyrocketing to the main event or not, she already feels like a “must-see” event. If the WWE wants to keep trolling away on Roman Reigns and whatever his next match is supposed to mean, then throw some fire on the Women’s division.
And don’t get me wrong. Go to the podcast episodes leading up to WrestleMania 34. I was very upset with the WWE and Ronda Rousey. I felt bamboozled. Here I was at the beginning of February asking everyone to watch Ronda because she was going to be the real deal. Head to mid-March and she had disappeared from regular programming. I was so angry! I was mad that the WWE had led me astray and that Ronda Rousey was actually going to be different from Lesnar…but more importantly…I was WRONG!
Damn them!
Similar to that feeling of wonder and excitement I get from Brock Lesnar, all of that frustration and anguish melted away when I saw Ronda tag in for Kurt Angle. No one, that I can remember, brought so much confidence and “real feel” to the ring in their first match. Seeing her wrap around Stephanie like a Hobo on a ham sandwich was not just mesmerizing, but terrifying! Damn it all…just like with Lesnar, if we were in a dark alley together, I wouldn’t even run. I would just look at back the good times and pray for a quick death.
Fortunately, Ronda Rousey is the gosh darn, most charming human that’ll rip your head from your shoulders. That charm is gonna fuel, what I think, the much needed pivot from face to heel for Nia. Good brother Mike has talked about it week after week. Nia can’t clobber people and be the face. For Nia to be the superstar that’ll fit her intimidating size AND for her to be able to wipe the floor with future competitors, she’s got to get a mean side.
The biggest reason here is that the combination of a believable main event that people care about and Nia Jax' pivot to becoming the Monster again is the bottom dollar. The WWE can't continue to put their fans to sleep at big shows. The main reason for having these special shows, like Money in the Bank, is to highlight the wrestling and have it sell fans on attending the next one. This isn't Monday Night Raw, with multiple backstage segments and promos. Its a special event that should include multiple moments to go home and talk about. The Money in the Bank is first marketing step to selling the show for next year and the WWE knows this. No more snore fests and no more empty arena during the main event.
Ronda brings legitimacy to the main event and Nia needs a shot to own a different kind of feud. Man up wrestling fans, because this happening whether you like or not and any ill will you feel now…will surely disappear once Money in the Bank rolls around.
