WWE News: Ronda Rousey now advertised for next three weeks of Monday Night Raw
What's the story?
Just one week after WWE announced that Ronda Rousey would appear on every episode of Raw before WrestleMania, the former UFC star was pulled from this week's show and every other episode ahead of New Orleans aside from the go-home edition on April 2nd.
Ronda Rousey has now been added back to Raw this Monday and will be appearing on every Raw leading up to WrestleMania...again.
In case you didn't know...
After the match was set for WrestleMania, WWE promised fans that the former UFC star would be appearing every week on the road to WrestleMania, but Rousey missed Raw on Monday as she was traveling to Stamford, Connecticut.
It's been said that the reason Rousey missed Monday's Raw was to prepare for her first ever WWE match, with "Rowdy" and Kurt Angle both visiting WWE HQ yesterday to figure out details of the match, as per PW Insider.
The heart of the matter
Well, Wrestling Observer's F4Online now reports that, as of Wednesday morning, Ronda Rousey is again advertised for all episodes of Raw from now until WrestleMania - as originally reported last week.
Ronda Rousey had been advertised for Monday's Raw, but what was featured instead, was a video highlighting the rivalry that led to a match being made between Rousey & Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon & Triple H.
WWE had previously backtracked on their claim that Rousey would appear in person on every Raw in the lead-up to WrestleMania, even removing their news article has since been taken off their website, but it now seems like Monday was a one-off and the original plan is back on.
What's next?
Ronda Rousey will team up with fellow Olympian Kurt Angle, to face off against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H on April 8th at Wrestlemania 34 in New Orleans.
It'll be very interesting to see how WWE books the next three weeks of programming with Rousey re-scheduled for all three episodes
Author's take
I was pretty torn on the decision to remove Rousey in the first place. I thought keeping her fresh was a good idea long term to maintain some mystique and intrigue - but I thought WWE backtracking on the announcement was a bad move considering people may have bought tickets just to see Ronda Rousey.
One of the WWE Universe's biggest criticisms of Rousey being signed is that she may be on the "Brock Lesnar schedule", so having her on TV as much as possible, will at least appease anyone who thinks Rousey isn't here for her love of wrestling. Personally, I think she's a complete attention magnet and I'll be tuning in every week with excitement to see what happens!