Ronda Rousey made a surprise appearance at AEW Revolution on Sunday night, eliciting a mixed reaction of cheers and boos.
Rousey is set to compete in an MMA fight against Gina Carano on Netflix this May 16th, and she’s clearly decided to pull out all the stops to promote the match. She spent the last two weeks hammering the UFC for its weak 2026 offerings. Now she’s popping back up in the pro wrestling world, which she largely left after 2023.
“Rowdy” didn’t actually wrestle at AEW Revolution but played
her part in some shenanigans after a match between Toni Storm and Ronda’s friend Marina Shafir. Storm won that match but was then lured back into the ring by Rousey, only to get hit from behind by Shafir. This may not be the only spot from Rousey, who was given a position amongst Shafir’s ‘Death Riders.’
As for how the crowd reacted, it’s hard to know what was heel energy and what was actual dislike for Rousey. Ronda Rousey doesn’t do anything quietly, and said a number of controversial things about pro wrestling when retiring from WWE. Just like with MMA, there’s a number of fans who legitimately don’t like her above and beyond anything she generated as a typical pro wrestling villain.
But hey, this is the attention economy and Rousey is certainly generating a lot of attention for her fight with Gina Carano on Netflix. It will be interesting to see where “Rowdy” pops up next … and the fan reaction she generates.
