wrestling / Columns

Truths & Lies: Did Ronda Rousey Have The Greatest Debut Match Of All-Time?

April 25, 2018 | Posted by Justin Watry
Ronda Rousey Stephanie McMahon WrestleMania 34 Image Credit: WWE

There is a lot going on, so I figured this was a good time to bust out the Truths & Lies gimmick.

Truths & Lies

TRUTH: Vince McMahon is on the Mount Rushmore of Greatest Non-Wrestlers Ever.

This idea was thrown my way a few weeks ago. I knew I wanted to get through WrestleMania 34 and the aftermath before re-visiting the tweet first. Now that the dust has settled…I am still struggling to get to four names. Vince McMahon was named in a supporting tweet, and that is a no brainer. He is obviously the top of the top in terms of promoters in the industry. No doubt he would qualify more as a non-wrestler than an actual wrestler.

From there, it is tough. Bobby Heenan is a prime candidate. Commentator and manager. Then maybe Jim Ross? You could certainly make a case for Eric Bischoff or Paul Heyman. However, wrestling history may prove their failures outweigh their victories. I know it may sound ridiculous, but I would toss Triple H in the debate for his last ten years or so. Even if you ignore his time in the squared circle, what he has done with NXT and running the $3 billion company known as WWE is outstanding. Sure, Vince McMahon is still the boss at the end of the day. Let’s be real though – that is not as cut and cry as before.

What say you folks – who deserves to be on the Mouth Rushmore of Non-Wrestlers?

LIE: The Greatest Royal Rumble Event is too much, too soon after WrestleMania.

This card is beyond stacked. The Undertaker is in a casket match. Triple H is wrestling John Cena for old time’s sake (and maybe the final time). Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan, and countless other former World Champions are in a 50 man Royal Rumble bout! AJ Styles is defending his WWE Title versus Shinsuke Nakamura. A wild ladder match for the IC Title. Oh, and all these other title matches, including Roman Reigns going for the Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar inside a steel cage! Good grief. I understand the caution of a fifty man Rumble. I understand the criticism over no women being on the show. I also understand the premise that this is only a short few weeks following Mania.

My response – enjoy the show.

A jam packed 60,000 seat stadium in a foreign country is a terrific idea for a live WWE Network special. Just the stage and spectacle of it all will be worth tuning in for. My guess is if this was at the internet’s beloved Wembley Stadium in the UK a lot of the the critics would shut up. I will be watching Friday afternoon and having a blast. Extreme Rules may suffer a bit in the followup, but WWE will bite that bullet if it means selling 130,000 tickets for just two events separated by three weeks. Now let’s hope this “more wrestling” is actually GOOD wrestling because that is what matters at the end of the day.

TRUTH: Ronda Rousey had the best debut match of all-time.

“Probably the best f**king professional wrestling match that I’ve seen in I don’t know how long…it was perfect.”

– Jim Cornette

While rummaging through Youtube looking for WM34-Rousey videos, I came across a review from the one and only James E. Cornette! I don’t listen to his podcast or know much about his stuff besides he tends to be super negative and that he despises Vince Russo. For him to give such high praise to anything WWE (much less HHH) says a lot. This is not a hollow compliment. Make no mistake, if Cornette is speaking so highly of a match in 2018 it means a ton.

Here is what caught my ear during the four minute video though. Not the Ronda Rousey praise per say but the overall discussion.

Was this the greatest debut match ever for a wrestler?

Think about it. This was Rousey’s debut. Who has had a better match to kick off their career? The Undertaker? No. Kurt Angle? No. The Rock? No. Shawn Michaels? No. Ric Flair? No. Hulk Hogan? No. Brock Lesnar? No. Fandango? Not quite. Floyd Mayweather? Entertaining one off but nope. John Cena? Super impressive but not amazing or anything. Big Show? High profile but nah. Kevin Owens? Eh. Shinsuke Nakamura? Counting NXT would be worth the discussion. The Shield and their six man battle in 2012? Could be, could be. You see my point? Interesting to ponder. I guess it all depends on your definition of a “debut” match for certain wrestlers.

When you consider all the pressure, all the doubts and the fact that it was at WrestleMania, I’d love to hear any arguments…

LIE: Raw got screwed in the 2018 Superstar Shakeup

I wrote about the entire Superstar Shakeup last week (on another website). Here is a quick rundown.

I was wrong about Braun Strowman moving. That had been my prediction since late 2017. I was wrong about Bayley and Sasha Banks going their separate ways. Makes little sense but whatever. I was also VERY wrong about The Usos or The New Day not switching. That was fairly shocking.

On the flip side, I was right about Asuka going to Smackdown LIVE. I was right about Baron Corbin going to RAW. I was right about Jinder Mahal heading to Mondays. I was right about The Miz and Daniel Bryan being on the same brand. I was right about The Bar going to the blue brand. I also nailed the following…

Half point on the Chad Gable pick.

Then there was this tiny bit of vindication from an exclusive I had been reporting for awhile now…

If you had been following my columns (on another website) for the past year or two, you already know that tidbit.

Long story short, the general consensus is that Smackdown LIVE “won” the Superstar Shakeup. On the surface, I agree. Asuka, The Miz, Jeff Hardy, The Bar, Samoa Joe, Andrade Almas, Sanity and many more are huge gets for the brand. However, here is where I will disagree. While RAW did not GAIN much in return, they also didn’t lose much from their original roster.

Still have Brock Lesnar. Still have Roman Reigns. Still have Seth Rollins. Still have Ronda Rousey. Still have Bayley and Sasha Banks. Still have Dean Ambrose. Still have Authors Of Pain. Still have Kurt Angle and Triple H when available. Still have Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. Still have Finn Balor. Still have Elias. Still have Jason Jordan. Still have Braun Strowman. Still have their main core intact, plus Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Lashley, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and other fresh faces added to the mix.

You can debate that Smackdown Live got the better of the Superstar Shakeup…but judging everything as a whole, I still think Raw boasts a more powerful roster.

Cheap Plugs

Email me: [email protected]

Follow me: @JustinWatry

Thanks.

More Trending Stories

article topics :

Ronda Rousey, WrestleMania 34, WWE, Justin Watry

More Stories

loading