Tension Between Ronda Rousey & AEW During ROH Match Negotiations

Negotiations over Ronda Rousey's Ring of Honor debut weren't particularly smooth.

Rousey made her ROH debut on the Friday, November 17 taping of ROH TV, teaming with Marina Shafir to defeat Athena and Billie Starkz. The match aired on Thanksgiving and has received a considerable amount of praise, with Rousey picking up the win via submission after applying an Armbar to Billie Starkz.  The match was a rematch from Wrestling REVOLVER Unreal the night before, which ended in a no contest after Athena attacked Rousey with the ROH Women's World Title belt.

Fans shouldn't expect to see Rousey back in Ring of Honor anytime soon as Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the UFC Hall of Famer isn't looking to wrestle regularly at the moment and she worked the ROH TV taping as "basically a favor to alleviate a complex political issue and help her friend Marina Shafir."

Meltzer noted the Wrestling REVOLVER match came together late as Tony Khan has to approve all indy bookings for AEW/ROH talent and he was reluctant to allow his wrestlers to perform as AEW had three shows in the market that week already through Dynamite, Collision, and Full Gear. Eventually Khan agreed to let his talent wrestle under the condition the REVOLVER match was a DQ finish and he could book the rematch on the ROH TV taping the next night where Rousey would win.

This led to "a lot of tension regarding negotiations but it was basically conceded that as far as the matches went, it all turned out great in the end." Rousey found herself under pressure to work for Tony Khan during negotiations, even though she was just wanting to work the match so she could team with Shafir and put a spotlight on her friend.

In terms of Rousey's immediate pro wrestling future, she is not interested in signing a deal at the moment and the ROH match "in no way made it more likely at all that if she did want to come back in a couple of years, that AEW would be her choice."