Dave Meltzer Analyzes Possibility Of Ronda Rousey Joining AEW

It was reported last Friday that former WWE star Ronda Rousey was backstage at the AEW/ROH television tapings at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. Later that evening, "The Baddest Woman on the Planet," who teamed up with her friend Marina Shafir against Athena and Billie Starkz at the REVOLVER Unreal independent show last Thursday night, made her in-ring debut for Ring of Honor. While appearing on the "Wrestling Observer Radio" show, longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer spoke about the possibility of Rousey signing a deal with AEW.

"So with Ronda, it's a one-shot deal," Meltzer said. "Obviously, if Ronda wants to work more, they'll use her anytime. She was doing a favor for Marina [Shafir], to help Marina, and you know, that's that. It could change, but I do not expect — there's a reason that Ronda wanted to finish. It's a family reason. 

"These shows that she's worked have all been in Los Angeles. They've all been to team with Marina, so it's a night out of fun for her. It's not like she's on the road or anything like that. She didn't leave WWE to go to AEW. Stranger things have happened, but certainly the idea when she left WWE was that she was done with wrestling and that she was moving on to the next stage of her life."

Meltzer noted that Rousey did "belt stuff" with reigning ROH Women's World Champion Athena following her debut ROH match, which led people to assume that she would be back, possibly for ROH's upcoming Final Battle pay-per-view on December 15. Meltzer said that, as far as he could tell, there was "no commitment" for that potential title bout.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.