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Ronda Rousey Denies Rumor About Leaving WWE HOF Because Stone Cold Main Evented Mania
April 3, 2022
Ronda Rousey has denied a rumor that she was unhappy about not being in the main event on Night 1 of WrestleMania 38.
Per Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of RingsideNews.com), Rousey "walked out" of the Hall of Fame ceremony Friday night after being told her match with Charlotte Flair wasn't going on last.
Alvarez did note that "cooler heads" eventually prevailed.
Rousey responded to the report on Twitter, saying she left early to take care of her baby and calling it "an absolute honor" to go on before Stone Cold Steve Austin on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
There did seem to be some mixed messaging about what was going to headline Night 1 of WrestleMania.
During the go-home Raw episode last Monday, Kevin Owens said his segment with Austin was going to close WrestleMania on Saturday night.
During an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show Thursday (h/t Liam Crowley of Wrestling Inc.), Rousey said the SmackDown women's title match was the main event of Night 1.
"I’m gonna be in the main event for the second time," Rousey said. "I was the, part of the first main event with women and this is now the third. So, it’s becoming almost something that doesn’t need to be mentioned anymore, which is the goal."
It's possible WWE hadn't decided what was going to close at that point, though Austin's return to WrestleMania for the first time in six years certainly made it the most-hyped thing on the show.
Rousey and Flair wound up working the semi-main event before the Austin-Owens no-holds barred match. The Baddest Woman of the Planet surprisingly lost when Flair hit her with a big boot to the face.
Rousey did get Flair to tapout with the armbar, but the referee had been knocked out a moment before that. The former UFC champion was pinned in a match for the first time in her WWE career.