Ronda Rousey's Realistic Options for WWE WrestleMania 34 Match

Despite the 2018 WWE Royal Rumble having two matches on the card, including the first-ever women's Royal Rumble in a historic main event, the biggest news to come out of the pay-per-view was the appearance of Ronda Rousey.

Having signed with WWE as the latest addition to the women's division, Rousey has triggered the speculation over what this all means with one finger point toward the WrestleMania sign.

It's a move many have seen coming for years, as the former UFC women's bantamweight champion has often spoke about her fondness for WWE in the past, going so far as to make several appearances to varying extents.

It seemingly took forever to get to this point where rumors have turned into confirmation, and the next step is to figure out what WWE has planned for her on the grandest stage of them all.

What's difficult to factor in is how WrestleMania is a show where many of the rules are thrown out and we can see virtually any type of match booked if it seems important enough.

Right now, Rousey doesn't even have a roster to call home yet, so we can't even start the speculation by narrowing it down to one brand, even though cross-branded matches have happened in the past and can easily be booked here, too.

However, despite all the variables that present the different roads WWE can go down, there do seem to be only two truly realistic options for what Rousey will be doing at WrestleMania 34.

The Four Horsewomen Scenario

For years, there has been a brewing feud between The Four Horsewomen of WWE and The Four Horsewomen of MMA.

Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch made names for themselves in NXT while Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir established their legacies in a different sport but with their own swagger.

Plenty of articles have been written about the potential behind seeing these eight women square off and how it would be one of the biggest attractions for that year's WrestleMania.

This is more likely to occur now than ever before, as six of the eight women are signed to WWE in varying capacities.

Baszler just fell shy of winning the NXT Women's Championship from Ember Moon at TakeOver: Philadelphia and made it all the way to the finals of the Mae Young Classic last year. Clearly, she has a future ahead of her and big plans are in store.

Even Shafir has her ties to WWE as her significant other is NXT Superstar Roderick Strong.

With Flair holding the SmackDown Women's Championship, it's unlikely she will drop it beforehand to anybody on that roster as none of them are on her level of prioritization, even including Lynch.

Asuka has yet to make her decision on who she will challenge at WrestleMania, but some work has already been done in establishing a feud between her, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax over the past month.

This means the most logical conclusion to draw is Asuka will opt for the Raw Women's Championship either against one of those two or both in a Triple Threat fight, leaving Flair without a contender and Rousey ready to step up to the challenge.

If this happens, it will manifest itself in one of two ways: a singles match with the other three Horsewomen ringside for support or a true 4-on-4 battle.

With the title likely being on the line, it makes more sense for Rousey to face Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship in a solo outing as far as the true in-ring competition goes, rather than putting the belt up for grabs in a tag team match.

As we have seen in the past with Sting vs. Triple H, nothing is stopping other wrestlers from fighting on the outside, since there was a clash between New World Order and D-Generation X members in that match.

If this is a No Disqualification bout, that opens it up even more for Bayley, Banks and Lynch to come to blows with Duke, Shafir and Baszler while supporting their fellow Horsewoman they accompanied to the ring.

That kind of booking is smart and strategic as it allows Flair—a ring general as far as her division is concerned—to dictate the pace of the match and do much of the heavy lifting, while there is enough of a commotion elsewhere throughout the fight to act as a distraction to Rousey's inexperience in this form of entertainment.

Rousey could walk away with the title, Flair could retain, or Carmella could capitalize on the chaos to cash in her Money in the Bank contract and steal the championship when everything is finished. In all of those situations, the fans would get their money's worth.

It is not a guarantee, though, as WWE may want to save that for WrestleMania 35 or elsewhere down the line.

Picking Up Where She Left Off

The only other alternative that would feel big enough and has anything going for it is for Rousey to be in a mixed tag team match.

Back at WrestleMania 31, Rousey joined The Rock in the ring and helped him dispose of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.

With The Rock's busy schedule as one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood, it's doubtful he will be back for WrestleMania this year, but WWE does have Kurt Angle to factor into the card.

For months, the Raw general manager has been having problems with Triple H and Stephanie, clearly setting up some kind of confrontation that would have to take place at WrestleMania if it were to go down.

If Stephanie is going to be stepping into the ring, Angle would need a female partner for that match and Rousey would be the best woman for the job.

Not only would there be a connection between the two based on their non-WWE careers as Olympic medal winners, it would also allow Rousey to rekindle the story from years ago with a more-than-suitable replacement for The Rock.

It's also important to realize it will take time for Rousey to get acclimated to the WWE style, so for this first match, she'll need to be given every tool available to hide her shortcomings.

Stephanie has never been a true member of the roster like the rest of the women in the company, so she'll be struggling as well and can't depend on Rousey to take on a leadership role in the ring.

Even Angle isn't what he used to be and will have to rely on Triple H to be in charge of the pacing and selling, so a singles outing could prove to be a problem just for the two men if that were the match booked instead of including Rousey and McMahon.

A mixed tag team match would provide a way to protect the three weaker players while still feeling like a big enough bout to garner interest from the public during the build for the pay-per-view.

Then, following this and coupled with more months of training, Rousey could have her other dream matches against Flair, Asuka, Jax and even Baszler and others in future at events such as SummerSlam and WrestleMania 35, where she would be more trusted to pull off better singles matches.

Anything can happen in WWE and there may be something else in store for Rousey at WrestleMania on April 8, but as it stands right now, these two options have the most potential far above all other matches.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.