Ronda Rousey Is Everything Right and Wrong with WWE at the Moment

There is a double-edged sword swinging above WWE right now, and it bears the name Ronda Rousey.

In many ways, the former MMA star is just what the company needs and demonstrative of the best it has to offer. However, she's also a figurehead for the major problems preventing it from getting out of the lull it has been in for several years.

This isn't so much an argument of perspective debating whether the glass is half-empty or half-full, but rather an admission that WWE is wrong in claiming the glass is overflowing.

You can—and should—enjoy what Rousey has to offer, as she has proved to be capable of great things.

The trick, though, is not falling for the magic act and losing sight of the bad that comes with the good, nor being clouded with cynicism. This is not a straightforward situation.

The Glass is Half-Full

Rousey is a tremendously popular sports icon who helped revolutionize women's combat sports and held the Raw Women's Championship leading into the first-ever all-female main event at WrestleMania.

She was one of the biggest stars in UFC, who became mainstream beyond that community and turned into a household name.

This is indisputable and worthy of praise.

How fantastic is it that WWE could capitalize on that spectacle and bring her into the fold? Now, any time someone views her list of accomplishments, she'll be forever tied to professional wrestling, too, to help legitimize sports entertainment in the public eye. Not just any wrestling organization, either, but a positive reflection on WWE specifically.

That goes for current fans, potential new viewers and even advertisers, taking advantage of popularity's snowball effect in that the more people like something, the more others will also like it.

It was never a bad decision to bring Rousey into WWE. This was a smart strategy that likely paid off in just as many unknown ways behind the scenes as obvious surface-level benefits like her in-ring talent. There's no telling how much her involvement helped with deals like SmackDown on Fox or the WWE Network being leased to Peacock.

She will assuredly bring in better buyrates for pay-per-views and draw more viewers for television because of her star power. Each advertisement for an appearance is a shot of adrenaline for ratings.

Credit: WWE.com

For that matter, someone of her nature winning the Royal Rumble boosts that match's credibility by proxy. Future winners can be spoken of in the same breath. 

Undoubtedly, the 35-year-old is the focal point for WrestleMania in this division, so next year, the Royal Rumble winner will feel like a bigger deal for being in the same position.

When the powers that be are able to successfully communicate with the writers, this collective creative team can truly showcase someone as a big deal. Rousey is one of the few getting that treatment right now, showing there is a capacity to do this with the right motivation.

Something else WWE Creative can do well is the element of surprise. If you didn't read spoilers ahead of time, wasn't it fun to hear her music go off?

It's great this was even an option. When her MMA career came to a close, WWE offered her a second chance at continuing that path, but with a detour.

WWE is a fantastic backup option for athletes who have to move on but still have the tools. Countless football players and amateur wrestlers, in particular, suffered injuries or setbacks that forced them to stop, but found even greater success in professional wrestling to become a bigger name as a WWE Superstar.

With the Next in Line program, there could be a dozen new Rousey-esque talents who take the business by storm and might have been inspired directly by her involvement.

Credit: WWE.com

Having her on the roster can bring in mainstream media coverage, appeal to casual fans, boost the company's public image, have some decent fights where she may put over a new name and inspire future talent from other avenues to join WWE is a lot to bring to the table.

It's too bad that table is prone to spills.

The Glass is Half-Empty

Rousey is duct tape to temporarily patch holes. WWE looks at her with a gambler's mentality that it's worth digging yourself further into debt to bet again because this next hand will give you the cards you need to make up for all the losses.

She's an attempt at a quick fix, rather than a long-term investment.

With her age, priorities as a mother and how she left a few years ago, WWE will likely know she's not in it for the long haul.

But while WWE can be praised for thinking ahead with pay-per-view events and streaming services in the modern era, it lets itself down with shortsightedness in bounds. Often, there seems to be an approach that it doesn't matter if the product sucks right now because it will always be around and lapsed fans will come back sooner or later.

What matters most at this moment in time to WWE is that there are special attractions like Rousey and Brock Lesnar to draw interest in The Road to WrestleMania and keep investors happy with big names that mean something to them, rather than to appeal to the diehard fans.

What happens after that is Future Vince McMahon's problem to worry about.

The problem with special attractions is that they aren't sustainable. The more they appear, the less interesting they are; the less they appear, the less buzz they generate and the more WWE has to rely on its current roster.

Rousey is already less interesting than she originally was, just as Goldberg doesn't have the same mystique these days after taking so many losses compared to when he was an unstoppable beast in WCW. That is why fans aren't reacting with the same passion to Rowdy Ronda as in 2018.

She's the basket carrying all the eggs. But if she gets injured, what is the backup plan?

There is none. Or, to be more clear, plan B is to just get through and hope the fans forgive and forget—a mantra WWE leans on far too heavily. Don't forget how The McMahon Family appeared on Raw in December 2018 to apologize for how bad things were and have not only not learned from those mistakes but made even bigger ones since.

Charlotte Flair has been stalling since October. The company brass knew Rousey was waiting in the wings and figured once the Royal Rumble came around, that would make up for it. Then, they'll all coast until WrestleMania with little effort, because that night is what matters and not the journey.

This "ends justify the means" approach happened with Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair last year. They had an awful build to WrestleMania 37, but WWE knew they'd put on a great match and it would be an historic main event. Fans were just expected to grit through two months of shoddy storytelling to get to that potential worthwhile endgame.

The same thing will happen this year, but worse. This isn't even about the rise of the challenger or telling any great story between Rousey and Flair, but just having those two names on the marquee.

The feud is down to the fact that they're having a match "because." Rousey didn't pick Becky Lynch "because." That's how little WWE tries and just relies solely on Rousey's popularity and built-in value. The only reason she's facing Flair is due to their status as top names and not because that match needed to happen.

Even more frustrating is that this is a rematch from twice before, which WWE has become disgustingly fond of in recent years and continues to get worse at.

This stubborn unwillingness to try something new because what's worked before should work again is a significant flaw. Just because fans wanted to see Rousey vs. Flair and Roman Reigns vs. Lesnar at some point in the past doesn't mean that can be copied and pasted until the end of time.

Plan B is assuredly just Flair vs. Banks. As great as The Boss is, we've seen her against The Queen many times dating back to WrestleMania 32, showing how little progress has been made in six years.

But if WWE has someone like Rousey to dangle in front of audiences as a distraction and can force Michael Cole and Pat McAfee to lie and say SmackDown's women's division is on fire and hotter than ever before, maybe the fans won't notice how the blue brand is suffering, right?

Rousey is a band-aid to avoid putting in the effort to build multiple stars on the roster for the future. Then, when she leaves, WWE will again be left wondering why the ratings tanked.

It's disheartening to see how much the regular Superstars strive to break through the glass ceiling WWE puts above them, only to see how someone like Rousey can come in and be given the preferential treatment with such ease.

Rousey is also proof WWE can't multitask anymore.

The Undertaker's streak was an attraction without ever needing a title. Surely, Rousey is popular enough that she doesn't need a championship involved to generate interest in her matches.

Belair was able to win the women's Rumble last year and reach new career heights. This year, someone was deprived of that because WWE figured going all-in on Rousey was the better strategy.

Let's see how that plays out by August if she's still around, or if she's put anyone over. It doesn't matter if she beats Flair, as neither outcome will see any progression to their characters.

Meanwhile, fans will continue to feel dejected when they put trust in WWE pushing someone like Rhea Ripley, only to see it never pay off because someone like Rousey will be forever prioritized.

WWE continually shoots itself in the foot. By relying on someone like Rousey, it means no one on the roster is on the same level, so the company doesn't look at them as being worth the investment.

If done well, Rousey is the cherry on top of a delicious sundae. The problem is that WWE thinks the ice cream can taste bad and still call it a treat.

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.