YMMV / Ronda Rousey

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Ronda's badass image took a significant hit after her bad losses in UFC, giving people who had previously liked the idea of her coming to work in WWE serious doubts about it. But when she finally made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 in a mixed tag match with Kurt Angle against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, it was considered by many to be the show-stealing match on the card- and despite the combined years of experience WWE had put in the ring with her to help guide her in the match, most of the credit for its awesomeness was laid squarely at Ronda's feet, with everyone who had expressed doubts about her eating their words and admitting that she looked amazing. Since then, she's been regarded as one of the best-booked women in the company throughout 2018 and has been hailed as having one of the best rookie years in a long time, including winning the Raw Women's Championship without feeling like she was being rushed to it.
• Broken Base:
  • In some of her matches thus far in 2018, she has sold pain from strings of offense (sometimes short, sometimes a bit long) from Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Ruby Riott, and Nikki Bella, as well as credited Bliss with being a "formidable opponent" following their match at Hell in a Cell. This led fans to ask the question: Is she being made too vulnerable too quickly and losing some of her special aura as a superstar juggernaut, considering she hasn't faced the likes of Asuka, Ember Moon, or one of NXT's Four Horsewomen yet? Or is she being booked as effectively as possible while not completely derailing women positioned in or near the championship picture?
  • Probably even more controversial were her actions during her feud with Becky Lynch. Becky, who has become probably the most beloved WWE competitor in the past ten years, is a cocksure Anti-Hero who shot to superstardom when she finished an invasion angle with a fractured, bloodsoaked face and a legit concussion. Ronda has been given extraordinary leeway in her promos, with WWE bending over backwards to try and keep Ronda a face, despite her name-calling Becky and spouting off insulting and occasional nonsensical statements about Millennials and Becky's gimmick of "The Man" (a homage to Ric Flair). Should Ronda be allowed to take borderline offensive shots at Becky in order to sell the story, or is Becky (and many others') point that Ronda's been allowed to skate in WWE rather than earning her shot a reason to boo Ronda? This isn't really helped by how Ronda freezes up and forgets her promos whenever Becky (or fellow Horsewomen Sasha Banks and Bayley) use a pre-scripted jab at her, or how visibly rattled she can become whenever crowds turn against her (which became increasingly more common). As of March 2019, this leeway has seemingly reached its end, as the company have finally turned Ronda heel after one Kayfabe-breaking promo too many.
• Designated Hero:
  • Whoever Ronda feuds with tend to turn heel in order for the fans to cheer for Ronda. Before their match at Money in the Bank, Nia Jax briefly returned to her bully persona despite being a face and not long after being the victim of a bully/victim feud. Then, the Bella Twins turned on her a few days after Super Showdown, leading to a match at Evolution against Nikki. What's more is that in their feud, Ronda slut-shamed Nikki for dating John Cena - something that had been done by heel opponents when Nikki was a face in 2016. At Survivor Series, Charlotte Flair, a Designated Hero in her own right, was also turned into a villainess. Even when fighting against Becky Lynch, WWE made Ronda the hero despite her sounding more arrogant than the tweener Becky. This was especially present at TLC 2018 when Ronda interfered in the triple threat main event and pushed Becky and Charlotte of the ladder, allowing Asuka to claim the victory. A twitter post she made even tries to mock Becky for being a coward for ambushing her with her pants down, a complaint usually made by heels whenever a face had the advantage over them.
  • When Becky Lynch attacked Charlotte at Elimination Chamber 2019, Ronda simply looked at them without batting an eye at all before attempting to beat Charlotte as well. Usually, in a situation like this, the Face (Ronda) would normally attempt to help the attacked wrestler (Charlotte), even if they were a Heel, from their attacker.
  • On a 2022 episode of Smackdown, after Natalya cut a heel promo mocking Ronda and her being a mom, Ronda comes out and notes that Natalya only wants to be champion because she's a Hart and believes she should be handed opportunities and mocked her getting plastic surgery. And she's the face, why?
• Designated Villain:
  • During her MMA career, the fanbase was pretty evenly split between people who loved her take-no-crap attitude and run through the contenders of the women's bantamweight division, versus those who felt she was a one-trick pony and a bully. One common criticism leveled at her was that she did not react well when she couldn't intimidate an opponent; famously, when she faced off against Holly Holm at the official weigh-in for their fight, Ronda, as was typical for her, got right in Holly's face, while also trying to jostle her back by pressing her left arm against Holly's right. Holly, however, refused to back down and shrugged Ronda off, forcing UFC President Dana White to pull Ronda back as she yelled insults at Holm, whose only response was a Death Glare.
  • In the WWE, there was an odd case following SummerSlam 2022; while Ronda is the heel who began attacking Liv Morgan and WWE officials (including Adam Pearce), even pulling a Screw the Rules, I Have Money! when she was fined, you'd probably be legitimately frustrated too after a controversial finish snag away your victory. Meanwhile, the "commendable, inspiring babyface" Liv Morgan started to take a few heel-like traits such as acting cocky for being the first person to defeat Ronda twice and brutally attacking Lacey Evans after their match after Corey Graves and Ronda mentioned that she does not have a killer instinct. After a segment where Liv attacked Ronda from behind, Ronda called out a double standard regarding Liv.
  Ronda: "I feel like there is a double standard that everybody else can attack me from behind, they hit me with bats and this other stuff. And oh like Liv, commendable, inspiring babyface, I’m like what the hell. I can’t even be a heel when I’m a heel."
  • Subverted as of Extreme Rules 2022 as Ronda went full heel on Liv Morgan.
• Funny Moments: On the August 13, 2018 edition of Raw, a video of her freaking out over a bat that was in the arena went viral.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Jokes and jabs toward her sometimes-iffy speech skills in cutting promos grew sour with the new context that she has a legitimate speech disorder◊.
• Moment of Awesome: Winning the Raw Women Championship at SummerSlam 2018 and finally putting an end to Alexa Bliss's reign of terror in the process.
• Spiritual Successor: To Roddy Piper, with the blessing of the late Piper and his family. She proudly displays the nickname "Rowdy" on the front of her top in the same lettering as Piper's classic "Hot Rod" shirt, and also wears sometimes wears a kilt as part of her ring gear.
• Narm: Most of Ronda's eye make-up on WWE pay-per-views during the latter half of 2018 fell into this category, earning her comparisons to Black Swan and the Nightman.
  • Plus there's also this particularly memorable choice of hairstyle on a July 2018 episode of ''Raw''.
• Take That, Scrappy!: In the same vein of Becky Lynch being cheered for turning against Charlotte Flair in 2018, fans cheer for Shayna Baszler when she turns against Ronda during their tag team title defense at Money in the Bank 2023 and even chant "Thank you, Shayna."
• Unexpected Character: Let's be honest, did anyone expect her to not only be in, but actually win the 2022 Women's Royal Rumble after being gone for three years?

---