Ronda Rousey suffered a broken right hand, as well as dropped her WWE Raw women’s championship at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday night, in what is expected to be her final World Wrestling Entertainment match at least for some time.
The injury occurred when she was throwing punches at one point during the match and an accident took place.
Rousey signed a three-year deal with WWE that expires on April 10, 2021. In doing so she had promised a full-time one-year commitment to the company that would have ended at last night’s WrestleMania show.
From nearly the start of her run, the idea was for her to win the championship and then drop it at this year’s WrestleMania and then she would take time off.
Due to Rousey’s mainstream popularity, the WWE heavily promoted the show around the first time a women’s match had ever been the main event of WrestleMania.
While it is up in the air if she will appear on Monday night’s Raw show from Brooklyn, as of this morning, it was the final event she is being advertised for. There was no certainty of what her role would be going forward but the finish of her title loss, with the idea Becky Lynch pinned her with a quick cradle with some controversy in a three-way match that also involved Charlotte Flair, was done to keep the story alive for a possible return. The most likely scenario for a return would be a Lynch vs. Rousey singles match. As of right now there is no timing on when that would be, or even if it would happen. But she will retain an affiliation with the company for the next two years and may at some point return to wrestle, whether it be only a few major events, or more extensively, depends upon the type of schedule she wants.
Rousey’s run was considered a major success as far as in-ring performance went. With very limited training, she had some high-caliber pay-per-view matches and displayed a level of intensity in her performances that few of the established wrestlers could touch. Her interview were wacky at times, but intense. They were not as smooth as most in the company but also felt less scripted. The plan was for her to be a babyface (good guy), and she was the most popular wrestler in the company early on. But due to the surge in popularity of Lynch over the last six months, Rousey, as her rival, was booed heavily by the fans. This led the company to do an about-face with her, making her a complete heel several weeks ago leading into this match.
The future of Brock Lesnar, who has been working a part-time schedule as Universal champion, the top male belt on the Raw brand, is also uncertain. Lesnar dropped that championship to Seth Rollins and has been linked with a possible fight with Daniel Cormier this summer.
As of right now, Lesnar is not advertised on any future WWE shows. He had been expected to appear for his next match at a yet unannounced summer event in Saudi Arabia, but that is not confirmed.