As reported this week, WWE is looking to do a match between Ronda Rousey vs. Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 32 next year, an idea that influenced what happened in their angle at last WrestleMania 31 earlier this month.
Many questioned why Rousey didn’t execute her famous armbar on Stephanie during the angle, and apparently that was a move done by design by WWE.
There was talk within WWE of wanting to do a Rousey vs. McMahon match dating back to the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion’s appearance at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event last August.
Eventually, WWE managed to secure Rousey for a “one-off” contracted appearance at WrestleMania 31, which ended up being the segment with she and The Rock that we saw earlier this month. WWE booked that segment with full intentions of securing Rousey for a future appearance as well.
WWE shot the Rousey-McMahon angle at WrestleMania 31 in a way that leads to a match between the two, if, of course, the company is able to convince the UFC to let Rousey work a full pro wrestling match.
WWE is under the belief, for obvious reasons, that Rousey armbarring McMahon is the “money shot” in the program, so the company opted to save that spot, keeping it out of their WrestleMania 31 angle in the hopes that they can book the Rousey-McMahon match and use the armbar as the finish of the bout.
H/T: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
