WrestleMania 34: ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey Almost Breaks Stephanie McMahon’s Arm In Debut Match

By Josh Sorokach @joshsorokach
Published April 9, 2018, 10:17 a.m. ET

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There were a lot of unanswered questions going into WrestleMania 34: Will The Undertaker show up to battle John Cena? Who will Braun Strowman choose to be his mystery partner against The Bar? How will Daniel Bryan look in his return to the ring? WWE fans who tuned in to watch The Showcase of the Immortals already know the answers to those questions: yes, a literal ten-year-old child named Nicholas, and hell yeah! But the question with the most long-term implications for the WWE was if their newest high-profile signee, former UFC standout Ronda Rousey, could handle the bright lights of WrestleMania. To borrow a phrase from the WWE Universe: Yes! Yes! Yes!

The former UFC champion didn’t just perform admirably in her debut match, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey exceeded expectations at WrestleMania 34. Teaming with former Olympic medalist Kurt Angle, Rousey competed in a high-profile tag match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, who just so happen to be both her on-screen and off-screen bosses.

Paying homage to WWE Hall-of-Famer Rowdy Roddy Piper with her ring attire, Rousey delivered a dazzling performance in front of almost 80,000 fans packed into the New Orleans Superdome on Sunday earning a victory in her first WWE match.

It wasn’t just that Angle and Rousey were victorious, it was how they earned the win. Despite debuting on the Grandest Stage of Them All, Rousey demonstrated the poise and athletic prowess that propelled her to UFC success as she hoisted all 250 pounds-plus of Triple H on her shoulders before eventually delivering a textbook hurricanrana to the 14-time champ.

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The back and forth match more than lived up to the pre-event hype. In the closing moments of the twenty-plus minute bout, with UFC President Dana White looking on from the audience, the rowdy one locked an arm bar on Stephanie McMahon, leaving the WWE’s Chief Brand Officer with no alternative but to tap out.

“Oh my God! Stephanie taps,” WWE announcer Michael Cole exclaimed. “Rousey may have broken her arm!”

To be clear, she didn’t. That’s just some classic WWE carnival barking, but the match was a harbinger of the destruction to come. The WWE’s women’s division was already in the midst of a revolution and that movement just got a whole lot rowdier.