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What a difference a year makes. At last year’s WrestleMania, former UFC supernova turned pro-wrestling novice Ronda Rousey arguably stole the show in her debut match against on (and off) screen authority figures Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. WWE’s high-profile rookie showed an in-ring intensity that belied her experience, and Rousey ascended to the top of the card in only eight months, capturing the Raw Women’s Championship in a glorified squash match at SummerSlam. Fans cheered as WWE’s next billboard-friendly, media-attracting darling soaked in the adulation.

Elsewhere on the SummerSlam card, and to comparatively less mainstream fanfare, Becky Lynch was unsuccessful in her attempt to become SmackDown Women’s Champion, as Charlotte Flair pinned Carmella in a triple-threat match. When the brilliant WWE digital department eventually releases a comprehensive Becky Lynch documentary, Becky’s post-match beatdown of Charlotte Flair, which the overwhelmingly pro-Becky Brooklyn crowd relished, will be the inciting incident that propelled her current WrestleMania main event run.

On that night Ronda Rousey became a WWE champion, but Becky Lynch became “The Man.”

SummerSlam took place back in August, but in WWE terms, it feels like a lifetime ago. In the main event, Roman Reigns finally conquered long-time nemesis Brock Lesnar to capture the WWE Universal Championship. Reigns’ official coronation as “the guy,” a term most fans believed Reigns held long before his SummerSlam victory, was met with predictable animosity from an audience tired of seeing WWE’s poster boy in the final match of the evening.

Reigns was seen as the corporate choice, the “eat your vegetables” of the WWE. Even though Roman checked all the boxes and delivered exciting match after exciting match, fans bemoaned his stranglehold on the main event. His on and off screen status as “the Big Dog” was seen as an impenetrable obstacle for fan favorites like Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe, and at one point Braun Strowman to overcome. Booing Reigns became Pavlovian, memorably reaching its raucous crescendo the day after Roman defeated venerable WWE legend The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.

Roman Reigns received a very specific type of boo. The vitriol wasn’t aimed at the person, well, most of the vitriol wasn’t aimed at the person, but instead the cacophony of outrage was directed at the establishment hellbent on making Reigns the undisputed face of the company. This became evident when reality inserted itself into the scripted world of professional wrestling as Reigns the person, Joe Anoa’i, shockingly announced he was going on hiatus to focus on his real-life battle with leukemia.

The WWE hasn’t been able to fill the void left by Reigns. Roman’s “face of the company” predecessor, John Cena, makes sporadic returns, but these days the WWE veteran is more Hollywood than hammerlock. But history has a way of repeating itself when it comes to professional wrestling. Reigns once drew the ire of the WWE Universe not for who he was, but for who he wasn’t. At the 2015 Royal Rumble, even one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, The Rock, couldn’t prevent Roman from being booed out of the building for the unforgivable sin of not being Daniel Bryan.

The WWE audience is… what’s the word? Ah yes. Fickle.

On last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Reigns’ apparent successor Ronda Rousey received the classic Reigns treatment. The rowdy one, a nominal face, was met with an avalanche of hostility from the post Royal Rumble crowd, receiving the most boisterous, undeniably negative response of her young career. Ronda has excelled in the ring during her rookie year, somehow exceeding lofty expectations, but she’s never been the most adept at delivering promos. The venomous response rattled Rousey, leading to a flustered speech and uncharacteristically sloppy match with Bayley. Much like Reigns before her, it wasn’t so much that the crowd was booing Ronda for who she was, they were booing her for who she wasn’t: Becky Lynch.

Wrestling’s past will always inform wrestling’s future. Back in November, I wrote how Becky Lynch was evolving into the next Stone Cold Steve Austin. I stand by that argument. Becky still has that anti-authority swagger and even attacked a McMahon last night; there’s nothing more Austinian than that. But perhaps the more apt analog is Daniel Bryan’s historic WrestleMania 30 run. Both Reigns and Ronda were chosen for the main event by the machine; Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch were anointed by the people.

The plucky underdog battling the perceived establishment is nothing new — the more things change the more they stay the same in professional wrestling — but there’s a wrinkle to the Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch saga. The WWE refused to officially turn Roman Reigns or John Cena heel. In the WWE, perception is reality. Millions of boos mean nothing against a well-crafted promo package featuring Cena or Reigns heroically beating the odds to vanquish the villain du jour. But the WWE entered more nuanced terrain last night when Rousey openly acknowledged the boos and semi-lashed out at the crowd after her match with Liv Morgan.

This is the type of Ronda Rousey we need heading into WrestleMania season.

Would the WWE really turn Ronda full heel? History says no, but allowing Rousey’s character to perform in more of a grey area would make the buildup to her match with Becky decidedly more compelling (and open the door to an explosive Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen feud).

Cena and Reigns were never “technically” heels, but the distinction is moot. Cena used his memorable “US Open Challenge” clout to enhance the careers of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Neville, among others. Reigns’ “polarizing” reactions helped elevate Finn Bálor and AJ Styles to the main event. The WWE transformed Batista’s boos into an iconic WrestleMania moment for Daniel Bryan. There’s an invaluable utility to this specific type of backlash.

John Cena wasn’t C.M. Punk, Roman Reigns wasn’t Daniel Bryan, and Ronda Rousey isn’t Becky Lynch, which is a good thing. It’s time for the WWE to embrace the boos. Nobody would remember David without Goliath.