Ronda Rousey's WWE appearance at the Royal Rumble left many talking. However, not everyone thinks she's done in MMA. Shane Douglas on the other hand, is ready for her to call it quits in the MMA cage.
Former NWA and ECW Champion Shane Douglas spoke about her WWE and UFC career on the latest episode of his Triple Threat Podcast, and discussed how she should be handled by WWE.
“She (Rousey) claims that she is not retiring from shoot fighting and that she (I guess) is alluding to this being a side career and let’s face it anyone who follows UFC knows that pretty much her career is over as far as the UFC goes. She is a good looking woman, she's obviously incredibly athletic, has a lot of tools at her disposal from her experiences as a UFC fighter and I believe that she can be an incredibly affective talent for the WWE but I think for anyone that follows shoot fighting and professional wrestling knows her career as a shoot fighter is effectively done and going to work for the WWE does nothing (because) this is not like Brock Lesnar jumping back and forth. For Ronda Rousey having gotten her ass handed to her in the last two or three fights that she had in the UFC and now going to the WWE I think pretty much closes that door to her. She may be able to get one more fight out of it with the UFC but the Ronda Rousey that we remember from two years ago and two and a half years ago, that character died with the last loss that she had taken in the UFC but I think that said she could be something powerful for the WWE if and a CAPITAL LETTER "IF" they build her properly, if they present her properly and she is willing to learn the craft and those are big ifs. I don't know Ronda and I don't know her attitude but if she is willing to do that than let’s face it she can obviously have strong crossover appeal but if they don't do that and try to expect her to run roughshod over the fact that she was a UFC athlete and a successful one in that time that doesn't guarantee that she's going to be able to draw a house in the WWE. Her first match is going to be the litmus test and I hope for her sake and for the wrestling fans sake that she takes the time to learn that craft and doesn't just think that I'm Ronda Rousey from the UFC so the wrestling fan should just bow down to me. I don't expect that to be the case with her only because of how diligently if seems she approached her matches in the UFC but if she does try to do that I am going to predict that she'll fall flat on her face. If she doesn't do that and she applies the type of professionalism that she did in he UFC I think she'll be very successful with the WWE.”
Rousey is currently pegged for WWE WrestleMania 34, although no match has been announced.
You can hear Douglas' full podcast at this link. Thanks to Chad and John for the transcript.
