Author: Blake Oestriecher / Source: Forbes
WWE Evolution 2018 ended in controversial fashion when Ronda Rousey defeated Nikki Bella to retain the Raw Women’s Championship, but the bout wasn’t contentious because of the way it finished.
During the buildup to WWE’s historic and first-ever all women’s pay-per-view, both Nikki and Rousey found themselves being the target of plenty of criticism for main eventing the most important event in the history of the women’s division.
Rousey was bashed for being a pro wrestling “rookie”who was too new to the business to be given the main event slot on such a groundbreaking event. Nikki, on the other hand, was labeled a “product of the Divas era” and someone who shouldn’t be main eventing Evolution because there were better in-ring performers that were more deserving of that opportunity.But Nikki and Rousey silenced the haters at Evolution.
Rousey had arguably the best match of her young career, while the underrated Nikki, who has been lumped in with her sister Brie due to Brie’s recent penchant for botching but has actually performed well in the ring since her return to action earlier this year, shined as well. Admittedly, the character work of the Bella Twins, and to a lesser extent Rousey, can be downright cringeworthy at times, but on the biggest stage in the history of WWE’s women’s division, they more than delivered the goods with a good match that was much more in line with what we see in today’s era of fantastic female wrestlers than in years past when the women’s division was a sideshow act.
Now, however, comes the hardest part of Rousey’s humongous push.
WWE reportedly did Nikki vs. Rousey at Evolution because of the mainstream media attention it would garner for the company. The idea was that Rousey, easily WWE’s most recognizable female star and a proven draw in the world of combat sports, doing battle with Nikki, a social media powerhouse with a wide-ranging and far-reaching fan base, would result in more…
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