Seven months after making her official professional wrestling debut,
Ronda Rousey can call herself a WWE champion.
The former
UFC bantamweight champion defeated
Alexa Bliss for the Raw women’s championship at “
SummerSlam” on Sunday night at the
Barclays Center in
Brooklyn, New York.
The match between Rousey and Bliss was the co-main event of the night, and the crowd at Barclays Center was heavily behind the former UFC star.
Once the bell rang, it was all Rousey, who was so confident in her in-ring abilities against Bliss that at one point she sat in the middle of the ring with her eyes closed and back turned to the champion.
The match lasted less than five minutes as Rousey forced Bliss to tap from her famous armbar submission. Following the match, Rousey celebrated with Nikki and Brie Bella, who were sitting ringside, and Natalya, who received a nice applause from the crowd following the death of her father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.
While there has been a fairly significant crossover between the worlds of professional wrestling and MMA, Rousey joins Brock Lesnar and Ken Shamrock as the third athlete – and first female – to hold championships in both UFC and WWE.
For Rousey, the championship victory completes her rapid ascent to the top of WWE’s women’s division. After making her in-ring debut alongside Kurt Angle in a mixed tag-team match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at “WrestleMania 34”, the 31-year-old competed in two more televised matches and during a handful of WWE “house shows” before “SummerSlam.”
“SummerSlam” marked Rousey’s second opportunity to win the Raw women’s championship. In June, Rousey went up against former champion Nia Jax at the “Money in the Bank” pay-per-view event before Bliss eventually came in and stole what appeared to be a victory for Rousey.
Despite having little to no professional wrestling experience prior to joining WWE, Rousey has been impressive during the early stages of her career. Since joining the company, Rousey has quickly become one of the most popular figures and one of the faces of the women’s division due to her undeniable star power.
In addition to her mainstream appeal, Rousey has shown an almost natural ability to perform in the ring and has made significant strides in her ability to deliver an effective and captivating “promo.” Aside from a scripted 30-day suspension, Rousey has appeared regularly on WWE programming.