What would Ronda/Becky have been like?

[theironyuppie]

Needless to say, there's been a lot of anger in the last week about the Mania main event now being set on its path to becoming a triple threat. We know its almost an absolute certainty that Becky's going to win her way back in (they don't just make WrestleMANia shirts for nothing) the match, but at the same time, there's also been widespread annoyance that the Ronda/Becky feud didn't get to play out now Charlotte Flair's in the heel role.

One thing I'm genuinely curious about though, is what do you think would have happened storywise if they just kept it as Ronda/Becky? That moment after the Rumble felt like a big moment, and there's the backstory with Nia's punch messing up their Survivor Series match (a moment which in my opinion also made the triple threat almost inevitable), but I kinda struggle to think of how they would have made the feud sustain itself all the way until Wrestlemania with Ronda's reluctance to play heel (and getting rattled by crowds booing her) and Becky just smirking at her promos and bashing her repeatedly on social media, especially with WWE wanting to give this story a lot of time across both shows as their main angle. Would Becky have had to show any weakness? Would either woman wrestle any matches to help pass the time?

I get the end goal people want (Becky winning), but I'd be fascinated to hear ideas on how the story to that point could have played out, cause I think its tougher than it seems.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I think it would be one of the hotter Mania main event crowds in a while, very stuff, not that long but very good, and I would be unsurprised if someone got injured due to them going so hard on each other.

[repomark]

I still think it will end up being Becky v Ronda one on one. Guess we don’t know how they will gel together but I have no reason to expect anything but a great match

[Deleted]

It’s bullshit.

The feud is not the back and forth “red hot” stuff we’ve been wanting. It’s now become “The office doesn’t want to give the crowd what we want!” and they have Ronda and Becky complaining that they can’t face each other.

[Prince Petty]

The match itself would have been a hardnosed fight, similar to Becky vs Asuka - Some technical wrestling, a fair amount of brawling and outside-the-ring stuff. Not much highflying, of course, because that's not a strength for either Becky or Ronda, but they'd still have some big spots, and I think Becky would want to do something special. I know she has lead in her backside, but I think she'd work her arse off to try and do a moonsault or swanton. And the match would tell a good story, around them each trying to work the arm and looking for opportunities to go for the submission.

I honestly don't know how the feud would have gone. If the WWE had the commitment to do it, then they'd have turned Ronda heel, and had her win the support of the McMahons. Becky's suspension would still play out, to keep her off a couple of shows, though she might return at the Elimination Chamber PPV, to attack Ronda.

The trouble with this 'Road to Wrestlemania' thing is... it's two months, with two PPVs and eight TV episodes to fill. And then both your Rumble winner and your champion are spinning their wheels until Wrestlemania. If they're as focused on one another as Becky and Ronda were, it's really hard to sustain that heat without it either boiling over or sapping.

[sportatorium]

Their one on one would need to be Becky selling like mad for Ronda. Ronda would have to be the de facto heel at least in ring style. She would need to slow down & feed the mother of all comebacks to Becky. I would add a superkick to Becky’s offense as an alternate finisher as a well placed kick to the jaw protects Ronda a/la the Holm loss in UFC rather than making her tap to Becky’s armbar.

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

Feb 16, 2019 13:07:07 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

The trouble with this 'Road to Wrestlemania' thing is... it's two months, with two PPVs and eight TV episodes to fill. And then both your Rumble winner and your champion are spinning their wheels until Wrestlemania. If they're as focused on one another as Becky and Ronda were, it's really hard to sustain that heat without it either boiling over or sapping.

Training videos and interview vignettes would be really cool. Emphasize the similarities and differences between the two wrestlers. Not every feud has to be a scintillating tete-a-tete in the ring, but WWE can't or won't realize this.

[Deleted]

I think the triple threat is best outcome simply because I am part of the camp that believes insecure Ronda couldn't handle 3 months of being Boo'd/"what!?" And the TT at least means Becky remains face.

Perfect world it would have been 1 on 1. I'd have had becky beat that other mma woman as a "warmup".

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I imagine just all the other characters asking “Where’s Charlotte?”

[Slingshot Suplay]

Bra and panties jello wrestling match... bro...

[Deleted]

I'll shoot from the hip and be as blunt as possible.

The feud would have been Becky embarrassing Ronda week in and week out as people keep talking about how Becky's destroying her and as it continued more people would get on Becky's side, more people would boo Ronda and then eventually Ronda wouldn't have been able to keep up and fully crack. I say that because that's exactly how this thing's been prior. Becky goes at Ronda, people cheer, Ronda tries, gets embarrassed, rinse and repeat. Imagine that happening for months until the match. The office doesn't want to turn Ronda heel, Ronda wouldn't be able to perform against Becky as a face given how bulletproof she is so basically it would be damaging your major mainstream star (Ronda) week in and week out in favor of someone who doesn't move the needle yet (Becky). They'd have to adapt or change something but the catch about that is anything they would have changed about the feud would result in things people don't want to see. Basically, if they went the route they were on previously it would continue to make Ronda look like crap unless they adapted but people don't want to see the adapting, they want what they've already seen which is what I just described.

Granted, the match would have been dope given Ronda's strategy to prepare for matches but the promos, segments, angles that stuff would have been so one-sided it wouldn't be great for anyone other than Becky. It wouldn't be a back and forth battle between these two because Ronda, after being in the company for a year already, sucks at going back and forth especially against someone like Becky.

[Friday Night SmackSown]

Feb 16, 2019 10:02:16 GMT -5 repomark said:

I still think it will end up being Becky v Ronda one on one. Guess we don’t know how they will gel together but I have no reason to expect anything but a great match

I really expect Becky vs. Charlotte at Fastlane with the Mania match versus Ronda on the line. Becky wins, while Charlotte challenges Asuka for the SD Women's Title because SDL's low on heel women who aren't in a team (Mandy & Sonya and the IIconics).

[schma]

Feb 16, 2019 16:39:13 GMT -5 @kn said:

I'll shoot from the hip and be as blunt as possible.

The feud would have been Becky embarrassing Ronda week in and week out as people keep talking about how Becky's destroying her and as it continued more people would get on Becky's side, more people would boo Ronda and then eventually Ronda wouldn't have been able to keep up and fully crack. I say that because that's exactly how this thing's been prior. Becky goes at Ronda, people cheer, Ronda tries, gets embarrassed, rinse and repeat. Imagine that happening for months until the match. The office doesn't want to turn Ronda heel, Ronda wouldn't be able to perform against Becky as a face given how bulletproof she is so basically it would be damaging your major mainstream star (Ronda) week in and week out in favor of someone who doesn't move the needle yet (Becky). They'd have to adapt or change something but the catch about that is anything they would have changed about the feud would result in things people don't want to see. Basically, if they went the route they were on previously it would continue to make Ronda look like crap unless they adapted but people don't want to see the adapting, they want what they've already seen which is what I just described.

Granted, the match would have been dope given Ronda's strategy to prepare for matches but the promos, segments, angles that stuff would have been so one-sided it wouldn't be great for anyone other than Becky. It wouldn't be a back and forth battle between these two because Ronda, after being in the company for a year already, sucks at going back and forth especially against someone like Becky.

They've done a fantastic job of covering Ronda's weaknesses in the past.  Granted their interactions have been one-sided but here's a point where backstage interviews/segments would be great for Ronda.  Hell even a training video to show that she's taking this match seriously.  The beauty of a pre-taped vignette is they can take what Ronda's saying and distill it down to something short and impactful.  Yeah she can't match Becky on a live mic but there are ways around that.

The other aspect is that while she is the crossover star, she's also on her way out the door for at least nine months so even if she is embarrassed a bit, she'll probably get a hero's welcome when she comes back.  She's turned a lot of people around on her who didn't want her in the WWE.

As for the boos and cracking, she's got people like HHH who is a lifelong heel (for the most part) who could teach her how to harness that and use it as fuel.  Hell, part of the build could be her getting tired of Becky just talking smack every week and finally snapping and just destroying her.  It would remind us that she's a huge threat and give Becky a stumbling block to overcome.  I'm a bit disappointed that so many are giving up on Ronda after one promo that would have been hard for anyone to take with that much sustained booing.

[Deleted]

I truly don’t think the buildup to this would’ve lit the world or the wrestling community on fire. Really, with a good two or so months of build, what can you do? I’m sure Ronda doesn’t want to get booed, Becky is too hot to turn, the McMahons siding with either wouldn’t have made sense, doing hype packages would’ve cooled Becky off, cutting the same promos over and over wouldn’t have worked for long.

It would’ve been like Cena/Reigns, Lashley/Reigns. Just played out promos and probably a couple tag matches with Liv/Sarah or the Samoan Slaughterhouse.

Plus, if you have Ronda continuously get one up on Becky, some would be angry and see it as “them” weakining Becky. If you have Becky continuously get one over on Ronda or even leave it even, you’d have people eventually getting bored with it. Especially since it probably would’ve been a lot of brawls involved.

Really the only way I saw it going was Nia threatening to take Becky’s spot at EC or fastlane to keep her busy, which I’m sure would have it’s detractors and saw it as a Nia push rather than a Becky push.

[Mozenrath]

It'd have either been Ultimate Warrior vs Hogan 1, or Ultimate Warrior vs Hogan II. There's no in-between.

Ronda would need to be led through it, and it either goes swimmingly, or her nerves hit and it becomes a f***ing mess. After her match with Bayley, I honestly would have expected the latter.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2019 17:22:47 GMT -5 schma said:

Feb 16, 2019 16:39:13 GMT -5 @kn said:

I'll shoot from the hip and be as blunt as possible.

The feud would have been Becky embarrassing Ronda week in and week out as people keep talking about how Becky's destroying her and as it continued more people would get on Becky's side, more people would boo Ronda and then eventually Ronda wouldn't have been able to keep up and fully crack. I say that because that's exactly how this thing's been prior. Becky goes at Ronda, people cheer, Ronda tries, gets embarrassed, rinse and repeat. Imagine that happening for months until the match. The office doesn't want to turn Ronda heel, Ronda wouldn't be able to perform against Becky as a face given how bulletproof she is so basically it would be damaging your major mainstream star (Ronda) week in and week out in favor of someone who doesn't move the needle yet (Becky). They'd have to adapt or change something but the catch about that is anything they would have changed about the feud would result in things people don't want to see. Basically, if they went the route they were on previously it would continue to make Ronda look like crap unless they adapted but people don't want to see the adapting, they want what they've already seen which is what I just described.

Granted, the match would have been dope given Ronda's strategy to prepare for matches but the promos, segments, angles that stuff would have been so one-sided it wouldn't be great for anyone other than Becky. It wouldn't be a back and forth battle between these two because Ronda, after being in the company for a year already, sucks at going back and forth especially against someone like Becky.

They've done a fantastic job of covering Ronda's weaknesses in the past.  Granted their interactions have been one-sided but here's a point where backstage interviews/segments would be great for Ronda.  Hell even a training video to show that she's taking this match seriously.  The beauty of a pre-taped vignette is they can take what Ronda's saying and distill it down to something short and impactful.  Yeah she can't match Becky on a live mic but there are ways around that.

The other aspect is that while she is the crossover star, she's also on her way out the door for at least nine months so even if she is embarrassed a bit, she'll probably get a hero's welcome when she comes back.  She's turned a lot of people around on her who didn't want her in the WWE.

As for the boos and cracking, she's got people like HHH who is a lifelong heel (for the most part) who could teach her how to harness that and use it as fuel.  Hell, part of the build could be her getting tired of Becky just talking smack every week and finally snapping and just destroying her.  It would remind us that she's a huge threat and give Becky a stumbling block to overcome.  I'm a bit disappointed that so many are giving up on Ronda after one promo that would have been hard for anyone to take with that much sustained booing.

They have not done a great job with covering Ronda's weaknesses against Becky, at all. There's a difference between feuding with Becky and feuding with someone like Nia Jax. Becky's the most popular wrestler they have now and she uses social media in ways that benefit her that others don't and she's allowed to go at wrestlers in different ways on the mic these days compared to the past. In order for Ronda to look well in this feud you cannot have Becky destroying her on social media and you can't have Becky wrecking her in these promos like she's been doing since their whole thing started. What you're describing here is exactly what I said in my post, you're suggesting that they change how the feud is, you're suggesting that they adapt.

That's my whole point. People for months have been cheering and praising Becky for wrecking Ronda for months whether it be on social media, in the ring, in interactions between the two but you're suggesting they change that. What I'm saying is yeah, they do need to change that because it won't work but the problem is people don't want to see the changes. People want Becky ripping into Ronda, they want Becky proving herself against her in interactions, they want to see Becky embarrassing her on social media and the moment you take that away you get this different idea of Becky. You mean to tell me that the company's actually going to say "ok Becky, we gotta change some stuff, from now on no more in-ring promos with Ronda, no more going at her on social media, no more belittling her as you've been doing, we need to change things up" and people are going to be 100% ok with it when this is the whole reason that Becky started getting over once she turned heel?

That's not what people signed up for and that's just not how Becky's done things. It would work but that's not how this Becky's been so you gotta basically change Becky into something she's not when how she is is why she started poppin.

People aren't giving up on Ronda after one promo, we're giving up on Ronda because she's been in the company any entire year and she hasn't learned anything and this is after she's had Heyman help her out with her promos backstage. If Heyman spends all of that time to help you and you can't change then yo, you can't do it like this anymore. You've gotta take promos away from her and completely change things.

Basically if people want to see Becky's entire MO change against Ronda then it could work. If people wanna see the Becky we've seen since she turned heel against Ronda with the promos, social media and embarrassment she's been doing then nah, that won't work. Pick your weapon.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2019 19:10:32 GMT -5 @kn said:

People aren't giving up on Ronda after one promo, we're giving up on Ronda because she's been in the company any entire year and she hasn't learned anything and this is after she's had Heyman help her out with her promos backstage. If Heyman spends all of that time to help you and you can't change then yo, you can't do it like this anymore. You've gotta take promos away from her and completely change things.

I agree with most of what you're saying but I don't know about this one. She's in a pretty particular spot with Becky, and though she certainly isn't the greatest on the mic, she hadn't even had much of a taste of blowback until they crossed paths. Ronda's pretty corny on the mic but she's serviceable, and so far she's been threatening to break arms of women who fans want to see her beat up, but she just doesn't have the tools to combat Becky's sharpness. Even if she did, I'm not sure it matters that much, Becky's too hot right now.

I agree though that the important thing is that they allow Becky to keep being Becky (though they're really pushing that too with her apologizing last Monday). The only two ways this could play out is either turn Ronda heel, or add Charlotte so fans have someone to lash out against. I don't think it's really fair to turn Ronda heel when she's over in every other circumstance, so I'm okay with the triple threat to serve that purpose. There's just no reason to book a quarter-year long public humiliation of Rousey if they don't actually wanna turn her heel yet.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2019 20:08:03 GMT -5 @nichotine said:

Feb 16, 2019 19:10:32 GMT -5 @kn said:

People aren't giving up on Ronda after one promo, we're giving up on Ronda because she's been in the company any entire year and she hasn't learned anything and this is after she's had Heyman help her out with her promos backstage. If Heyman spends all of that time to help you and you can't change then yo, you can't do it like this anymore. You've gotta take promos away from her and completely change things.

I agree with most of what you're saying but I don't know about this one. She's in a pretty particular spot with Becky, and though she certainly isn't the greatest on the mic, she hadn't even had much of a taste of blowback until they crossed paths. Ronda's pretty corny on the mic but she's serviceable, and so far she's been threatening to break arms of women who fans want to see her beat up, but she just doesn't have the tools to combat Becky's sharpness. Even if she did, I'm not sure it matters that much, Becky's too hot right now.

I agree though that the important thing is that they allow Becky to keep being Becky (though they're really pushing that too with her apologizing last Monday). The only two ways this could play out is either turn Ronda heel, or add Charlotte so fans have someone to lash out against. I don't think it's really fair to turn Ronda heel when she's over in every other circumstance, so I'm okay with the triple threat to serve that purpose. There's just no reason to book a quarter-year long public humiliation of Rousey if they don't actually wanna turn her heel yet.

I don't think Ronda's horrible on the mic. I just think that if Heyman's helping her out with promos and she's only this good then if the keep having Becky be who Becky is then she's definitely not going to be able to compete. It would work against someone like a Nia Jax but not against Becky's character. Becky's just too great right now. I also agree that yeah, there's no reason to humiliate Ronda just because of this angle especially given she's about to take some time off. The loss will be her L anyway.

[Doctor No]

Hopefully it would’ve been a storyline with a spotlight mainly on the competitors and not the McMahons.

[Dub H]

This



This would have been the feud.Becky and Ronda as unlikely allies fighting for their safeties.

And the match would have been fine,Becky is just as good if not better than Charlotte in the ring. And Rhonda can follow well enough.Ronda would still be boeed at WM.But with many close falls and both girls fighting to get out of submissions