Ronda Rousey, performing in front of the largest crowd of her professional career, made a smooth transition from mixed martial arts to professional wrestling Sunday, winning in her debut match at WrestleMania 34.
Rousey teamed with Kurt Angle to defeat Paul "Triple H" Levesque and Stephanie McMahon as 78,133 fans at the Superdome roared their approval, ESPN reported.
“That's, like, the biggest stadium I've ever performed in front of,” Rousey said. “It's, like, the size of four fights."
Rousey signed a contract with the WWE two months ago and went from bouts in the octagon to the scripted matches of pro wrestling.
The Superdome crowd yelled her name from the start of the match, and then broke into “This is awesome” chants as the bout reached its climax, ESPN reported.
"I underestimated how kind the WWE universe would be," Rousey said in an interview with ESPN. "I thought any outsiders would be shunned. I was expecting to get shunned and to have to battle to be accepted. I worked my ass off to pay respect to what's so important to them, and hopefully they saw that tonight."
UFC president Dana White, who watched from ringside, told ESPN that he was happy for Rousey, saying she acted as a pioneer for women in mixed-martial arts,
"She accomplished everything she could at UFC," White said. "She has a title defense record that still isn't broken
“She has always loved professional wrestling, and now she gets to have a blast being a part of it. She will be great at anything she sets her mind to doing. I thought she was incredible tonight.”
In the main event, Brock Lesnar defended his WWE Universal Championship title by pinning Roman Reigns. AJ Styles pinned Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship, while Nia Jax pinned Alexa Bliss to take the Raw Women's Championship. The Undertaker pinned John Cena, while the Bludgeon Brothers beat The New Day and The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Charlotte Flair retained her SmackDown Women's Championship by defeating Asuka via submission.
In the inaugural WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, Naomi eliminated Bailey for the victory.
The event was the biggest payday in Superdome history, the Times-Picayune reported.
According to the WWE, this year’s event grossed $14.1 million, topping the Superdome’s previous record of $10.9 million set by WrestleMania 30 in 2014.
