Ronda Rousey wore Roddy Piper’s jacket in WWE return
Ronda Rousey made her long awaited return in WWE at the 2018 Royal Rumble, but she paid homage to a wrestling legend in the process.
Ronda Rousey is in WWE. No, she’s not making a one-off appearance at a big pay-per-view. According to multiple reports, the former UFC Champion has signed a full-time contract with the professional wrestling giant. There has long been speculation that this could be coming, but now it’s actually come to fruition.
The reports and confirmations came out after Rousey showed up at the end of the 2018 WWE Royal Rumble. There were rumors that the MMA superstar could appear in the first-ever Women’s Rumble match itself. However, fans waiting for that were left disappointed. Instead, they had to wait until the moment after as the eventual winner, Asuka, was choosing who she would face at WrestleMania 34.
That’s when Rousey came out, donning a “Rowdy” Roddy Piper inspired logo and look as she came out to the ring. She didn’t actually do much, frankly. Rousey came out to the ring, stared down the three women in there with her, then pointed at the Mania sign hanging in the arena. However, perhaps the coolest part of all of this wasn’t mentioned on the show.
Given that they share the “Rowdy” nickname, Rousey has obviously drawn some inspiration from the aforementioned Piper. Apparently her look was more than just inspired by the now deceased legend, however, as the leather jacket she wore was actually one of Piper’s, given to her by the legend’s son (per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne):
The jacket Ronda Rousey is wearing at the @WWE Royal Rumble was Rowdy Roddy Piper's jacket. His son gave it to her beforehand.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 29, 2018
Rousey returned the jacket after the Royal Rumble and a quick photo shoot.
EXCLUSIVE: @RondaRousey poses for her first official @WWE photo shoot and returns her jacket to Colton Toombs, the son of WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/ysKNC0tVRX
— WWE (@WWE) January 29, 2018
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On a historic night in WWE with Rousey showing up at all, this is a cool wrinkle to it all. After all, it’s widely known that the former MMA star is a huge fan of wrestling. But for her to pay homage to a great like Piper in this manner adds an extra layer of intrigue and ups the “cool-factor” of the moment.