t has been seven years since Ronda Rousey made a surprise appearance alongside The Rock at WrestleMania 31.
The then-UFC women's bantamweight champion was still a box-office draw but it didn't take an expert to see that she was also well on her way to success outside of MMA.
As such, professional wrestling seemed like a great fit for the longtime fan after she unofficially retired following her loss to Amanda Nunes.
In 2018, Rousey gave the WWE women's division a boost in star power and legitimacy, but interest in the first female UFC Hall of Fame inductee has noticeably diminished.
It's hard to believe as fans once embraced her as a hugely popular celebrity guest and one of the first women to compete in the main event at WrestleMania. H
owever, her SmackDown Women's Championship match with Charlotte Flair at this year's event didn't appeal to viewers like her other appearances at The Showcase of the Immortals.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently talked about this decrease in fan interest.
"As far as after the show, complete interest levels and everything like that on Google for ‘Mania—Cody was No. 1," he said (h/t Connel Rumsey of WrestleTalk). "Austin was No. 2,
Roman was No. 4, and Ronda Rousey was not high, which is an interesting one because she'd been so high going in. So the bloom is off the Ronda Rousey rose by the way."
It shouldn't shock anyone that Cody Rhodes' return to WWE was the most talked-about moment of the weekend.
Still, there is no discernible buzz around the former Raw women's champion.
Honestly, there wasn't as much chatter as one would expect around her comeback and women's Royal Rumble win in January, either, and that's a bit concerning.
Rousey enjoyed a tremendous rookie year. Her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 was better than it had any right to be.
Even more, WWE handled her initial pursuit of championship gold well, and she performed even better as a singles competitor.
It seemed WWE finally had a woman who was already a major mainstream star with the potential to build around.
One could argue Becky Lynch's meteoric rise around the same time gave them another option, as well.
Nevertheless, Rousey's addition to the roster paid off with advancements such as the company's first all-female pay-per-view and the main event of WrestleMania 35.
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Even though the 35-year-old exceeded expectations, she was always going to have a tough road ahead.
After all, some fans were always going to see her as an outsider or a novelty act and resent her fast track to the top of the card. Even the most well-known crossover stars like Kurt Angle had to deal with this, and Rousey would be no different.
Most fans seemingly welcomed her at first, but she always had vocal critics due to some of her problematic political and social views.
Her highly publicized fall from grace didn't help matters, either, because it led some loyal viewers to believe she was only interested in wrestling as a means to make money following her MMA career.
