Ronda Rousey is in the infancy of her new career as a sports entertainer, but the sky's the limit for the former UFC star, according to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Paige.
Rousey enters the world of professional wrestling on Monday (NZ time) when she teams with fellow Olympian Kurt Angle to take on real-life husband and wife pair Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
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Speaking to Newshub at a WrestleMania 34 media event in New Orleans, Paige said Rousey has all the tools, commitment and sheer will to succeed inside the squared circle.
"She has been watching WWE her whole life," Paige said.
"She really wants to do well, and you can really see that passion that she has to be there and I really love that from her.
"She has been training really hard for a long time now. When I was training for my comeback back from injury (October) she was at the performance centre - she was there every single day putting in the hard work."
The one small roadblock that the former UFC champion has face in her WWE programming appearances so far has been her promo (talking segments) delivery.
Paige told Newshub that it's not natural for her to break into a character that isn't 100 percent true to who she is as a human.
However, the British native believes that in time Rousey will become comfortable in front of the watching audience, both on television and the live crowd.
"She is getting better every week," Paige said.
"I feel like the first time she was in the ring she was blown away a bit realising she was not portraying herself, but a character.
"She has too create that character you know, she is Ronda fricken' Rousey, she is a bad ass, but she is getting it together which is awesome."
Paige said Rousey was a catalyst to the empowerment of women, both socially and in the sporting sphere.
The women's evolution in the WWE has enabled the female superstars to push their characters beyond the realms of bra-and-panties matches and two-minute throwaway fights buried deep in the middle of the event.
Over the course of the last 18 months, women have main evented WWE Network specials, Raw and Smackdown events and competed in multiple first-ever matches, including the Royal Rumble in January and the Elimination Chamber a month later.
Another first will occur on Monday when multiple women will compete on the first ever WrestleMania women's Battle Royal, which is being streamed live on the WWE Network.
Paige believes the next logical step is some form of pay parity with the men's superstars, similar to grand slam tennis tournaments.
"This is the era of the female athlete - not just our business but across all sport," Paige told Newshub.
"I mean look at Ronda and the UFC - they created a whole division for her because she just kept winning. WWE has created this whole new women's division - evolution around females.
"We gonna run the world, to quote Beyonce."
WresteMania 34 takes place at the Superdome in New Orleans on Monday, April 9 (NZ time) and will also be available through Sky Arena.
Newshub.
