Fantasy Booking Ronda Rousey in WWE 2K20
One of the best parts of playing a WWE video game is getting to fantasy book your way through a bunch of matches and pay-per-views. Being in full control of the stories, the match stipulations, and the title chases is a whole lot of fun. We all love to watch RAW and SmackDown and tweet about what we would do if we were in control. WWE 2K20 lets you do that. So, I decided to have some fun with this year’s release and put Ronda Rousey into a few different pay-per-views and matches and run through a few storylines. Here’s how it all panned out.
The Money in the Bank pay-per-view seemed like the best place to start, with Rousey battling for the briefcase against Ruby Riott, Bayley, Carmella, Charlotte Flair, and Sonya Deville. To be honest, Rousey was getting dismantled early on. I kept getting thrown to the outside or attacked with weapons; not great when you’re controlling “The Baddest Woman on the Planet.”
Things were looking rough, but nobody could get much time on the ladder. I battled it out with Carmella at the top of the ladder twice, both times ending with us flat on our backs after another opponent pushed the ladder over. Eventually though, with everyone running on empty, I climbed to the top and punched in every single section of the mini=-game to capture the briefcase and the contract. What a sight.
Drunk on power, I decided that there’d be no better place to cash in that briefcase than during the all-women’s pay-per-view Evolution. Bayley was defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Asuka. It was like watching the best of their NXT battles, filled with reversals and big spots. I couldn’t wait to cash in on the winner. After two finishers, Bayley retained. Look at the screenshot below. Look at how happy she was. Not for long.
Rousey, in her fighting gear already, stormed the ring. Bayley looked shocked, and I knew this is going to be a piece of cake. Bayley’s energy bar was so low, and I was ready to make that title mine. It didn’t take much. A few moves and one Piper’s Pit later and Bayley was down for the three count. Ronda Rousey was the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Because I think the highlight of WWE video games is the multi-person matches, I then had Rousey defend her recently-won championship inside the Elimination Chamber. Charlotte, Kairi Sane, Sasha Banks, Natalya, and Asuka all stepped in to compete. Sorry, Bayley—no automatic rematches in my universe.
I was unlucky enough to draw one of the first two spots, starting the match with Sasha Banks. I tossed her around like a rag doll, but there were no eliminations until everyone entered the match. Sasha was the first to go after I hit her with Piper’s Pit—Rousey’s true finisher is the armbar, but I am terrible at the game’s submission system—and then I eliminated Charlotte the same way. I was on a roll, but I had nothing left after starting the match. Kairi Sane hit me with her elbow drop, and that was it for me. Sane went on to win the match and become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.
At the Royal Rumble, I wanted Rousey to have a #1 Contender match against one of my favourite Superstars on the roster, because video games are about creating dream matches. So it was set: Ronda Rousey vs. Bianca Belair. Bianca was a tough fight but no match for me. Another Piper’s Pit to secure that win, and then I knew what had to happen next. I didn’t want the SmackDown Women’s Championship. I wanted Becky Lynch and her RAW Women’s Championship, and I wanted it during the main event of WrestleMania.
So, finally—and with no offense to Charlotte—it was time for Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch to get that one-on-one match for the title. This was easily the best singles match I had with Rousey. Lynch is, rightly so, a superpowered character in the game; to add to the struggle, she attacked me before the match even started! Shady stuff from “The Man.” We traded high-risk spots, signatures, and finishers for a long time, but neither of us could put the other away. I eventually saved up enough to lock in the armbar finisher, and when that didn’t work because I suck at the submission system, I immediately hit “The Man” with Piper’s Pit, my fourth of the match.
Redemption for Ronda Rousey. At WrestleMania, she’d gotten back at Becky Lynch and won the RAW Women’s Championship. Now if only we could make this happen in real life.
