Director of Commentary and Communications Renee Young has confirmed that "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey has issued a challenge to Miss Athena Star at Hell Hath No Fury, a challenge that has been approved by BWM Inc. Chairman Benny Mouse.
According to Young, Benny met with Rousey for over an hour following Tuesday morning's altercation. In that meeting, Mouse agreed that he would make adjustments to the bracket if Star were to accept. Reports have swirled for months online that changes would be made to the announced list of participants, in part due to new signings and partly because of impressive showings from several Knockouts at the performance center.
As of publication, Star nor her spokeswoman could be reached for comment. However, several sources close to Star said that the first Knockout's Champion was caught off guard by yesterday's confrontation, as Star has spoken favorably of Rousey in recent media appearances. According to one source, who spoke to EWA News on the condition of anonymity, Star is still looking to take some time away wrestling, so the match may be a tough sell. Star was said to be despondent over her loss to Amazon at From Dusk Til Dawn 3.
EWA News has also learned that Star's frustrations predate her loss to Amazon, with Star vocalizing her grievances personally to Benny Mouse and Catherine Mouse when she and Amazon learned that their match would be the double main event. According to multiple reports, Amazon and Star agreed to do the match on the sole condition that it headlined the show. This was underlined by a written and verbal contract signed a full month before the PPV, World of Wrestling contractual records show.
Amazon reportedly also expressed concern in the weeks that predated the event. She allegedly told friends that she found it odd that promotional efforts for the show failed to present any one match as the main event, despite their contract billing the match as the main event.
Amazon's fear was squashed by Benny Mouse, the sources said. Mouse and Amazon have always had a good working relationship, in part due to Benny's willingness to push both her and Star (and the division) so heavily in 2008. Benny Mouse assured her that they would go on last as promised, and blamed Mickey Mouse for the lack of clearer advertising. Benny said that Mickey wanted to promote all the marquee matches as potential main events, a decision made unilaterally on his part. Mickey was reportedly hands off during initial contract negotiations, allowing the bulk of the work to fall to his daughter and would be predecessor.
Sources allege that Star learned of the decision to bump her and Amazon's promised main event hours before the show started. Star reportedly threatened to leave the arena and no show the PPV when Benny and Catherine explained that Mickey had demanded that FRED and Armageddon go on last. Mickey cited that the match was close to two decades in the making and was a once in a lifetime encounter. It was Amazon who talked Star into staying and working the show after she told her that they had worked too hard and come too far to not use the moment to show up the battle of the monsters. The two were also given bonuses from the World of Wrestling to offset any fallout from potential breach of contract lawsuits.
Though Star worked the show, she continued to express her frustrations in the hours prior to the match. She told Benny that she felt betrayed and wanted to take additional time off following the company's relaunch.
EWA News will continue to follow this developing story as more details come to light.