Ronda Rousey Explains The Difference Between Her Two WWE Runs
Ronda Rousey reflects on her time with WWE.
After a historic Ronda Rousey career in UFC, she officially joined WWE in early 2018 and went on to become a two-time former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, former RAW Women’s Champion, and former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. She ultimately departed the promotion in 2023 and later criticised WWE and Vince McMahon over how her tenure with the company unfolded.
Speaking to Complex ahead of her return to mixed martial arts this weekend, Ronda Rousey opened up on the differences between her two runs in WWE.
“The second run, Vince [McMahon] was just more far gone and more difficult to work with. There was a lot of inner turmoil going on in the company. It was kind of a sh*t show and nobody ever knew what was going on. You would get to the arena and you would be made to do something that somebody threw in your lap that hadn’t thought about it until 15 minutes before. Everything was super last minute and not well thought out, and there was no communication, no back and forth. Any attempt to collaborate felt like we were trying to negotiate something as opposed to partnering together to make something great. I love being out there in the ring and doing it, but the process was just such a clusterf*ck sh*t show that it was so much more anxiety than it was worth. I just look back at it and I just remember the anxiety of not knowing what was going on and then at the last minute, maybe we’d be able to pull it out of our ass and have a good night, and maybe not. I was definitely team Triple H to get up to take it over. I’ve heard it’s been much better since he’s taken things over, but unfortunately I didn’t get to experience it.”
-Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey’s last professional wrestling appearance came at AEW Revolution on March 15 earlier this year, where she stared down Toni Storm following Storm’s victory over Rousey’s long-time friend Marina Shafir. She has since admitted that the moment was a “f*ck you” to TKO. You can read more about that here.
Whilst her future in professional wrestling appears uncertain, Ronda Rousey is set to return to mixed martial arts on May 16 as she takes on Gina Carano at the inaugural MVP MMA event at the Intuit Dome, with the event set to stream live on Netflix.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the possibility of Ronda Rousey returning to professional wrestling as soon as we hear more.
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