Becky Lynch Once Explained How WWE 'Mishandled' Ronda Rousey: 'She Couldn't Wrestle'

Ronda Rousey left WWE in August 2023 after losing an 'MMA Rules' match to close friend Shayna Baszler. The former four-time WWE Women's Champion had exploded onto the scene after teaming with Kurt Angle in a mixed tag match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34.

The former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion seemed to get to grips with pro wrestling quickly and was subsequently heavily pushed by creative. But a must-see feud with Becky Lynch, which didn't even result in a one-on-one match, was the peak of her time with WWE, and fans started to disconnect due to her character and questionable mic work.

Rousey's first RAW Women's Championship victory came against Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam in 2018 in a squash match. But she reflected on being paired with Bliss with bemusement while speaking on The Lapsed Fan: "The fact that they had me fighting Alexa Bliss at all was f*cking ridiculous, and you wanna know why they had me against Alexa Bliss? Because she had the most merch sales at the time… Like, what the f*ck!? That’s your decision-making process?"

It is common practice for top merchandise sellers to be positioned at the top of the card in WWE as it shows that they are over with the fans. Bliss may have already subtly hit back with a post on X, stating: "I love our business."

Rousey wasn't only perplexed about being booked against Bliss as she also revealed she turned down a creative pitch to tap out to Lynch at Survivor Series. She said: "It was proposed that I tap out to her (Becky Lynch) armbar at Survivor Series, and I said, ‘My mother would disown me.’ Anytime anyone’s actually ever arm-barred me in real life, I’ve just let them dislocate it and I limp arm out. That’s why my ligaments are all f*cked up in this arm. So, I’m not gonna do it. Anytime anyone ever choked me out in competition, I just went out, and I don’t tap. I don’t tap motherf*cker. That’s how it is."

The 38-year-old has spoken negatively about her experiences in WWE, including how she was handled by creative. But her latest take on the business, particularly her comments on Bliss, has infuriated fans who feel they are unjustified.

"She Couldn't Wrestle" - Becky Lynch On Ronda Rousey's WWE Run

Ronda Rousey did enjoy some memorable moments during her WWE career, including winning the Royal Rumble and main eventing WrestleMania 35 against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. But Lynch had highlighted back in March 2024 that the Baddest Woman on the Planet's fall from grace came as a result of over-hyping her Mania debut.

Lynch even claimed that Rousey didn't know how to wrestle and emphasized that it takes a lot of hard work to become a good pro wrestler. She told The MMA Hour: "She was coming off a different industry. She was a star and she should have been handled differently in terms of — I think she had such a great first outing that everybody thought, ‘Oh, she can wrestle.’ I mean this with respect, but she couldn’t wrestle."

The current WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion was embroiled in a heated rivalry with Rousey and many felt the pair had legitimate heat. The Irish star touched on the Mania debut: "It’s a craft, and you have to learn your craft, and you have to be diligent about learning your craft. But everybody treated Ronda like she already knew it because when she first came in, she was good in that first bout, but she was also working with Kurt Angle, she was working with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon.

She added: "It was a well-rehearsed match because everybody wanted her to succeed. And then it was, ‘OK, she can do this, off to the races,’ and that was mishandling her because she was a star in her own right and she’d done so much for MMA."

Lynch's comments are the perfect way to describe why Rousey faltered, losing her appeal with fans and finishing up her pro wrestling career as a case of what could have been. You could argue she should have been booked similarly to Brock Lesnar, a wrecking machine who was untouchable, but it feels as though she couldn't get to grips with the kayfabe aspect of the business, that you must suspend your belief.