Ronda Rousey: Wrestling Is 'Pretty Much' in My Rearview Mirror

While speaking on the latest episode of The Lapsed Fan podcast, Rousey was asked if wrestling was on in her rearview mirror, to which she agreed it was. It sounded like she wasn’t happy that WWE never really let her wrestle with Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, and Shayna Baszler in her first run. The four of them were known as the Four Horsewomen. Now all four women are gone from the promotion. She said:

“Pretty much, I’d say so. I got into WWE because I wanted to be able to wrestle with my girls, you know, the Four Horsewomen, and be able to wrestle with my friends. And they kind of dangled that carrot for my whole run and never let it happen.” (h/t: F4WOnline)

She later added that she really got to tag team with Baszler in her second run, because she told WWE she was going to leave unless they let her. Rousey added:

“And then the second run, they kept dangling it. And then by the end, I was like, I’m f–king leaving unless I can wrestle with Shayna [Baszler]. And that’s how I was able to do it at all.”

While Rousey and Baszler teamed together from 2022 to 2023, they held the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles for 33 days. After losing the titles to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez at the 2023 Money in the Bank PLE, their friendship pretty much dissolved. Rousey’s last match in WWE was a loss to Baszler in an MMA Rules match at SummerSlam 2023.

Ronda Rousey Left WWE Because Of Mediocrity

The UFC Hall of Famer shared that she left the business because of not being allowed to do things to her full potential. She felt like WWE would only like her to be mediocre. She said:

“That’s what made me have to step away, because it got to the point where I’m just like, they’re never going to allow me to make it as good as it can be, and, like, meeting them halfway in this range of mediocrity is like crushing my soul. So I can’t continue to do that. So I’m going to go f—king be awesome and doing other things.”

Her first run — in opinion was the best part of her WWE career – would include a 231-day reign as the WWE Women’s Championship, then known as the WWE RAW Women’s Title. She would take a step back from the company after losing to Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35 in 2019. That was when The Man defeated both Rousey and Charlotte Flair for the WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown Women’s Titles.

Her second run with WWE started with a bang — she became the winner of the Women’s 2022 Royal Rumble. Along with holding the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles, Rousey was also a two-time WWE Women's World Champion. Since leaving WWE, Rousey has wrestled a couple of matches. She last stepped in the ring in November 2023, where she and Marina Shafir defeated Athena and Billie Starkz in Ring of Honor.