Ronda Rousey (Picture: WWE)

One of the most popular athletes on the planet, Ronda Rousey, won an Olympic Games bronze medal in judo before becoming a world champion and a trailblazer for female athletes in Mixed Martial Arts.

The 31-year-old recently signed with WWE, and will make her professional wrestling debut next month at Wrestlemania, where she will team with WWE legend Kurt Angle against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.

Ahead of a busy month which will see the former UFC champion continue the build for her historic Wrestlemania match, Rousey spoke to Metro.co.uk about her relationship with Vince McMahon, whether she wants to see CM Punk return to WWE, and what Pokemon her Wrestlemania rivals would be.



Hi Ronda, you have a lot of fans over here in Britain, but have you ever been here before?


The first judo World Cup that I ever won was in Birmingham, and there hadn’t been an American woman to win a World Cup in almost a decade at that point. That was a really big deal for me, I was 19-years-old and that was one of my favourite tournaments ever.

I had one of the least sight-seeing trips to London after the British Open. We flew into the airport hotel, went to training and back and I didn’t see any of London at all.

I walked through Birmingham a bit, but people told me that it’s not a good representation or something! So that’s my impression of the UK so far, hopefully I’ll get a better tour in the future.

Your official WWE debut at the Royal Rumble was a huge moment, but did you feel any nerves at all, considering your past success in other sports?

It was a little different in that every single time I went out for another competition it was something that I’d trained for and done a million times, and I knew exactly what I was going out there to do.

At the Royal Rumble, I knew for a fact that I had no clue about what I was doing! I just had to believe in myself, and I thought what’s the worst that can happen? That’s not a reason to not try and do something great.

In the build-up to you signing with WWE, have you taken inspiration from anyone? I know you’re a massive wrestling fan, so what knowledge have you soaked up ahead of this journey?

I’ve been talking to a lot of wrestlers I really respect and asking them for homework. They’ve given me videos and specific matches to watch, so I’ve been getting a crash-course from a bunch of different people and their opinions of important and pivotal matches to watch.

Of course I have always studied Rowdy Roddy Piper and his promotional style and how he was so different to everybody else. He would stop and pause for everybody to hear how intelligent he was, or how witty something he had said was. He’d let it all spill out, and if you were smart enough to catch it, then you would be able to enjoy how witty he was.



Brian Kendrick will send me matches and ask me to tell him where the heat, the comeback, and the false finishes are, so that I can spot and see these things.

Of course the first time I tried to identify those things I was completely wrong and totally off. But I’m studying and learning an entirely new skill and industry, so it’s hard to just focus on one person when I have an entire Universe to learn about.

What are the main differences between Vince McMahon and your old boss, UFC President Dana White?

Dana is one of my best friends and is somebody who I can call up any time and say let’s go for dinner, or drinks or even something completely random like asking him to fly to India, and he’d consider it.

I don’t even have Vince’s number! It’s a very different relationship, I highly respect Vince and very much appreciate the opportunity he’s given me but it’s more like, if I can get a handshake from him and him telling me I’ve done a good job, that totally makes my day.

With Dana, I’d expect him to grab me, hug me, pick me up and shake the hell out of me! If Dana just shook my hand and told me good job, I’d be like ‘what the hell Dana, that’s it?!’

But with Vince McMahon, I’d be like ‘oh my God, Vince McMahon shook my hand and told me I did a good job!’


It’s very different, I have a much more personal relationship with Dana, and a very professional relationship with Vince.

You’ve spoken very highly of former WWE star CM Punk in the past, who will be competing in UFC again very soon. Do you want to see him back in a WWE ring, and perhaps in a storyline with you?

I think everybody on Earth would love to see him back in WWE, and I would completely fall all over myself and be honoured if he wanted to be involved with me in any way, shape or form.

But also, it’s not all about everyone else. It’s his life and it’s about him. He’s doing what he enjoys, what he’s passionate about and what brings out the best of him.

CM Punk and Ronda Rousey.

I’m sure there’s a lot of people that wish I would come back to fighting, but you know what, I don’t fight for them, and he doesn’t wrestle for us. He should do what he wants to do and what makes him into the person he feels like he’s meant to be.

If that’s fighting right now, then all the power to him. Fight to your hearts content. Everyone in the world knows he has a gift for wrestling and he has something special, and if he ever feels like sharing it with us again, then hell yeah, please, even if it’s not with me, I just hope I’m there to see it.


If he never wants to get back in that ring again, he has every reason not to, and all the respect in the world from me.

Ronda Rousey and Stephanie McMahon (Picture: WWE)

Lastly, you’re a big Pokemon fan. You’ll be involved in a big match at Wrestlemania next month alongside Kurt Angle against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. So the obvious question is what Pokemon would they be?

I think Kurt Angle would be Throh. I would say that Stephanie McMahon would be more like Kangaskhan. She’s a mom, but she’s super kick-ass too. And just because it matches up with Kangaskhan so much, I would say that Triple H is more like Rhydon, they kinda match.

Actually, no, no no! Stephanie and Triple H are Nidoking and Nidoqueen, that’s what they are.

And I am Mew!

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