Ronda Rousey Says She Was Not Aware Of WWE Live Events Before Signing With The Company
WWE RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey was recently a guest on the PWI Podcast hosted by Al Castle and Dan Murphy. Among many other things, Rousey talked about being ranked number one on PWI's 'Women's 100', expecting a frosty reception from the WWE Universe and WWE Superstars, recognizing her "privileged" position with WWE, and WWE's notoriously hectic schedule.
During the interview, Rousey expressed her gratitude for being named the top female professional wrestler in the world by PWI, though 'The Rowdy One' questioned whether she deserves the ranking.
"That's absolutely incredible. I don't really know how to react to that! I mean, I really appreciate it. I don't know how much I deserve it, but wow! Thank you!" Rousey added. "It [has] been amazing. It [has] been a dream come true and I'm at a loss for words, but I'm not an articulate person."
According to Rousey, she was expecting WWE fans and performers alike to reject the former MMA standout in her foray into sports entertainment.
"Honestly, coming into this, I expected all the fans and all the people in the locker room to hate my guts from day one. I really did! I was really blindsided by how accepting and amazing everybody has been, and how amazing the WWE Universe has been, and how amazing everybody in the locker room has been. I mean, like, I'm really not here for a quick paycheck, or some extra fame, or anything like that. Honestly, I really love this business. I really want to contribute as much as I can and I don't want to take credit for the women's evolution. I don't want to take away from what everyone has been doing. I just want to be a catalyst and I want to be able to speed up what's going on here and bring more attention and more value to all the work that these women are doing. If I can do that in the least, then I'm happy," Rousey continued. "Just coming into this industry, I've been nothing but surprised nonstop by the absolute goodness in people, and how happy they are for me to be here, and for me to be a part of it. I was expecting resistance and resentment from day one and I've got nothing but acceptance and everybody willing to help me. There hasn't been one person who hasn't offered me a piece of advice, or knowledge, or something and I'm just so lucky that I'm surrounded by all of those teachers from day one."
Additionally, Rousey indicated that she realizes that she has a fortuitous position with WWE and many people never get that kind of opportunity. 'The Arm Collector' went on to say that one of her WrestleMania 34 opponents, WWE Legend Triple H even taught her how to lace up her boots.
"I'm very aware of how privileged I've been from lot of people who worked their entire lives just to get somebody to take one look at them. And from day one, I don't know anything and I have, like, Triple H telling me how to tie my shoe. Triple H taught me how to tie my boots! Like, that is insane," Rousey explained. "I think it would be spitting in the face of every woman that would want this opportunity to not take full advantage of it."
On the subject of WWE's grueling schedule, Rousey claimed that she gained respect for WWE Superstars because of the hectic WWE schedule they endure. Rousey, who was unaware of house shows prior to joining the WWE roster, recognized that she has a much more favorable schedule than her colleagues.
"Being on the road and everything has given me a lot more respect for what everybody else does," Rousey said. "I mean, honestly, when I came into this, I thought everybody just wrestled once a week! I just thought they showed up at RAW or SmackDown [Live] and that was it. I didn't even know that there were live shows throughout the week! I mean, and these people just go nonstop. Like, I have nowhere near the schedule that everybody else has. If I'm on a week of live shows, it takes me a week to recover from it. If anything, I have the super easy tourist version. I have nothing to complain about! I do whatever I can to perform whenever they need me to perform, but I have a much easier schedule than everybody else."
Check out the interview here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit the PWI Podcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The PWI Podcast