Ronda Rousey spent six years as a full-time WWE superstar and she didn’t like what she saw. The three-time WWE Women’s Champion, who has since retired and is working on her publication first graphic novelhas hopes for the leader of professional wrestling in a world without former CEO Vince McMahon in power.
“I think anybody is better than Vince McMahon,” Rousey told CBS Sports when discussing the Kickstarter campaignlaunch on July 25, for his graphic novel “Expecting the Unexpected”. “The only place you can go is up. I really enjoy Triple H and working with him, and honestly, I haven’t watched, but I saw something from Natty (Neidhart) saying they had recently a card that had just as many women as men.
“That’s what I would really like to see. Women are represented equally, with not only matches on the schedule, but also time on the show.”
Rousey wrote scathing remarks about McMahon in his recent autobiography, Our fight. She criticized the company’s poor history of booking women and highlighted the various sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon, including the latter resigned from WWE and parent company TKO in January and would be under federal investigation for sexual abuse and trafficking.
The modern power structure of WWE has changed dramatically. Triple H, known as Paul Levesque in his executive capacity, is primarily responsible for WWE’s content alongside CEO Ari Emanuel and President Nick Khan. Lévesque was an integral part of Rousey’s career. Rousey first entered the WWE ring at WrestleMania 31 in 2015, holding the arm of Levesque’s wife, Stephanie McMahon, during a segment also involving Triple H and The Rock. Rousey made her in-ring debut three years later, teaming with Kurt Angle in a tag team match against Triple H and Stephanie.
“I think they can only go up and I’m just really happy for all the women who are still here and thriving under the new regime,” Rousey said.
Paul Heyman was also an integral part of Rousey’s professional wrestling career. Heyman’s close friendship and on-screen chemistry with former UFC and WWE champion Brock Lesnar put him on common ground with Rousey as she transitioned from UFC to WWE. Rousey says the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame inductee – who is actively doing some of her career-best work in The Bloodline storyline, managed the cult wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and played the role as general manager and lead writer of SmackDown – contributed to the industry in ways that will never be fully understood.
“I feel like he’s the absolute backbone of this whole industry,” Rousey said. “People don’t see the spine. It’s hidden under the body, but he is literally everyone’s mentor. Every successful script has its roots in him. I think the industry would just be a shell without him.
“They should feel so lucky to have his time because he could devote that genius to something else. But he devotes 100% of his time and energy to WWE. He’s the person who encouraged me creatively. He truly believed that I am so much more than what my body can do.”
Check out the full interview with Ronda Rousey below.
Rousey credits Heyman for encouraging her on the writing path that led to her graphic novel, memoir, and screenwriting gigs for her upcoming Netflix biopic.
“He really encouraged me to write and create,” Rousey said. “He’s the one who told me, ‘You have to write your own story.’ No one had seen me in that light before or had that kind of confidence in me. I didn’t even have that kind of confidence in myself. I wrote the logline and then after I smashed it. joints, I went into surgery and jumped straight into a hospital plane doing “The Stephen Colbert Show” to promote “Mortal Kombat 11,” and finally lying in a bed for the first time in four to eight hours. , I sat down and typed a cast on my phone notes for 11 hours straight to write the first draft of this It was something that was inside me and Paul Heyman was the only one who saw it.
“Five years later, I’ve learned so much and put so much work and love into it, and the project is finally seeing the light of day. It’s not something I’m doing to impress anyone. J I’ve finally managed to move away from that part of my life You know what? I’m going to do what I want to do and it doesn’t really matter. .one way or another. I had to tell the story and write it. I hope it finds someone, even just one person, who needed to read it as much as I needed to write it.
