In an interview with Sky Sports to promote the upcoming WrestleMania 34 pay-per-view, WWE RAW superstar Ronda Rousey discussed several topics including her training leading into her in-ring debut, why she credits Shayna Baszler more than fans think, how happy she is to be a WWE superstar and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On why she feels that WWE was her destiny: “I was a huge wrestling fan and I remember how they made me feel. I was a little kid in the Mid-West who could barely talk, I could barely say Hulk Hogan, but I had a Hulk Hogan wrestling buddy and I would rip that thing’s arm off over and over again. I wanted to be the biggest, toughest guy in the world and I wanted to be just like him.”
On why she credits Shayna Baszler more than what the fans think: “It wasn’t until I was fighting in the UFC and Shayna [Baszler] and Jessamyn [Duke] moved in with me and they always put WWE on the TV, it seemed like every single night. We would fight all day in the gym and when we came home, we didn’t want to talk about fighting, we wanted to escape throught wrestling, it was our sanctuary from the stress of the fighting world and it slowly became more and more where we wanted to be. Shayna was the first one of us to take that leap and she’s always been an example to me. She did women’s MMA before me and opened a lot of doors for all of us. If it wasn’t for her making a point of us sitting down and watching wrestling together, then I wouldn’t be here either. When she made that jump from fighting to wrestling, I saw how much happier that made her and how more applied she was. It was hard not to want to be part of that.”
On learning as she goes, keeping her judo and fighting backgrounds and why she is happy to be a WWE superstar: “It’s almost a combination of everything that I’ve done and something entirely different and unique. There are so many things from judo that apply to WWE, so many things from fighting that apply to WWE and there are so many things from acting and doig media and public speaking that apply. There are so many things that are completely unique to the business, I still have such a vast amount to learn and it’s really rejuvenated me. To master something new is one of my greatest pleasures in life, rather than just sitting there doing something you already know how to do. I want to be mentally pushed and challenged every day and it’s hard to not be in this world and not be totally obsessed and engrossed by it. My body is aching all over and I’m mentally exhausted from everything I’m learning, but I can’t remember the last time I was as happy as this, maybe my wedding day.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
