Ronda Rousey recently set off a firestorm of controversy when she called WWE "fake fighting for fun" - here's why wrestling fans and the WWE Superstars themselves got so mad at the former Women's Champion. Rousey appeared on Jackass star Steve-O's "Wide Ride" podcast and seemingly shot down a return to WWE; the "Baddest Woman on the Planet" spoke highly of her year as a WWE Superstar but reserved her harshest criticism for the "ungrateful" WWE fans, who she felt didn't appreciate her stellar efforts.
After appearing at 2015's WrestleMania 31 alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Rousey made her surprise WWE debut at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in January 2018. Due to her star power as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, Rousey was soon rocketed to the top of the WWE Women's Division and she won the RAW Women's Championship from Alexa Bliss at Summerslam in August. However, the excitement for Rousey as a top babyface ("fan-favorite") started to waver so Ronda soon turned heel; as a bad guy, Rousey was free to behave more like her brash persona when she was the first-ever UFC Women's Champion. Rousey was champion for 232 days before she lost the title to her archrival, Becky Lynch, in the main event of April 2019's WrestleMania 35, in a three-way match that also included Charlotte Flair. This was Rousey's last appearance for WWE; after a spectacular rookie year, she went on an indefinite hiatus and returned home to her farm and her husband, Travis Browne.
Rumors have swirled ever since that Rousey would eventually return to WWE, which she has denied despite being under contract until April 2021. Still, her disparaging remarks towards WWE fans on Steve-O's podcast drew ire and Rousey fanned the flames with a controversial post on her Twitter taking to task "some pro wrestlers' huge soft egos" and laughing off the comparison that WWE is comparable to 'real' fighting, i.e. mixed martial arts. Rousey acknowledged that wrestling 300 days a year is "incredibly tough... but do you know what would happen if you got in 300 real fights a year? You would be dead." Rousey is indeed correct with that assessment since WWE's outcomes are predetermined. But it's the fact that Ronda used the word "fake" that infuriated her former WWE colleagues. Nia Jax, who just returned to WWE after a year off due to a knee injury, tweeted that "I’ll risk my job 2 go down in history as the one from this biz that knocked [Ronda] the F**K out!"
Along with "protecting the business" according to the rules of pro-wrestling passed down from its carnival origins ("kayfabe"), Jax was, in part, defending people like Alexa Bliss, her close friend who suffered two concussions wrestling Rousey in 2018 and who also spent nearly a year in rehab. In an interview with CBS Sports, Bliss was more diplomatic, despite the injuries she suffered in the ring with Rousey. After pointing out that she likes and "always got along" with Ronda (in truth, most of Rousey's WWE co-workers do and many have visited her farm to shoot content for Ronda's YouTube shows), Bliss summed up the collaborative nature of pro-wrestling and Rousey's misstep:
You're only as good as the person you're in the ring with. When you kind of bash the fans who were always really supportive and say what we do is fake, it's kind of disrespectful when we were so respectful of what she did coming in and we were respectful of her in WWE. Everyone was willing to help her succeed, you know? She did a lot for us, but we also did a lot for her. A lot of bodies laid on the path she walked on.
It's true that the outcomes in WWE are pre-determined and that it's storytelling involving, in Alexa's words, "protagonist, antagonist, and conflict resolution". Indeed, almost the entire WWE Women's division 'laid down' for Ronda to make her rookie year and championship run so dominant. Yes, the WWE Superstars do work together to tell a story in their matches and they try to protect each other, as opposed to a real MMA fight where the goal is to win and submit your opponent. But it's simply the word "fake" that WWE wrestlers take umbrage at, because the injuries they sustain in the ring, the relentless travel, and the time they spend away from home and their loved ones are all very real - and this is what wrestling fans respect about pro-wrestlers when they willingly suspend their disbelief to watch WWE or their favorite pro-wrestling league.
But Rousey was arguing apples and oranges by calling WWE fake when she certainly knows the difference, having performed for WWE and fought for UFC at the highest levels. Which leads many smart fans to suspect Ronda's comments are "a work" that could pave the way for her WWE return. After all, if Ronda Rousey does come back to WWE, she is fully aware that she'll be working with the exact same people to perform so-called "fake fighting for fun" - and the "Baddest Woman on the Planet" knows better than that.
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