Ronda Rousey Blasts Vince McMahon and WWE's "Casting Couch Culture"

Vince McMahon's days in the wrestling industry are done. The longtime WWE Chairman resigned from the TKO Board of Directors this past January after another sexual misconduct lawsuit was filed against him, this one accusing McMahon of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. McMahon's only ties to WWE today come in his stock ownership, which he has already began to gradually shed, selling a couple million shares at a time. While new details from the lawsuit have sporadically emerged since, McMahon has yet to face any specific charges. That said, talent from in and around the WWE world have made efforts to share their own stories about the culture McMahon created backstage.

Ronda Rousey Blasts Vince McMahon's WWE Culture

Ronda Rousey speaks out on Vince McMahon.

Within her upcoming autobiography Our Fight, Rousey labelled McMahon as "WWE's Emperor Palpatine" and questioned how much of a difference there was between the sinister boss he portrayed on television and the real-life man behind the persona.

"It's hard sometimes to know where the evil, unethical, slimeball character of Vince McMahon played out for the cameras ends and the actual questionably ethical, many times sued, and multiple times accused of sexual misconduct Vince McMahon begins," Rousey wrote. "That blurred line between character and reality is a recurring theme within the WWE Universe."

Rousey joined WWE during the early years of the "Women's Revolution," a time period that saw WWE begin to put an added emphasis on the main roster's female stars. While a large reason for this was the success that WWE saw within NXT's women's division, Rousey's waves within UFC in the mid-2010s is seen as unofficial inspiration for the shift.

"WWE loves to do well-produced video segments about the legacy of women within the organization, but the truth is women have largely been footnotes," Rousey continued. "WWE bills itself as a sports-entertainment organization, and just like in the mainstream entertainment industry, there was, by all accounts, a casting couch culture where men backstage in powerful positions pressured female talent for sexual favors in return for airtime. There were so many public accusations and scandals it's hard to keep track, and more that I'm sure the WWE managed to sweep under the ring."