Ronda Rousey’s WWE career appears to be permanently in the rear view. The inaugural UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion officially made the leap from the octagon to the squared circle in 2018, competing in her debut match at WWE WrestleMania 34 before becoming a regular member of the WWE roster. Rousey was a fixture of WWE Monday Night Raw for the next calendar year, quietly stepping away after WWE WrestleMania 35. She would make her return at WWE Royal Rumble 2022, winning the titular battle royal, and continued to compete on WWE programming for the next 18 months. Following a loss to real-life friend Shayna Baszler at WWE SummerSlam last August, Rousey left WWE for good.
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Rousey had never been shy about her criticisms with WWE, even infamously breaking kayfabe on social media by downplaying the legitimacy of the WWE roster’s toughness. Ahead of her upcoming memoir’s release, Rousey has directed her WWE criticisms at the company’s backstage structure, recently putting former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon on blast for creating a “casting couch culture” within the sports-entertainment giant.
Ronda Rousey Reveals Why She Left WWE
The Baddest Woman on the Planet did not see the product around her living up to her talents.
Speaking to Cageside Seats, Ronda Rousey opened up about her most recent WWE run, revealing that she explained to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque what was prompting her to leave before her eventual exit.
“I had a long sit down with Triple H and I was like, ‘I can’t be associated with mediocrity,’” Rousey said. “That’s what they seemed to be happy with at the time. I hope that is different now, but I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced it any other way.”
Rousey spent the bulk of her WWE career in the Vince McMahon regime during two of its most controversial periods. During her first WWE Raw Women’s Title reign, the McMahons and Triple H opened a December 2018 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw in an unprecedented segment, essentially apologizing on air for the quality of recent WWE television.
Rousey’s second stint enjoyed six months in the Triple H regime before Vince seized back power in January 2023. While Vince has since resigned due to an ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit, his departure came after Rousey had finished up with the company.
While Rousey has not worked in the most recent Triple H regime, her experience working with him has her optimistic about WWE’s future.
“I’m so glad that it’s getting turned around. Triple H has been great towards the women in the company and really believing in us,” Rousey continued. “He’s the whole reason that I was there. He believed in me. I really wish that my last run was under Triple H running things and Vince being gone.”
