Ronda Rousey made her WWE debut one year ago at the 2018 installment of the Royal Rumble. On her own website, she reflected upon the moment in a new interview.
Check out some highlights below:
How much wrestling training she had:
Up to that point? So I think I was around like maybe starting… No, wait. I went to the [Performance Center] for my bachelorette party, I think it was July or something ’cause I got married in August.
[Brian Kendrick’s Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy] was like, right after I went to the PC that first time—my bachelorette party. My bachelorette party, I gave myself a week-long tryout. I just said, “Hi guys, I’m coming. I’ve got a bachelorette party.” What kind of a weird way to ask for a tryout, right? Okay, I didn’t really say that. What I actually said was more like, “Listen, I’m getting married after my bachelorette party. And all my girls are out there training. I want to go out there and train with them for a week just to spend time with them for a week. And then we’re all going to take a Cruise America and RV back to LA.”
Training with Lacey Evans, Dakota Kai, and Sara Amato:
[Sara’s] a genius. She really is brilliant. So they spent a couple days with me just trying to figure out moves and whatever. Lacey Evans was the first person to take a “Piper’s Pit.” We were trying to figure it out. Dakota Kai was the first person to take the “Sup-ladle,” which no one knows is called the “Sup-ladle.” That one I kind of… it’s like suplex and a cradle, right? So I call it the “Sup-ladle,” like a soup ladle.
I had “Sup-ladle,” and “The Backpack” is that one I did to Alexa Bliss and Charlotte with the legs and the arm. And I do the little flip. The wind up and then the flip.
The Rumble itself:
So this was my first experience really going out in the WWE. They sneak me in doing this whole Super Mario tunnel thing. And then I’m crouched behind—I think Shane McMahon was there too. And I was pretty much in the circle of Vince and Triple H and Shane, hidden behind them. And then Triple H says, “Okay, it’s time. We have to go out.” And he tells me, “Have fun,” or whatever. I don’t know what he said. And so I went. And I thought I’d be booed out of the building. I thought the way they had me walk in I was kind of stepping on Asuka’s moment.
But, you know. I came out and I felt it and just kind of—Asuka pointed twice, so I pointed three times. Yeah, yeah, no, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what I was doing at all.
Make sure to check out the full interview for even more!
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