Ronda Rousey says released star was supposed to become women's champion; felt guilty after WWE changed major title match
Ronda Rousey recently claimed that a released WWE Superstar was supposed to win the women's championship but plans changed eventually. The star in question is Lacey Evans.
Evans joined World Wrestling Entertainment in 2016 and started performing on the company's developmental brand, NXT. In December 2018, she was shifted to the main roster. After competing in the Stamford-based promotion for several years, the 34-year-old left the company in August 2023.
Ronda Rousey recently launched her autobiography Our Fight: A Memoir, in which she detailed her time at World Wrestling Entertainment. Rousey wrote in the book that she was told Lacey Evans was going to win the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship and she was told that she could share this detail with Evans.
However, plans eventually changed to Liv Morgan cashing in her MITB briefcase to win the title. The former UFC star also mentioned that she felt guilty for getting Lacey Evans' hopes up.
Jim Ross did not like Ronda Rousey's comments about WWE
During a recent edition of the Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross said it was unsettling to see Ronda Rousey putting the Stamford-based promotion in so much negative light. The WWE Hall of Famer also mentioned that he does not understand why Rousey has been so negative about the company.
"It's unsettling, honestly, I don't know that's the way to promote any product in a negative light," Ross said. "Negative light doesn't shine very brightly on most projects. I understand what she's doing. I understand why she's doing it. She wants to sell books and I'm sure her book is good. She's very outspoken, she's very honest, but I think sometimes you gotta unsaddle that negative horse, saddle it back up with something more positive and that would be my suggestion to her."
Many fans wanted to see a match between Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch. It remains to be seen if The Baddest of Woman on the Planet will ever return to WWE in the future.
Check out the UFC Hall of Famer's comments about backstage tensions between Triple H and Vince McMahon here.