WrestleMania headliner does not plan to wrestle for WWE ever again
WrestleMania 35 marked the first time female superstars competed in the main event of WWE's biggest show of the year. Ronda Rousey, one of three women to headline the 2019 event, does not expect to ever wrestle for the company again.
In recent weeks, Rousey has made headlines thanks to her damning assessment of the way Vince McMahon ran WWE. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair's WrestleMania 35 opponent also criticized former talent relations executive John Laurinaitis.
On the Steve-O's Wild Ride! podcast, Rousey said WWE likely would not have hired her if management knew about the severity of her concussions. She also gave an update on her wrestling status:
"I had a lifetime of experience hiding the fact that I was concussed all the time, so now I can finally talk about it because I don't think I'm gonna be wrestling for the WWE ever again," Rousey stated. [20:16 – 20:31]
Ronda Rousey became a free agent after losing to her long-time friend Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam 2023. Since then, The Baddest Woman on the Planet has competed in three tag team matches alongside fellow MMA Four Horsewoman Marina Shafir.
Ronda Rousey addresses the seriousness of her concussions
The UFC Hall of Famer is more susceptible to concussions due to the punishment she received as an MMA fighter.
For that reason, she initially kept her history with concussions a secret when she became a pro wrestler in 2018:
"I wanted to go to the WWE," Rousey said. "They've had such a complicated past with concussions and stuff like that. They wouldn't hire me if they knew at that point. If I let them know how often I was getting concussions, they wouldn't let me perform in matches." [20:01 – 20:14]
Including untelevised live events, Rousey wrestled more than 100 matches between 2018 and 2023. The 37-year-old held the RAW Women's Championship once, the SmackDown Women's Championship twice, and the tag titles with Shayna Baszler. She also won the 2022 Women's Royal Rumble match.
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Please credit Steve-O's Wild Ride and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.