‘People forget very quickly’: Ronda Rousey opens up on legacy and not getting the credit she deserves
By 2019, Ronda Rousey had done nearly everything there was to do in combat sports. A former UFC champion, she had successfully made the jump to professional wrestling and become the WWE Raw Women’s Champion. Rousey was on the cusp of making history yet again as one of the first women to main-event WrestleMania, but she had to get through the final episode of “WWE Raw” to get there.
The backstage area was in a full panic, as the script was being torn up and rewritten just an hour or so before the show went live. Perhaps in an effort to distract, Paul Heyman casually asked Rousey what kind of movie she would like to star in, if resources weren’t an issue, and what kind of role she would play.
“That just got me thinking, what is a story that is uniquely and totally me and what am I going through? What could nobody understand better than me?” Rousey tells Uncrowned. “And then that just turned into this story about my own anxiety about becoming a mom and bringing life into a hostile world, and doubting my own ability to be able to protect a child in it.
“I just wrote one line — a pregnant assassin has to fight to try and get an abortion, and all of the threats to her life along the way make her realize how much she wants to keep the baby. That was it. And then it turned into over a hundred-page graphic novel several years later.”
That moment lit a spark that, transformed into a near obsession. She went from WrestleMania 35 to surgery to repair her broken hand to shooting “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and closing her eyes for a few hours before flying home. Instead of sleeping, Rousey recalls her mind racing as she came up with a scene that would offer a foundation for her forthcoming graphic novel, “Expecting the Unexpected,” which is slated to release Oct. 7 from AWA Studios.
“Eleven hours of thumb typing later, had my first draft, which was, admittedly, dog s***,” Rousey continues. “But there was that urge to tell a story there.”
Rousey’s latest endeavor is a product of passion, one that followed her through her own pregnancy, with elements of the story ripped from her real-life experiences. She became fixated with immersing herself into creative writing, interning in the story department at WME and eventually becoming a script reader.
More than two years after her final WWE match and nearly a decade after her MMA retirement, Rousey, 38, is content with her trailblazing career in combat sports.
“I think I’m most proud of being able to create a way for women in combat sports to be able to make a living that just didn’t exist before,” Rousey says.
“I went and won an Olympic medal, and then became a bartender. There was just nothing I could go to from that. Reverberating out from what happened in the UFC to now, women in WWE are getting a lot more respect and making a lot more money. Women in boxing are getting a lot more respect and making a lot more money. And I know that is a direct result from what we were able to do in the UFC. It warms my heart to be able to see all the women taking that torch and running with it, and setting fires of their own.”
When asked if she believes she gets the credit she deserves for the trail she paved, Rousey’s answer is a resounding no.
When asked if she believes she gets the credit she deserves for the trail she paved, Rousey’s answer is a resounding no.
“I don’t think any woman trailblazer gets enough credit because I think people forget very quickly the way that it was and how difficult it used to be,” she says.
“I think the people not remembering how it was, that no one wanted to give women fighters a minute of their day as opposed to seeing them as a valuable investment now. But I don’t want them to be able to know what that was like. There’s no way you could know if you hadn’t lived it. And I don’t want them to live it.”
After retiring from the UFC following a loss to Amanda Nunes in 2016, Rousey’s jump to the WWE saw her help the promotion’s women’s division reach historic heights. As the WWE women’s champion, she made history alongside Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch to become the first women to main event WrestleMania in 2019. By the end of her run, though, the pressure that came with being a high-level star in the company and the dynamic of working in the environment established by Vince McMahon just wasn’t right for her.
“It was a lot of needless anxiety and things like that. And the whole company was just a chaotic s*** show on the inside. And then they ended up dropping all my friends,” Rousey says, pointing to her former stablemates Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke.
“So I really have no reason to go back. I wanted to do a run with the Four Horsewomen and I never got to do that. And now I feel like I’ve already accomplished everything that I wanted to in WWE and all that’s really left for me is to go there and have fun with my friends, and none of my friends are there anymore.”
After main-eventing the very first WWE Evolution show in 2018, the second iteration of the all-women’s showcase earlier this summer was noticeably missing Rousey. The three-time WWE women’s champion says there was no outreach from the company for her to potentially participate. Outside of a return from Trish Stratus and Nikki Bella, Evolution 2025 focused less on highlighting former stars in the ring and more on honoring their careers, with many seated around ringside for the occasional on-camera cameo.
“I didn’t hear from anybody. It was more of the way we left it was, they were like, ‘There’s always an open door; if you ever want to come back, let us know,’” Rousey says.
“I just don’t think I could ever be on the road with the company again. I have two girls now, and hopefully we can have some more soon, I’d love that. And there’s just no room in my life to be able to maintain that lifestyle and a family at the same time.”
At this point, Rousey can be more selective on projects she wants to be a part of. That’s essentially how her string of post-WWE independent dates came together before a brief appearance in Ring of Honor in 2023 alongside her real-life best friend, AEW’s Shafir.
Rousey says there was not an extended conversation with AEW/Ring of Honor CEO Tony Khan about anything forward-thinking. An opportunity arose for her to get in the ring alongside her friend and she took it. Rousey admittedly hasn’t kept up much with Shafir’s new stable, the Death Riders, nor their run through AEW, but says she’s enjoyed seeing Shafir “coming into her own in that space and feeling really confident and just becoming like a real f*****g pro.”
“Going from being like, ‘How do I do an arm drag,’ to being part of five-star matches and stuff like that, it’s really great to see her just having so much joy with it and rising to the top level of the industry,” Rousey says. She also credits the help and support of AEW star Jon Moxley for that development.
“I think so much has to do with Jon Moxley being the most incredible human being ever. He is just so supportive and so kind and so passionate,” Rousey continues.
“He’s just so humble and I feel like so much of that success stems from his talent — and not just his talent, but his willingness and passion to give back and to bring up everybody with him and have his rising tide lift all of their boats. And I’m so grateful for him and the kind of friend that he’s been to Marina.”
Rousey says having people like Moxley in the locker room is what allows each generation to build and outdo the last generation.
“They’re the real lifeblood of the industry. And I hope that continues and that it’s encouraged, and that it’s not like some cutthroat, ‘me versus you’ kind of environment,” Rousey says.
“It’s the culture and the giving back to each other and the constant hands helping each other up — that is what makes it continue to be great. And will continue to make pro wrestling rise in cultural awareness.”
At this point in her career, Rousey says she’s fulfilled in all walks of her life. She has more options than ever, but as a mother of two, less time than ever. She jokes about balancing passion projects like occasionally wrestling and her writing, while making sure there’s enough time for Miss Rachel. For now, that personal allotment outside of parenting is designated to pouring herself into her creative works.
“I want to take everything that I’ve learned from all of these different spaces, because nobody else has the same expertise as me and bring it to this space. I absolutely love comics. I love graphic novels and I don’t want to just plagiarize — I want to be able to add something to it, that maybe somebody else could see one day and be like, ‘You know what, I could take that a step further,’” Rousey says.
“And I just want to be part of the evolution of the medium. I really hope that people, when they see this work of art, that me and so many people have poured so much passion and years into, that they glean the kind of inspiration that I was able to glean from others and get to this point.”
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