Ronda Rousey spent six years as a full-time WWE superstar and she did not like what she saw. The three-time WWE women's champion, who has since retired and is working towards publishing her debut graphic novel, has hopes for the professional wrestling leader in a world without former CEO Vince McMahon in power.
"I think anyone's better than Vince McMahon," Rousey told CBS Sports while discussing the Kickstarter campaign, launching July 25, for her "Expecting the Unexpected" graphic novel. "The only place you can go is up. I really enjoy Triple H and working with him, and honestly, I haven't been watching, but I saw something from Natty [Neidhart] saying that they had a card recently that had just as many women on it as the men.
"That's what I would really like to see. The women equally represented with not just matches on the card, but time on the show."
Rousey wrote scathing remarks about McMahon in her recent autobiography, Our Fight. She criticized the company's poor history of booking women and pointed to the various sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon, the latter of whom resigned from WWE and parent company TKO in January and is reportedly under federal investigation for sexual abuse and trafficking.
The modern WWE power structure has changed dramatically. Triple H, known as Paul Levesque in his executive roles, serves primarily as WWE's chief content officer alongside CEO Ari Emanuel and president Nick Khan. Levesque was integral to Rousey's career. Rousey first stepped in a WWE ring at WrestleMania 31 in 2015, arm-barring Levesque's wife, Stephanie McMahon, during a segment also involving Triple H and The Rock. Rousey made her in-ring debut three years later, teaming with Kurt Angle in a tag team match against Triple H and Stephanie.
"I feel there's no place they could go but up and I'm really, really happy for all the women still there and thriving under the new regime," Rousey said.
Paul Heyman was another person integral to Rousey's pro wrestling career. Heyman's close friendship and on-screen chemistry with former UFC and WWE champion Brock Lesnar put him on common ground with Rousey as she transitioned from UFC to WWE. Rousey says the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame inductee -- who is actively doing some of his career-best work in The Bloodline storyline, ran cult favorite wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and had roles as SmackDown general manager and lead writer -- has contributed to the industry in ways that will never fully be understood.
"I feel like he's the absolute backbone of that entire industry," Rousey said. "People don't see the backbone. It is hidden underneath the body, but he is literally everyone's mentor. Every successful storyline has its roots back into him. I think the industry would be a shell of itself without him.
"They should feel so lucky to have his time because he could spend that genius on anything else. But he spends 100% of his time and energy on the WWE. He is the person who encouraged me creatively. He really believed I am so much more than what my body can do."
Check out the full interview with Ronda Rousey below.
Rousey credits Heyman for encouraging her down the writing path that's led to her graphic novel, a memoir and screenwriting gigs for her impending Netflix biopic.
"He really encouraged me to write and create," Rousey said. "He's the person who told me, 'You need to go and write your own story.' No one saw me in that light before or had that kind of belief in me. I didn't even have that kind of belief in myself. I wrote the logline, and then after shattering my knuckle, going to surgery, jumping straight into a plane doing 'The Stephen Colbert Show' to promote 'Mortal Kombat 11,' and finally laying in a bed for the first time in four to eight hours, I sat and I typed in a cast on the notes on my phone for 11 hours straight to write the first draft of this. It was something sitting inside of me and Paul Heyman was the only one who saw it.
"Five years later, I've learned so much and put so much work and love into this, and it is finally seeing the light of day. It's not something that I'm doing to impress anybody. I've finally gotten away from that part of my life. You know what? I'm retired. I'm going to do whatever I feel like. I feel like writing a graphic novel and here it is. It doesn't really matter. If people take it one way or the other. It's like a compulsion. I had to tell the story and write it. I hope it finds someone, even one person who needed to read it just as much as I needed to write it."
