Former UFC champion and current WWE Monday Night RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey was recently interviewed on her website after its relaunch. Here are the highlights:
Her victory at SummerSlam: “It’s kind of beyond words. I don’t know. It’s like a blur, looking back on it. All I wanted to shout out when I got up there is “this is for Rowdy Roddy Piper” and my voice totally cracked. So my least badass moment ever. But I don’t even care, I meant it. I said it and I meant it. It was just so awesome.
‘It was kind of like being married in a way that I didn’t think anything would change and it would feel any different, but it did change everything and everything does feel different. It changed what I felt like my role was too. Before I just felt like a tourist in a way. Before I was like: “I’m here to have fun and I get to enjoy it and do all this awesome wrestling stuff and all these things I always wanted to do since I was a kid!”
“It didn’t really seem that serious because I felt like I was nowhere near the level that all these other women that have been doing it for years are at. And then suddenly the championship title is thrust into my hands and it’s no longer just about fun. I’m not holding an accessory in my hands, I’m holding a huge responsibility.
“I’m holding a whole division in my hands and regardless of what skill level I think I’m at, I have to step up to what the position deserves and that means I just have to work a million times harder than I was before.”
The relaunch of Rousey’s website: “I guess I’m a little bit nervous and excited because this is really something unprecedented that hasn’t really been attempted before and after seeing the amount of work that goes into it I can see why it hasn’t been attempted before. But I feel like the relationship between me and my fans has been hijacked by people trying to profit off of it.
“I’m just trying to create a safe space where I can be open and honest and truthful with my fans and not be afraid of being taken advantage of. I feel like it’s been kind of like all or nothing. You know what I mean? I give them everything or I give them nothing and I want to be able to find that healthy boundary line because it is there.”
Being a champion coming natural to her: “I think it’s just something I always expected of myself and so I’m not surprised. My parents raised me and said: “you’re going to win the Olympics and you’re going to be the president.” I was like, “all right.” So I never thought anything different. I never thought anything else was expected of me.
“Really, ever since I was a little kid, I thought I was some exceptional superhero waiting to happen. I was convinced that I was destined for greatness for as long as I can remember. So I didn’t have to convince myself, it was something that I always knew.”
