Former WWE Women's Champion Ronda Rousey made a surprise debut for AEW at the recent Revolution PPV, showing up in what is rumored as a one-time appearance to support her best friend Marina Shafir. In her new YouTube vlog, Rousey went into detail on how she popped up on AEW TV:
"Marina is my best friend in the whole wide world and we grew up doing judo together as little kids. We both quit judo and started doing MMA and then we both quit MMA and started doing pro wrestling. She’s absolutely crushing it and I’m so proud of her. I’m so happy that everybody’s finally starting to take notice of how incredibly special she is."
"I was brought into the arena in a very unique...I thought this was going to be much more chill like whatever kind of day, but they’re acting like it’s freaking Royal Rumble super secret whatever. But they had me jump into a wheelchair and throw a tarp over me and wheel me in here."
She also talked a bit about her experience backstage at AEW, while taking a shot at TKO, WWE's parent company:
"I mean, it’s a little bit weird, but also familiar, but also it’s like AEW, so it’s nice. It’s a little bit more laidback. But actually, this is my first, I think, full-on AEW show because I only did Ring of Honor before. Like, I think I’ve been at the shows, but never really performing them. And Ring of Honor was kind of like a pre-taped, that was a smaller crowd. So, I’ve never been to an AEW pay-per-view, so I don’t really know what to expect so much, but I’m thinking a less restrictive, more adult version of WWE, which sounds like a good time."
"Those are all very good descriptions, I felt. So, yeah. And it’s kind of a cool little bit of a, like little bit of a ‘f*** you’ to the TKO group, which is kind of funny because WWE is on Netflix, but I kind of figured it’d be easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission on this one. Like, I’m promoting your show. It’s fine. We didn’t advertise it. It’s not like we boosted the ratings of it, so it should be fine."
After two separate stints with WWE, Rousey seemingly left the world of wrestling to focus on her family but then shocked fans by announcing a return to MMA after nearly a decade. She is set to face Gina Carano on May 16 in a fight that will stream on Netflix.
