Former WWE Star Ronda Rousey Goes Off About Incident With NXT's Drew Gulak
With the recent release of her book, "Our Fight: A Memoir," Ronda Rousey has been discussing the years she spent in WWE, and not always in the most positive manner. Appearing last night on NewsNation's "Banfield," Rousey discussed an uncomfortable incident involving WWE star Drew Gulak.
"One time, I was waiting to go talk to Triple H in the writers' room or something," Rousey said. "I was standing there with Bruce Prichard and another one of the writers and — God, I forgot his name. ... This guy that I was barely an acquaintance with grabs the string of my sweatpants as I'm walking by."
Rousey later recalled the individual as Gulak, who currently appears on "WWE NXT" as a member of the No Quarter Catch Crew. The former WWE star remembers Gulak holding onto the string of her sweatpants and walking in another direction while other WWE officials stood nearby and had no strong reaction.
"I'm just like, 'What the f*** was that?'" Rousey continued. "Why are you grabbing the string of my sweatpants? If my husband was standing here next to me, would you feel comfortable walking up to me and grabbing the string of my sweatpants? And nobody around me acted like ... it was abnormal."
Rousey Confronted Gulak Following The Incident
Being shocked that something like that would happen to her, a high-profile star, in plain view of other people, Rousey remembered wondering what kind of things were happening to other women in the company behind closed doors. To Rousey, it seemed as though the issue was so prevalent in WWE that it was seen as an everyday part of the company's culture. Rather than letting things go, Rousey said that she went to speak to Gulak about what had happened.
"I went and confronted him later and I was like, 'If I ever hear about you putting your hands on any other woman like this or doing anything like this to me ever again, ... we're gonna have a problem,'" Rousey said. "He was like, 'No, no, no. I'm glad you said something.' He really backpedaled ... but it just put a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there and what's considered acceptable."
Rousey signed with WWE in 2017 after wrapping up her MMA career and made her debut in 2018. She wrestled 142 matches in WWE before departing the company in 2023, stating that she was going to retire. Rousey later performed at several independent shows and on an episode of Ring of Honor but has otherwise stayed away from wrestling.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Banfield" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.