Ronda Rousey Discusses Gamesmanship Prior To Signing With WWE

"The Baddest Woman on the Planet" Ronda Rousey signed with WWE and made her presence known by interrupting Asuka's Royal Rumble victory in 2018. Her journey to WWE was much longer than that, however, as the former UFC star explained.

On "Insight," Rousey explained she and WWE had been chasing after one another for awhile, prior to her actually signing. She discussed that she met Paul "Triple H" Levesque while she was still fighting in the UFC, while Vince McMahon referred to her arrival as the "Ronda Rousey Project." But they didn't want to "come on too hard" when it came to approaching the MMA star so she took matters into her own hands.

"No one wanted to be too forward with it," Rousey said. "So I was just like, 'I have this bachelorette party and my friends are all in Florida, I thought I should just come and just train with my friends for a week at the PC for something for us to do together, because they're all in their pro wrestling now and it would be really fun for us.' So I basically gave myself a try-out, and we had an amazing time. So we acted like we weren't pursuing each other, but we totally were and the rest is history as well."

Rousey explained that McMahon wasn't entirely convinced about her joining WWE as he thought she wasn't bringing too much to the table, other than her notoriety from UFC. She said it wasn't until things started picking up in the women's division in WWE, with the likes of the all-women's Evolution premium live event, that the former WWE CEO was convinced.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.