Ronda Rousey Gets Candid About Having To Protect Injured Opponent In Early WWE Feud

Booking a legitimate fighter like Ronda Rousey against WWE's roster of sports entertainers was always going to be a challenge. After an impressive WrestleMania 34 debut in which she teamed up with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon where she came out looking like a killer, the powers-that-be made the head-scratching decision to pit Rousey against the smallest woman on the roster. On "Ring the Belle," Rousey reflected on her early feud with Alexa Bliss, who was dealing with legitimate injuries at the time.

"At the time I was like, oh, well, maybe they're just trying to make me be a better wrestler, and make me sell for someone who's as big as my leg and make it convincing," Rousey said. "And really it just came down to the fact that Vince didn't pay any attention to us and just looked at, 'Oh, [Alexa] sells the most merch, Ronda's hot right now, put 'em together.' And that was as much thought as he put into it."

Realism may not have been an important aspect of this particular feud, but Rousey said working with the diminutive Bliss taught her another essential component of wrestling: taking care of your opponent. 

"It definitely made me into a much better wrestler and much more diverse in the ring, and not just leaning on athleticism and spots and stuff... she was also suffering from different kinds of injuries and things like that," Rousey said. "I'm used to working with people that — they're supposed to withstand me actually trying to hurt them with my bare hands. And then I'm in there with somebody, like, okay, I have to make this physical and believable, but also like, take care of her. So that was something completely new, and I learned a whole lot from that."

Despite Rousey's claims of learning to work safely, Bliss suffered two concussions during their feud, causing her to miss the WWE Evolution pay-per-view.

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