Natalya On Ronda Rousey: "She Is Willing To Take Risks", Talks WWE RAW Christmas Day Match

By Joshua Gagnon

Natalya appeared on Busted Open to talk about WWE RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey's ability to make the fans care by taking risks. The former SmackDown Women's Champion also spoke about their RAW Christmas Day match where everything in the ring was called on the fly. At that time, Rousey had mainly practiced through her matches ahead of time.

The main event for this year's WrestleMania will be WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Rousey, and Natalya spoke about how Rousey helped get that match in the main event.

"The thing about Ronda is that she has definitely put in the work," Natalya said. "I like the fact that she is willing to take risks. She's part of this WrestleMania main event for several reasons, and one of those reasons is she's willing to make people hate her to get people interested and watching the show. You look at some of our most pivotal and polarizing characters in WWE?if everybody in the locker room was getting along, if Charlotte liked Becky, and Becky liked Charlotte, if everybody was just friends, would you pay to see that in the main event? Ronda said to me the other day, 'I don't care if people hate me, I don't care if people like me, I want to help change this industry. I want to get everybody wanting to see this WrestleMania main event.'"

Last Christmas, Rousey defended her title against Natalya in a bout that she says was called totally on the fly, something Rousey hadn't done much of up until this point.

"The match I had with Ronda that aired on Christmas Day, I had that match after I had three other matches on a taped show," Natalya recalled. "Nobody even really knows this, but that match I had with Ronda, we called that entire match in the ring. We didn't have any time to plan, meet, rehearse, prepare, or anything. We called the match entirely in the ring, I needed her to trust me and I needed her to listen, and she did. A lot of people think she just trains and rehearses for weeks and weeks, she has, in the past. But she's grown enough where I can call a match in the ring, she listened, and she made people believe. She brought those emotions that can't be taught.

"That's another beautiful thing about Ronda is she's very emotional. And when we were in the ring, she was crying her eyes out, she was scared because she didn't exactly know what would be next because I was calling it to her. That's what we do, that's how we work, that's what being a true professional is. Going in there and feeling the crowd, working off emotion, telling a amazing story, and she could do that. She could hang and that's why I give her credit."

You can hear Natalya's full comments in the clip below.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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