WWE News: Ronda Rousey Reveals How WWE Snuck Her To Train Before ‘Royal Rumble’ & Wrestling Debut
With former UFC star Ronda Rousey’s transition to professional wrestling, the WWE took measures to keep the secret as best they could ahead of the Royal Rumble 2018 pay-per-view. While there had been rumors for months ahead of the event that Rousey was going to debut at some point, the WWE Universe could only speculate. That speculation grew stronger as the first big PPV event of the year came, but was dashed a bit due to Rousey’s filming schedule. However, she revealed in a recent sit-down interview how WWE was able to keep the secret under tight wraps as she trained.
Rousey recently appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about leaving the world of mixed martial arts for the world of professional wrestling. She told Ellen that there are some differences between the two since the UFC is real fighting and WWE is considered more “scripted” entertainment. However, Rousey said the biggest difference is in terms of her now being “part of a team” for one of the first times in her life, as she’s mostly been involved in individual sports such as fighting. Ellen asked about Rousey potentially hurting someone in the wrestling ring because she’s trained to fight and Ronda said they “rehearse things enough” to where she doesn’t feel she would do that.
#WWEChamber just got ROWDY!!!!! @RondaRousey has ARRIVED! #RondaRousey pic.twitter.com/7x4KzaDyiM
— WWE (@WWE) February 26, 2018
Ronda also gave an interesting account of how WWE snuck her back to Florida for training before her Royal Rumble PPV debut since she was filming for the movie Mile 22 over in Columbia.
“I had to try to sneak myself flying commercially from Columbia to Miami and Florida is the capital of wrestling so how the hell am I going to get there unseen? And so I put on a beanie, and some glasses, and a hood on..They put like all these police around me and it really looked like I got busted for drugs.”
She went on to say that despite all the fuss with police following her and surrounding her where she went, nobody took any pictures to spoil the surprise of her WWE participation. The rumors continued to build ahead of the Rumble that she might even participate in the women’s match, but instead, Rousey arrived out to make a major statement at the end of the night.
With both of the WWE’s main roster women’s champions in the ring, as well as the 2018 Royal Rumble winner, Rousey arrived out and simply pointed towards the WrestleMania 34 banner. In the weeks that followed, it was revealed she will team up with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle to battle WWE power couple Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. That appears to be her official debut match, although she’s already demonstrated some moves in the ring.
In the video clip, Rousey also demonstrates her “mean mug” look that she learned as a kid for intimidating her opponents in fights. Most likely, Rousey will use that sort of look on Stephanie, Triple H, and any other superstars who try to stop her in the WWE.
WWE fans can watch Ronda Rousey’s official wrestling debut when WrestleMania 34 arrives on Sunday, April 8 from New Orleans, Louisiana, with coverage live on the WWE Network.
