Interview: Ronda Rousey on Most Helpful People in WWE, Wrestling Advice, and Career Goal

Website Refinery29.com held a recent interview with Ronda Rousey and some of the topics discussed included who in the WWE have been the most helpful towards her wrestling career, the best wrestling advice she has received, and her biggest WWE career goal.

On the topic of who in the WWE have been the most helpful towards her wrestling career, Rousey stated Natalya, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Nia Jax have been very helpful on making her become more comfortable as a wrestler in the WWE.

“It’s hard to pick one person, because every single person on the roster has been a teacher to me at some point. I’ve learned something from everyone. Nattie’s [ed. note: WWE Superstar Natalya] been amazing to me from day one, when I was just training with Brian Kendrick in secret. Nattie knew I was training and she had just finished a South America tour. She had been all over the place, and instead of coming home, she flew all the way out to L.A. and stayed at my house and came to train with me. Now that I’ve been traveling around with them, I’m like, ‘How could you ever have taken some of your home days and spend them on me?’

[WWE Superstars] Sasha [Banks] and Bayley have taught me so much. [They] have been these great examples of being effortlessly great at what they do. They’ve also been a great resource and made me feel so comfortable about coming to them and asking them questions. I’ve learned so much from every woman that I’ve ever been in the ring with. Nia Jax was my first singles match and if I didn’t have her as my partner, I don’t know if it would have been as good as it was. It was extremely intimidating that my first ever singles match was for the Raw Women’s Championship and she was just a great mentor and guide through that whole process. The people you are against [are the ones] you spend the most time with and you learn the most from. There isn’t a single woman in the locker room that hasn’t been instrumental to my success.”

On the topic of the best advice she has received for her wrestling career, Ronda stated the most consistent advice has been to simply have fun with wrestling.

“The one consistent thing that everyone keeps telling me, across the board, is just have fun. The last thing I always hear before I go out there is, ‘Have fun. Make sure you have fun.’ It’s almost like a sign off — ‘Have fun’ is how you end your advice. ‘Have fun’ and ‘take your time.'”

On the topic of her biggest goal for her WWE career, Ronda stated headlining a WrestleMania event since its the biggest goal left for women’s wrestling in the WWE.

“We’ve never had women headline WrestleMania and I would love to be one of the women to do so, or at least be one of the women watching when it happens. It’s that one ‘first’ that has still been kept away from us that every single woman on the roster is ravenous for.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included being a fan of wrestling since childhood, Rowdy Roddy Piper being the inspiration for her MMA career, and the major difference between MMA and wrestling.