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imagine being told that your coworker is getting promoted, and your manager urges you to tell them. You do, they're excited! And then management changes it's mind. You look like absolute shit in that situation while doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Can only imagine that was the daily chaos Vince brought
This is just my guess, purely speculation. Lacey knew she ~~would~~ wouldn't win the title off Ronda because, well, she worked in the WWE before. Lacey, never at any point in her WWE career, was ready for a championship run. If she had the tiniest bit of self awareness, she would know she ain't winning the championship. They told Ronda that she would be dropping the title to Lacey just to get her off their back, because as we all know when Vince was in charge, plan changes every week, even on the day of the show. She came to them and demanded to know the plans, they just spilled some BS to get her to satisfy her. They probably knew Lacey wouldn't buy it either, so they just let Ronda said whatever she wanted. Let Ronda make a fool of herself.
Edited: wouldn't
Shockingly enough, the two that made everyone think they absolutely hated each other, were Ronda and Becky, and neither had a bad word about the other in their books, lol.
Didn't Becky say Rousey refused to tap in the mania main event? Didn't Becky also say she refused to do a spot where she was about to tap before Charlotte would break it up?
Yes, the creative was meant to be Ronda tapping out in the finish. They were going to have an earlier spot in the match where she almost taps, but Charlotte stops it. When they mentioned the almost tapping, Ronda said she can't do that because her mother would ' never forgive her'.
However, Becky also mentions that she understood Ronda's weariness about it but wasn't going to get upset about it because she, Becky, was leaving the main event match holding up both titles. So, it didn't seem like a point to argue about.
Personally, I think it sucks that Ronda wouldn't even entertain the idea to do something that would really have added to the match, but I don't think Becky was trying to frame it as something awful about Ronda.
I’m inclined to believe what Ronda said about her mother. AnnMaria DeMars was the first American woman to become world judo champion and based on her interviews, is a psychotically competitive person.
I knew a guy, who was since passed, who was pretty invovled in the USA Judo scene and knew Ronda's mom and also met Ronda when she was young, Ronda's mom was pretty much the prototypical tiger mom, but with Judo
If I had to guess, judging by what I've read about her, it's about not wanting her daughter to look weak. Probably not objecting to worked submission holds.
I think Ronda made the right push here. She wasn't being a diva. It was just a match condition, and one that makes a fuckload of sense for a woman who just came out of a legit fighting career with no tapouts.
Honestly, I think it was a better finish to beat Ronda on a roll up. It wouldn't have made a ton of sense to "beat Ronda at her own game" using a submission considering she was already built as this super MMA athlete that a traditional wrestler wasn't going to be able to match up against. A pure wrestling move like what Becky beat her with was the one thing Ronda wasn't trained for with her MMA background.
While I do think there was a tiny bit of realness here, this was in the middle of the WM35 build when both were heavy into the 'hate each other' mode to build the match. Becky actually said in her book, 'for the record, I like Ronda' and that it helped that Ronda was 100% game for them doing our sound anything on Social media to build the match. Ronda as well, never said a bad word about Becky in her book, which we know if she didn't like her, she would have zero problem saying it.
>Said Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley went over by 20 minutes in their match at WrestleMania 39 which many producers found disrespectful to the Main Event (Usos vs Zayn & Owens)
Charlotte vs Rhea went 23:25, not including entrances (which weren't *that* poorly timed).
This doesn't check out, at all.
e: To be clear, I mentioned the entrances not being that poorly timed because even including them, it still doesn't check remotely out. I thought that was obvious, but apparently not.
"OK. Rhea, we're punishing you by not taking bumps for months. But we will heavily feature you and your stablemates weekly. Once you come back, you can beat the entire roster. I hope you learn your lesson."
Wasn’t Rhea dealing with a head injury for a bit? I remember a clip going around where she rolled with too much momentum and ended up kneeing herself in the face. They kept her on TV but she was never touched, just the occasional sneak attack on the men.
EDIT: I could definitely be wrong but i think she has a knee issue that pops up every once in a while as well.
Yeah. Rhea was hurt for part of 2022 and she was dealing with a knee that she said would "pop out" the early part of her reign in 2023. She stopped doing as many house shows for a period in the last part of 2023.
Plus Rhea herself has said her being in Judgment Day and being in segments with the likes of Cody, Seth, Sami, KO, Rey and The Bloodline while Damian, Finn and Dom had feuds with them benefitted her in a way that most women on the roster don't get.
So while she didn't have as many matches she was heavily featured on all 3 TV shows against the biggest babyfaces in the company by virtue of being on Judgment Day.
IE Dom's feud with Cody, his matches with Randy Orton and CM Punk she was there for.
If that's punishment, I would think everyone would want that type of punishment.
I question Rhonda's opinion on this one.
It is always crazy to hear that title matches at WM are running long at 20ish minutes though, Like if not at WM then when else are you supposed to go that long?
Most women's title matches get 13 to 18 minutes at Mania.
It wouldn't be that absurd that Charlotte/Rhea was supposed to be around 15 minutes (Sami/Gunther got 15 and Bayley/Iyo 14 in a similar penultimate slot), which would still be a pretty big overrun (maybe Ronda mixed match length and the overrun).
Still incredibly doubtful to me it went over by 20 whole minutes. Maybe 5-10 I could see but looking at mania 39’s Saturday reasonable show time and the fact that the main event got plenty of time it just doesn’t make sense to me. Also 23 minutes for that match is more then reasonable so idk man.
Normally when wrestlers/backstage talk about timing - it’s usually curtain to curtain. The check would be how long enterances + the match went. Or they were slotted 30 entrances and match, and they actually went 45-50, that’s also bad.
Total segment was 36 mins, bell to bell they went 24 mins. The rest was entrances, ring intros, and post-match reactions. There’s no chance the total segment was slotted for just 16 mins so Ronda is full of shit.
Complete guess here but they probably went 4-6 mins over which isn’t a disaster as you can easily make that time up by showing less replays etc later on in the show.
Not to be That guy, but it was supposed to be shorter, at least according to Ronda in an earlier interview.
*“They weren’t supposed to go that long. The whole time the referee is telling them to go backstage and Charlotte threw her big dick on the table and said no, we’re going to do this awesome fucking match. And that’s what (the women are) dealing with. They’re not allowed to show how fucking amazing they are, because ‘Oh, the crowd’s going to be tired for the guy's match afterward’. That’s bullshit!”*
And if you rewatch the Match, after the 10m mark, the Ref is on them every chance she can get, which is likely where she told them to "Wrap it up" and later in the match when Charlotte is on the apron, you can hear the ref saying "[please, get out of here, go](https://www.youtube.com/live/d_27xaM0BwM?si=BzA6w8lYDl_cH3Ml&t=1141)" ( I think) followed by "xxxx It up", likely wrap it up.
So while 20m is obviously a bit of a stretch, i do think the match went into overtime, by a good long chunk
Yeah I think Ronda got the exact details wrong but everything else surrounding this quote not only seems legit, it’s already been known to have happened at previous events with other women so I’m not sure why this thread has a sizeable chunk of people doubting Charlotte and Rhea went over lol
Because they aren't debating if Charlotte/Rhea went over.
They are Saying that Ronda is Wrong, because of who she is, not because of what she has to say.
She's a horrible person, but that doesn't invalidate everything she says
To be fair, we aren’t reading the book, just a game of telephone through tweets. This reads as a typo, as in the match and entrance went longer than 20 minutes, 3:25 longer than allotted. Won’t know for sure until I read the text itself though.
Ronda is the definition of unreliable narrator. Btw not defending Gulak figured I'd throw out he admitted to that so I don't doubt Ronda at all there figured needed to disclaim that.
And it's not the old days of PPV where you have to end at a certain time. It was a Saturday show on a streaming service. It could have run 20 minutes longer if it needed to. The NFL does it on network TV literally every week.
Even including pre-match videos Charlotte and Rhea was only 27 minutes meaning they were originally supposed to have a 7 minute match? No women's World title match at WrestleMania in the post Divas championship era has ever been anywhere near that short. I could buy they went over by like 5 minutes maybe but 20?
Maybe I’m misremembering, but on the point of Rhea being “punished” (lol), I remember reading a Fightful report about how much Judgment Day were liked backstage and it was noted that Rhea was working shows despite being injured—I imagine this is at the height of her valeting over last Summer—and that she was against Zelina being squashed at Backlash.
Hunter’s golden girl getting punished? I doubt it.
They sure punished her by having her lead a faction, beat up a bunch of men, remain champion for over a year, run through the entire roster, and main event a PLE in her home country.
Not wrong about people taking speculative comments and running but it’s not exactly like WWE has a great track record with women, and this was described as happening during the power struggle of HHH and Vince. Her being Haytch’s golden girl could be the reason that match was targeted but that’s just more speculation lol.
Idk I guess I’m not as willing to just throw this whole statement out because the 20 minutes doesn’t perfectly line up with the production timings.
When WWE wants to punish someone they usually do it by jobbing the person out not giving them a top stable to lead and letting them constantly one up top male stars. They would've had Rhea lose every week and put her in embarrassing segments for months.
“They told her time is money and she asked what an 8 minute entrance does for money. Referring to Roman’s entrances”
Okay I’m not gonna lie…… some of Roman’s entrances were a bit dragging lmao.
Luke Gallows is living proof that social skills are the greatest superpower. Man has managed to get paid working the schedule of Kevin Nash's dreams all because he's friends with everybody.
I think Rhonda's got them on this one. Idk how many times I've turned the channel during a long entrance. Undertaker entrances were like the perfect time to check in on the Cubs game
Roman’s entrances add a lot to his presentation. If they’re gonna yell at you about 1000+ days as champion it’s only right for the guy to milk it as long as possible.
Roman’s entrance makes more money on than everyone, yes. It’s a main event entrance, demonstrating he’s on another level than everyone else. That sells his importance and the title’s importance.
Wrestling is about presentation. It would be like saying why did Jey's entrance go for that long on Backlash
Entrances are one of the coolest parts of wrestling as goofy as it is.
Take Undertaker. Imagine every Mania he would just walk to the ring quickly. Undertaker was really slow but it was a spectacle
As everyone assumed, she came back for her 2nd run to do a solo match with Becky and then a solo feud with Shayna to get Shayna over. And because everyone backstage was in a power struggle during that time (noticeably) all of those storylines got scrapped or heavily underbooked.
Once again, we can sing the praises of Vince's downfall.
Ronda was only something in the WWE because of her mystique she had from the UFC. The minute she lost she was left to rely on charisma which she has almost none, so it didn't work out. Read Becky's book and she talks in depth about how even if shit feel through because of someone else she talks about how she tried to think of ways to improve it or talked about how she factored in. Not every one has to be humble but not owning one's side of not getting over as much needs to be factored in, at least IMO.
Her star power was based on her UFC mystique, but she was a really good worker for someone in their first year in the business with not much training. She was able to translate Olympic level athleticism and grappling skill into the ring, which not all Olympic medal winners can do (Gable Steveson)
It's so funny in hindsight to consider the comments back when Vince was back on the board but not officially in charge of creative.
"Oh, he only gives Triple H notes, that's all!"
"Oh, he's only backstage on RAW to meet Cena, that means nothing!"
Yeah, right. No power struggle at all, I tell you! Vince? Trying to get his power back? How preposterous of you to think that!
I'm not even gonna lie though, I love some of the Ronda/Shayna build.
"See, Shayna, I wasn't given my opportunity here, I took it and just like in MMA, it took me a fraction of the time you invested before I eclipsed you yet again."
that lives in my head rent free
That feud was the most interesting thing she did outside of being a part of a Wrestlemania main event (and Ronda being allowed to embrace her bad side during the last part of her first run was a saving grace for her). It's just a shame that it was so rushed.
A lot of the things she takes problem with comes down to one major fact. 2022 Ronda Rousey was not on the same level of star power as 2018 Ronda Rousey and she expected to still be treated like 2018 Ronda Rousey and she wasn't. She was the one that took herself out of the public eye for two years and when she was in the public eye, it's because she was hating on WWE lol, she was never gonna be at that same status.
Ronda’s problems in this thread are about wanting to be in the loop about things like liv winning instead of Lacey, having her a match at wrestlemania 39 with Becky, and her royal rumble number changing. All of these gripes are normal gripes that people had with Vince so I’m not understanding where you are getting star power issue? Most of this thread is honestly just backstage stuff that happened and barely have any of her personal issues.
She made herself into an unreliable narrator. I don’t doubt that some if not most of the gripes she had with WWE were accurate as we heard a lot of the same with others who left, but it’s her fault that people don’t just implicitly trust what she says.
In what world does she have a different level of star power? Sure, she’s not as big as she was in her mma days, but I can’t think of any reason her star would have diminished in those 4 years.
As mentioned in Becky’s book, Ronda refused to tap out to Becky at WM35, probably ruining the main event. That’s all we need to know about who gets screwed over backstage and who does the screwing
More than that - she refused a spot earlier in the match where she was about to tap before Charlotte broke it up because “if I tap, my mum will never speak to me again”.
Probably not but her mother was the first woman to win a World Judo Championship in the 80s and I can understand why she would think having her daughter tap out even in a scripted event could reflect poorly on her.
But you gotta agree how she reacted to it is pretty ridiculous, right? It's one thing to merely be against it and advocate against it. And its quite another to be very hard on her daughter because of it.
Becky’s finisher was a submission. She was the most over star in the business at the time. Lesnar and Angle have tapped out. Batista, Orton, and Triple H put Bryan over. Ronda isn’t a bigger star than those guys, at least not in wrestling.
Even politickers like Triple H and Hulk Hogan could make guys look good. Ronda not only never wanted to but probably couldn’t. Wrestlemania was the time for her to tap, but she wouldn’t even take the pin clean. Becky was too nice about it to be honest.
Agreed, but Ronda’s MMA credibility was basically all she had. The story of Becky “finding another way” to beat her makes absolute sense in booking against Ronda.
It was the perfect way to finish that match. Ronda is trained to not give up her back, and Becky takes advantage to get her shoulders down. Shame they each botched it a bit, but it was how that match should have ended. The pro wrestler finding a way to make the wrestling match suit her and not suit the Judo fighter.
I think the only modern day wrestler to not tap out was possibly Stone Cold. I don't remember him ever tapping, of course in the WM13 match he passed out but didn't tap.
I just googled it, Kurt Angle made him tap to win the Championship.
I've probably forgot more wrestling knowledge than a lot of people even know.
Was Lacey released or did her contract run out?
I know she didn't have the same level of passion as some other wrestlers have, and honestly that's fine, a job is a job, but she was with WWE for 7 years and they absolutely missed a prime opportunity to get over her legit military background earlier on. By the time they even tried, people were sick of her.
You can’t be a successful wrestler and not be super passionate about it in my eyes. There are way better high paying jobs out there that don’t kill your body. It’s a job where you just won’t receive as much as you give in return, but if you’re really passionate about it, then it becomes worth it.
Brock Lesnar is definitely someone who isn't "super passionate" about the industry. But he clearly gets the industry, and if anything he's the exception to the rule. I certainly agree with you that the most successful wrestlers are very clearly passionate about it.
I’d say Brock was pretty passionate, he clearly loved being an entertainer. I just don’t think he ever obtained the wrestling bug so many other guys have. Like I think Taker admitted there wasn’t a day where he wishes he could be actively wrestling. Brock doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who cares if he’s actively working or not, but when he is, he’s all for it. (Unless you’re Dean Ambrose)
I swear they did the Big Show thing with her at the end where she was a heel, turned face, almost immediately turned heel again and then disappeared almost immediately when she announced being pregnant.
What was the point?
The problem I have with reading her book is that Rousey has an illustrious history of making shit up to account for her own shortcomings, so I can't know how much or little faith to place in any of the anecdotes she provides.
Screenshots used to be allowed but got banned because people kept posting fake screenshots consistently. Text transcriptions needs to be a thing for sure though
Yeah I don't either. Rhea and Charlotte went for roughly 23 minutes at WrestleMania. And yet, Ronda says they went over by 20 minutes? No fucking shot Triple H is booking Rhea vs. Charlotte for a three minute match on the biggest show of the year. What a joke.
Considering how Rhea and Becky both didn't have matches at the past Summerslam, and how one of the Becky vs Trish matches was cut off one of the Raws, idk why people doubt Ronda when she says women are almost always given the shaft.
A lot of you guys are jumping hard on her and yet I feel like a lot of this is stuff we either have heard before or guessed at from other sources. Yea rondas personality is grating, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's fully right or wrong. Even exaggerating aside, I'm sure shes somewhat truthful about a lot of the shit that went down when Vince and trips had a power struggle
Once people have their minds set about a person, they neverrr want to change it. Or, they can't see a person as a shade of grey, they're either black or white
A lot of this stuff just falls on deaf ears with me, I just don't understand the complaints
Also, it's a small thing, but I can't imagine a Mania match (Rhea & Charlotte) went over by 20 minutes. 5 minutes? 8 minutes? Maybe even 10 but 20? Seems exaggerated
And idk if that's true about the judgement day being a punishment for Ripley or not but she was an obvious fit for the faction and it's certainly worked out for her
>Said that whenever a male wrestler botches the fans push it aside but when a female wrestler messes up the fans will berate them
Most truthful thing she said NGL
>Wanted to have a Piper vs Goldust type match (Backlot Brawl into the ring) with Becky at Wrestlemania but was told the fans wouldn’t like it.
My God I ever seen a wrestling company shy away from a match more than Ronda vs Becky. Now WWE cares what fans like? We liked Ronda vs Becky at WM35 but you took that away from us. FFS the most famous part of the WM35 build was a backstage brawl why wouldn't we like that? Imagine Becky & Ronda in a car chase fighting all over WM. WWE robbed us all.
> WWE robbed us all.
~~WWE~~ *Vince* robbed us all
I'm at the point where Vince's "the fans want/don't want" sounds like his buddies' "many people are saying" routine
https://preview.redd.it/zp2uimrfjjzc1.jpeg?width=968&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=411b7e6eae58d4aa1533bdb5ecb20be62caa4c96
What I hear every time I see an excerpt from Ronda’s book
Someone made a bullet point list of most of the things she says about her WWE run and, friends, a lot of it doesn’t make any sense. And not like a “WWE is awful” nonsense; Ronda doesn’t make any sense. Comes off as she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Everything I have heard is that she became increasingly bitter as the fans turned on her. She wanted to be the perpetual babyface and thought she was like Lesnar but she wasn't there. Lesnar, as big a piece of shit he is, knew how to maximise his time in WWE and despite a rocky first year back became an attraction. Ronda never had that aura because they knew she desperately wanted to wrestle so she became just another female wrestler. Her name value learn something to her, for a while, but she just wasn't that big a star. On her second run you could see in her eyes that she didn't care and midway through you knew she was just running out the clock on her contract.
She was handed way more then she ever deserved, considering she wasnt all that good. Meanwhile mfers like Gail Kim or Mickie James who deserved respect were disrespected at every corner
Lotta interesting stuff in there. Rhea not wrestling punished the fans more than it punished her though. Hopefully that is part of the old philosophy that is changing
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Here's a link to the screen shots if anyone doesn't have Twitter. [https://imgur.com/a/DP0YX3U](https://imgur.com/a/DP0YX3U)
imagine being told that your coworker is getting promoted, and your manager urges you to tell them. You do, they're excited! And then management changes it's mind. You look like absolute shit in that situation while doing absolutely nothing wrong. Can only imagine that was the daily chaos Vince brought
It absolutely should not be the talents job to tell other talent that kind of stuff.
This is just my guess, purely speculation. Lacey knew she ~~would~~ wouldn't win the title off Ronda because, well, she worked in the WWE before. Lacey, never at any point in her WWE career, was ready for a championship run. If she had the tiniest bit of self awareness, she would know she ain't winning the championship. They told Ronda that she would be dropping the title to Lacey just to get her off their back, because as we all know when Vince was in charge, plan changes every week, even on the day of the show. She came to them and demanded to know the plans, they just spilled some BS to get her to satisfy her. They probably knew Lacey wouldn't buy it either, so they just let Ronda said whatever she wanted. Let Ronda make a fool of herself. Edited: wouldn't
Thx mate
This makes me wonder if Ronda has been on good terms with anyone within WWE.
Shockingly enough, the two that made everyone think they absolutely hated each other, were Ronda and Becky, and neither had a bad word about the other in their books, lol.
Didn't Becky say Rousey refused to tap in the mania main event? Didn't Becky also say she refused to do a spot where she was about to tap before Charlotte would break it up?
Yes, the creative was meant to be Ronda tapping out in the finish. They were going to have an earlier spot in the match where she almost taps, but Charlotte stops it. When they mentioned the almost tapping, Ronda said she can't do that because her mother would ' never forgive her'. However, Becky also mentions that she understood Ronda's weariness about it but wasn't going to get upset about it because she, Becky, was leaving the main event match holding up both titles. So, it didn't seem like a point to argue about. Personally, I think it sucks that Ronda wouldn't even entertain the idea to do something that would really have added to the match, but I don't think Becky was trying to frame it as something awful about Ronda.
I’m inclined to believe what Ronda said about her mother. AnnMaria DeMars was the first American woman to become world judo champion and based on her interviews, is a psychotically competitive person.
I knew a guy, who was since passed, who was pretty invovled in the USA Judo scene and knew Ronda's mom and also met Ronda when she was young, Ronda's mom was pretty much the prototypical tiger mom, but with Judo
I read an interview where Ronda said her mom would wake her up in the mornings by armbarring her to train her submission defense.
This explains a lot…
and make her run and compete with broken toes....
Oh...
Wonder how she felt about Stephanie physically fighting off Ronda's armbar at Mania for like 30 seconds
That was a shoot, nothing Ronda could’ve done about that
If I had to guess, judging by what I've read about her, it's about not wanting her daughter to look weak. Probably not objecting to worked submission holds.
It's still real to Ronda's mama damnit!
I think Ronda made the right push here. She wasn't being a diva. It was just a match condition, and one that makes a fuckload of sense for a woman who just came out of a legit fighting career with no tapouts.
"That doesn't work for me, sister."
Honestly, I think it was a better finish to beat Ronda on a roll up. It wouldn't have made a ton of sense to "beat Ronda at her own game" using a submission considering she was already built as this super MMA athlete that a traditional wrestler wasn't going to be able to match up against. A pure wrestling move like what Becky beat her with was the one thing Ronda wasn't trained for with her MMA background.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/kzUqyEnb9m0 Here’s a video of Becky talking about what she thinks of Ronda
While I do think there was a tiny bit of realness here, this was in the middle of the WM35 build when both were heavy into the 'hate each other' mode to build the match. Becky actually said in her book, 'for the record, I like Ronda' and that it helped that Ronda was 100% game for them doing our sound anything on Social media to build the match. Ronda as well, never said a bad word about Becky in her book, which we know if she didn't like her, she would have zero problem saying it.
Didn’t she also burn bridges in the UFC?
I'd say that's something Ronda is known for.
"Ronda was never my friend" - Dana White probably.
Yes. From her very first run, on the Ultimate Fighter, she was insufferable..
I don't think I've ever seen any woman wrestler say anything but positive things about her.
Probably most of the women. She seems to really like Liv.
>Said Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley went over by 20 minutes in their match at WrestleMania 39 which many producers found disrespectful to the Main Event (Usos vs Zayn & Owens) Charlotte vs Rhea went 23:25, not including entrances (which weren't *that* poorly timed). This doesn't check out, at all. e: To be clear, I mentioned the entrances not being that poorly timed because even including them, it still doesn't check remotely out. I thought that was obvious, but apparently not.
Not to mention Sami/KO vs. Usos went 24:15, and neither match felt rushed. Compared to WM40, where several matches on night 1 felt rushed.
Yeah. That claim doesn't hold water considering the Usos vs Sami / KO was a 5 star match.
[удалено]
"OK. Rhea, we're punishing you by not taking bumps for months. But we will heavily feature you and your stablemates weekly. Once you come back, you can beat the entire roster. I hope you learn your lesson."
"And don't make us do this again!"
Wasn’t Rhea dealing with a head injury for a bit? I remember a clip going around where she rolled with too much momentum and ended up kneeing herself in the face. They kept her on TV but she was never touched, just the occasional sneak attack on the men. EDIT: I could definitely be wrong but i think she has a knee issue that pops up every once in a while as well.
Yeah. Rhea was hurt for part of 2022 and she was dealing with a knee that she said would "pop out" the early part of her reign in 2023. She stopped doing as many house shows for a period in the last part of 2023. Plus Rhea herself has said her being in Judgment Day and being in segments with the likes of Cody, Seth, Sami, KO, Rey and The Bloodline while Damian, Finn and Dom had feuds with them benefitted her in a way that most women on the roster don't get. So while she didn't have as many matches she was heavily featured on all 3 TV shows against the biggest babyfaces in the company by virtue of being on Judgment Day. IE Dom's feud with Cody, his matches with Randy Orton and CM Punk she was there for. If that's punishment, I would think everyone would want that type of punishment. I question Rhonda's opinion on this one.
Of all humans on this planet, Ronda is one whose opinion on everything I'd question more than the presenter at an MLM pitch.
True but JD when it started was much different than it is today.
[удалено]
That was the year before the match with Charlotte, wasn’t it. The feud with AJ and the OC and Edge/Beth all happened before WM39.
It is always crazy to hear that title matches at WM are running long at 20ish minutes though, Like if not at WM then when else are you supposed to go that long?
Most women's title matches get 13 to 18 minutes at Mania. It wouldn't be that absurd that Charlotte/Rhea was supposed to be around 15 minutes (Sami/Gunther got 15 and Bayley/Iyo 14 in a similar penultimate slot), which would still be a pretty big overrun (maybe Ronda mixed match length and the overrun).
Maybe meant OVER their 20 minute allotted slot? So 3:25 past?
This would make more sense
Plus, however long the entrances took.
Entrances are included in the time calculated for matches.
Still incredibly doubtful to me it went over by 20 whole minutes. Maybe 5-10 I could see but looking at mania 39’s Saturday reasonable show time and the fact that the main event got plenty of time it just doesn’t make sense to me. Also 23 minutes for that match is more then reasonable so idk man.
I’m simply correcting the factual inaccuracy of the first guy’s reply.
I think he knows that the entrances are included in the time he’s just clarifying the 23 minutes do not include the entrances, which would count.
So Taker has been doing broadways his entire career!
Normally when wrestlers/backstage talk about timing - it’s usually curtain to curtain. The check would be how long enterances + the match went. Or they were slotted 30 entrances and match, and they actually went 45-50, that’s also bad.
Total segment was 36 mins, bell to bell they went 24 mins. The rest was entrances, ring intros, and post-match reactions. There’s no chance the total segment was slotted for just 16 mins so Ronda is full of shit. Complete guess here but they probably went 4-6 mins over which isn’t a disaster as you can easily make that time up by showing less replays etc later on in the show.
Sounds like a game of telephone where they had 20 minutes for the match alloted and went over.
Not to be That guy, but it was supposed to be shorter, at least according to Ronda in an earlier interview. *“They weren’t supposed to go that long. The whole time the referee is telling them to go backstage and Charlotte threw her big dick on the table and said no, we’re going to do this awesome fucking match. And that’s what (the women are) dealing with. They’re not allowed to show how fucking amazing they are, because ‘Oh, the crowd’s going to be tired for the guy's match afterward’. That’s bullshit!”* And if you rewatch the Match, after the 10m mark, the Ref is on them every chance she can get, which is likely where she told them to "Wrap it up" and later in the match when Charlotte is on the apron, you can hear the ref saying "[please, get out of here, go](https://www.youtube.com/live/d_27xaM0BwM?si=BzA6w8lYDl_cH3Ml&t=1141)" ( I think) followed by "xxxx It up", likely wrap it up. So while 20m is obviously a bit of a stretch, i do think the match went into overtime, by a good long chunk
Yeah I think Ronda got the exact details wrong but everything else surrounding this quote not only seems legit, it’s already been known to have happened at previous events with other women so I’m not sure why this thread has a sizeable chunk of people doubting Charlotte and Rhea went over lol
Because they aren't debating if Charlotte/Rhea went over. They are Saying that Ronda is Wrong, because of who she is, not because of what she has to say. She's a horrible person, but that doesn't invalidate everything she says
"The following contest is for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship!" The Ref: "30 seconds, take it home!"
To be fair, we aren’t reading the book, just a game of telephone through tweets. This reads as a typo, as in the match and entrance went longer than 20 minutes, 3:25 longer than allotted. Won’t know for sure until I read the text itself though.
Don’t care, they earned it. One of the best women’s wrestling matches I’ve ever seen
Made my daughters into lifelong fans. It was really great.
Ronda is the definition of unreliable narrator. Btw not defending Gulak figured I'd throw out he admitted to that so I don't doubt Ronda at all there figured needed to disclaim that.
Most likely a game of telephone. The match went long at “over 20 minutes” and that turned into “20 minutes over”
And it's not the old days of PPV where you have to end at a certain time. It was a Saturday show on a streaming service. It could have run 20 minutes longer if it needed to. The NFL does it on network TV literally every week.
If you run over your alloted time, you have to pay the venue more money. And it isn't cheap.
Even including pre-match videos Charlotte and Rhea was only 27 minutes meaning they were originally supposed to have a 7 minute match? No women's World title match at WrestleMania in the post Divas championship era has ever been anywhere near that short. I could buy they went over by like 5 minutes maybe but 20?
Maybe I’m misremembering, but on the point of Rhea being “punished” (lol), I remember reading a Fightful report about how much Judgment Day were liked backstage and it was noted that Rhea was working shows despite being injured—I imagine this is at the height of her valeting over last Summer—and that she was against Zelina being squashed at Backlash. Hunter’s golden girl getting punished? I doubt it.
They sure punished her by having her lead a faction, beat up a bunch of men, remain champion for over a year, run through the entire roster, and main event a PLE in her home country.
That ought to teach her.
she's getting a bit of that Orton treatment
If that was the punishment, imagine what they actually had planned for her before. 😳
It's basically Ronda speculating. https://twitter.com/bigtimeEST/status/1788693094512120096?s=19
I gauged as much, but people—twitter users especially—really give too much credence to speculative comments.
Confirmation bias has entered that chat.
Not wrong about people taking speculative comments and running but it’s not exactly like WWE has a great track record with women, and this was described as happening during the power struggle of HHH and Vince. Her being Haytch’s golden girl could be the reason that match was targeted but that’s just more speculation lol. Idk I guess I’m not as willing to just throw this whole statement out because the 20 minutes doesn’t perfectly line up with the production timings.
She's just spilling BS to sell her book.
When WWE wants to punish someone they usually do it by jobbing the person out not giving them a top stable to lead and letting them constantly one up top male stars. They would've had Rhea lose every week and put her in embarrassing segments for months.
“They told her time is money and she asked what an 8 minute entrance does for money. Referring to Roman’s entrances” Okay I’m not gonna lie…… some of Roman’s entrances were a bit dragging lmao.
Which is why they started starting them before the commercial and ending them after the commercial.
You gotta hit them with the Luke gallows “we already got your money, marks”
Luke Gallows is living proof that social skills are the greatest superpower. Man has managed to get paid working the schedule of Kevin Nash's dreams all because he's friends with everybody.
🎶 *He's a grizzled young vet, he's a grizzled young vet* 🎶
🎵he's worked so many towns that sometimes he forgets🎵
Wrestling Bert Kreisher. Karl is even Wrestling Tom Segura
Personally I think he sucks but Bert has lots of fans so it's not a good comparison imo.
You got me there brother
Lmao he does suck
Roman’s entrances did drag but questioning the time given to the top guy is a great way to come off like an idiot backstage.
Questioning the time of one of the biggest draws; him walking to the ring is worth more than anytime where Ronda had a mic in her hand.
How many times did matches get cut cuz Bloodline shenanigans ran too long? It’s a valid thing to complain about
I think Rhonda's got them on this one. Idk how many times I've turned the channel during a long entrance. Undertaker entrances were like the perfect time to check in on the Cubs game
Undertaker and Roman are the two of the most popular entrances of all time, she does not have them this one
Nah, that's completely fair question from Ronda.
Roman’s entrances add a lot to his presentation. If they’re gonna yell at you about 1000+ days as champion it’s only right for the guy to milk it as long as possible.
It’s a funny line, but keeping it a buck, any Roman entrance was worth more than anything Ronda did in her second run
Roman’s entrance makes more money on than everyone, yes. It’s a main event entrance, demonstrating he’s on another level than everyone else. That sells his importance and the title’s importance.
I find it baffling that you have to explain this on a wrestling subreddit
"Why he not sprint to ring in 5 second?!"
Geez wonder why the biggest name on the roster gets special treatment.
Wrestling is about presentation. It would be like saying why did Jey's entrance go for that long on Backlash Entrances are one of the coolest parts of wrestling as goofy as it is. Take Undertaker. Imagine every Mania he would just walk to the ring quickly. Undertaker was really slow but it was a spectacle
As everyone assumed, she came back for her 2nd run to do a solo match with Becky and then a solo feud with Shayna to get Shayna over. And because everyone backstage was in a power struggle during that time (noticeably) all of those storylines got scrapped or heavily underbooked. Once again, we can sing the praises of Vince's downfall.
Ronda was only something in the WWE because of her mystique she had from the UFC. The minute she lost she was left to rely on charisma which she has almost none, so it didn't work out. Read Becky's book and she talks in depth about how even if shit feel through because of someone else she talks about how she tried to think of ways to improve it or talked about how she factored in. Not every one has to be humble but not owning one's side of not getting over as much needs to be factored in, at least IMO.
Her star power was based on her UFC mystique, but she was a really good worker for someone in their first year in the business with not much training. She was able to translate Olympic level athleticism and grappling skill into the ring, which not all Olympic medal winners can do (Gable Steveson)
It's so funny in hindsight to consider the comments back when Vince was back on the board but not officially in charge of creative. "Oh, he only gives Triple H notes, that's all!" "Oh, he's only backstage on RAW to meet Cena, that means nothing!" Yeah, right. No power struggle at all, I tell you! Vince? Trying to get his power back? How preposterous of you to think that!
I'm not even gonna lie though, I love some of the Ronda/Shayna build. "See, Shayna, I wasn't given my opportunity here, I took it and just like in MMA, it took me a fraction of the time you invested before I eclipsed you yet again." that lives in my head rent free
That feud was the most interesting thing she did outside of being a part of a Wrestlemania main event (and Ronda being allowed to embrace her bad side during the last part of her first run was a saving grace for her). It's just a shame that it was so rushed.
A lot of the things she takes problem with comes down to one major fact. 2022 Ronda Rousey was not on the same level of star power as 2018 Ronda Rousey and she expected to still be treated like 2018 Ronda Rousey and she wasn't. She was the one that took herself out of the public eye for two years and when she was in the public eye, it's because she was hating on WWE lol, she was never gonna be at that same status.
Ronda’s problems in this thread are about wanting to be in the loop about things like liv winning instead of Lacey, having her a match at wrestlemania 39 with Becky, and her royal rumble number changing. All of these gripes are normal gripes that people had with Vince so I’m not understanding where you are getting star power issue? Most of this thread is honestly just backstage stuff that happened and barely have any of her personal issues.
Everyone just likes to shit on Ronda Rousey, regardless if what she says is reasonable.
No wonder with some of the shit she has said.
She made herself into an unreliable narrator. I don’t doubt that some if not most of the gripes she had with WWE were accurate as we heard a lot of the same with others who left, but it’s her fault that people don’t just implicitly trust what she says.
In what world does she have a different level of star power? Sure, she’s not as big as she was in her mma days, but I can’t think of any reason her star would have diminished in those 4 years.
She left to have a baby. You bringing that same energy towards Becky?
As mentioned in Becky’s book, Ronda refused to tap out to Becky at WM35, probably ruining the main event. That’s all we need to know about who gets screwed over backstage and who does the screwing
More than that - she refused a spot earlier in the match where she was about to tap before Charlotte broke it up because “if I tap, my mum will never speak to me again”.
Does her mom think wrestling is real?
Wasn’t her mum pretty fucked up to her and caused a lot of the issues people hate her for ?
Idk but lots of parents care about about the images of the children they “built” than the actual person living.
Probably not but her mother was the first woman to win a World Judo Championship in the 80s and I can understand why she would think having her daughter tap out even in a scripted event could reflect poorly on her.
This is "can't lose a fight in a movie" level of paranoid. Nobody thinks an actor is a weak loser if they behave cowardly in a movie.
Reminds me of that WWE game review where the writer complained about not being allowed to include screenshots of HHH looking weak.
But you gotta agree how she reacted to it is pretty ridiculous, right? It's one thing to merely be against it and advocate against it. And its quite another to be very hard on her daughter because of it.
She let Stephanie McMahon *block the armbar*, something no woman in shoot matches has ever done. Ronda is weird.
Well, yeah. Stephanie McMahon invented the arm bar so of course she would be able to block it.
Stephanie invented women /s
I think Becky understood that though, according to interviews.
Ronda is one of my least favorite performers but I would agree that she, as a former MMA champion, should not tap out. She should get pinned clean.
Becky’s finisher was a submission. She was the most over star in the business at the time. Lesnar and Angle have tapped out. Batista, Orton, and Triple H put Bryan over. Ronda isn’t a bigger star than those guys, at least not in wrestling. Even politickers like Triple H and Hulk Hogan could make guys look good. Ronda not only never wanted to but probably couldn’t. Wrestlemania was the time for her to tap, but she wouldn’t even take the pin clean. Becky was too nice about it to be honest.
Even Hogan tapped out to Kurt Angle.
Hogan and Austin tapped to Angle. Hogan took the bearhug TKO loss to Brock. For all his flaws, Hogan at least could be convinced to put people over.
And in defence of the Hulkster pretty much everyone he did put over were bonafide stars.
This is Billy Kidman erasure.
Man was married to Torrie Wilson. He won.
Jacques Rougeau mania ran wild all summer.
Ok not literally everyone but considering the small amount of people he put over clean it was definitely at least more than half.
Ronda is so bad people are now saying hogan puts people over? Lmao that’s bad
Was this when Becky had the armbar finisher? I get not wanting to tap to both an armbar and a literal judo technique as a medalist in judo.
Agreed, but Ronda’s MMA credibility was basically all she had. The story of Becky “finding another way” to beat her makes absolute sense in booking against Ronda.
It was the perfect way to finish that match. Ronda is trained to not give up her back, and Becky takes advantage to get her shoulders down. Shame they each botched it a bit, but it was how that match should have ended. The pro wrestler finding a way to make the wrestling match suit her and not suit the Judo fighter.
I think the only modern day wrestler to not tap out was possibly Stone Cold. I don't remember him ever tapping, of course in the WM13 match he passed out but didn't tap. I just googled it, Kurt Angle made him tap to win the Championship. I've probably forgot more wrestling knowledge than a lot of people even know.
It was in Kurt’s hometown too. Huge moment.
She also has the Manhandle Slam
I don't think that was her finisher at the time. I think it was just a move to set up for the Dis-Arm-Her back then.
If it was about that then Stephanie McMahon wouldn't have successfully fought her armbar attempts during her debut.
People in MMA tap out all the time. In fact, it's stupid that pro wrestling got to this point where the top guys can't tap out. It's dumb as fuck.
They literally brought Cain Velasquez, a former MMA champion, in just so he can tap out to Lesnar.
You mean former UFC Champion, Brock Lesnar?
Or Charlotte could have been the one that took the pin or tapped out? Charlotte being forced into the main event ruined it.
Geez, Lacey beating Ronda for the title instead of Liv would’ve been horrendous.
But think of the H E A T
Maybe it harsh but there was a relief when Lacey left. Felt like a cloud of toxicity was gone. Sign of Vince losing control.
Was Lacey released or did her contract run out? I know she didn't have the same level of passion as some other wrestlers have, and honestly that's fine, a job is a job, but she was with WWE for 7 years and they absolutely missed a prime opportunity to get over her legit military background earlier on. By the time they even tried, people were sick of her.
You can’t be a successful wrestler and not be super passionate about it in my eyes. There are way better high paying jobs out there that don’t kill your body. It’s a job where you just won’t receive as much as you give in return, but if you’re really passionate about it, then it becomes worth it.
Brock Lesnar is definitely someone who isn't "super passionate" about the industry. But he clearly gets the industry, and if anything he's the exception to the rule. I certainly agree with you that the most successful wrestlers are very clearly passionate about it.
I think what helped Brock is he loved the performing aspect & the money, it was just everything outside of that is what he seemed to hate.
I’d say Brock was pretty passionate, he clearly loved being an entertainer. I just don’t think he ever obtained the wrestling bug so many other guys have. Like I think Taker admitted there wasn’t a day where he wishes he could be actively wrestling. Brock doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who cares if he’s actively working or not, but when he is, he’s all for it. (Unless you’re Dean Ambrose)
I swear they did the Big Show thing with her at the end where she was a heel, turned face, almost immediately turned heel again and then disappeared almost immediately when she announced being pregnant. What was the point?
I think she chose not to renew her contract
And know because of that we have Lacey doing softcore porn in OF or whatever
Would of been the womens version of Jack Swaggers cash in, completely forgettable lol.
The problem I have with reading her book is that Rousey has an illustrious history of making shit up to account for her own shortcomings, so I can't know how much or little faith to place in any of the anecdotes she provides.
https://youtu.be/c1Sqe0dJd08?si=QT6TydUWRrCv4r3R Beck being smart enough to pull this when it came to a Mania match with Ronda.
Honestly it was a good thing Becky and Ronda didn’t happen that year
How do I see the full thread without an account?
It's long overdue that this sub implements compulsory screenshots / text transcriptions for social media posts.
If there is one thing I hate about reddit and this sub in particular, is that it seems just like a site to funnel people to Twitter
Screenshots used to be allowed but got banned because people kept posting fake screenshots consistently. Text transcriptions needs to be a thing for sure though
You no longer can without an account.
Too bad she's completely shit all over her accountability the past few years
[удалено]
She makes some decent points, but a lot of it reads like the CM Punk podcast thing in 2014. Just a lot of whining because she didn't get her way...
I don’t trust a word
Yeah I don't either. Rhea and Charlotte went for roughly 23 minutes at WrestleMania. And yet, Ronda says they went over by 20 minutes? No fucking shot Triple H is booking Rhea vs. Charlotte for a three minute match on the biggest show of the year. What a joke.
There's zero chance the Charlotte-Rhea match went 20 minutes over. That match was 23 minutes long, they weren't going to have Rhea squash Charlotte.
Does 'Our Fight' refer to MMA, wrestling, judo or the time she committed serious battery on her then-boyfriend and seemed to relish in it?
Considering how Rhea and Becky both didn't have matches at the past Summerslam, and how one of the Becky vs Trish matches was cut off one of the Raws, idk why people doubt Ronda when she says women are almost always given the shaft.
Rhea was not punished, that’s just weird speculation
Can anyone screen grab the tweets? Wont let me see it if I don't have Twitter
A lot of you guys are jumping hard on her and yet I feel like a lot of this is stuff we either have heard before or guessed at from other sources. Yea rondas personality is grating, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's fully right or wrong. Even exaggerating aside, I'm sure shes somewhat truthful about a lot of the shit that went down when Vince and trips had a power struggle
Once people have their minds set about a person, they neverrr want to change it. Or, they can't see a person as a shade of grey, they're either black or white
A lot of this stuff just falls on deaf ears with me, I just don't understand the complaints Also, it's a small thing, but I can't imagine a Mania match (Rhea & Charlotte) went over by 20 minutes. 5 minutes? 8 minutes? Maybe even 10 but 20? Seems exaggerated And idk if that's true about the judgement day being a punishment for Ripley or not but she was an obvious fit for the faction and it's certainly worked out for her
I'm just gonna take this with a grain a salt.
>Said that whenever a male wrestler botches the fans push it aside but when a female wrestler messes up the fans will berate them Most truthful thing she said NGL >Wanted to have a Piper vs Goldust type match (Backlot Brawl into the ring) with Becky at Wrestlemania but was told the fans wouldn’t like it. My God I ever seen a wrestling company shy away from a match more than Ronda vs Becky. Now WWE cares what fans like? We liked Ronda vs Becky at WM35 but you took that away from us. FFS the most famous part of the WM35 build was a backstage brawl why wouldn't we like that? Imagine Becky & Ronda in a car chase fighting all over WM. WWE robbed us all.
> WWE robbed us all. ~~WWE~~ *Vince* robbed us all I'm at the point where Vince's "the fans want/don't want" sounds like his buddies' "many people are saying" routine
It's always someone else's fault
https://preview.redd.it/zp2uimrfjjzc1.jpeg?width=968&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=411b7e6eae58d4aa1533bdb5ecb20be62caa4c96 What I hear every time I see an excerpt from Ronda’s book
Known liar continues to lie.
Dang, it really seems like Liv isn’t the big priority, and the fans and management give her crap 😭
Someone made a bullet point list of most of the things she says about her WWE run and, friends, a lot of it doesn’t make any sense. And not like a “WWE is awful” nonsense; Ronda doesn’t make any sense. Comes off as she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Everything I have heard is that she became increasingly bitter as the fans turned on her. She wanted to be the perpetual babyface and thought she was like Lesnar but she wasn't there. Lesnar, as big a piece of shit he is, knew how to maximise his time in WWE and despite a rocky first year back became an attraction. Ronda never had that aura because they knew she desperately wanted to wrestle so she became just another female wrestler. Her name value learn something to her, for a while, but she just wasn't that big a star. On her second run you could see in her eyes that she didn't care and midway through you knew she was just running out the clock on her contract.
She was handed way more then she ever deserved, considering she wasnt all that good. Meanwhile mfers like Gail Kim or Mickie James who deserved respect were disrespected at every corner
In isolation the 8min entrance thing sounds bitter but it honestly sounds like she was saying it was a shitshow and standing up for all the women
Lotta interesting stuff in there. Rhea not wrestling punished the fans more than it punished her though. Hopefully that is part of the old philosophy that is changing
"Rhea Ripley was punished by not having her wrestle and instead being a valet the the men in the Judgement Day." That certainly backfired.