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Ronda Rousey Recalls Advice Given By Vince McMahon

By TJR Staff • Published 26th February 2022
Ronda Rousey smiling to crowd

Ronda Rousey has revealed a piece of advice that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon gave her following her return to the company at the 2022 Royal Rumble.

Rousey made her triumphant WWE return during the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble Match. The former UFC star entered the bout at number 28 and eliminated four other women on her way to winning the match.

Since then, Rousey has challenged Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in a clash that will be the main event of night one of WrestleMania 38 in April.

In a recent edition of her “Ronda On The Road” YouTube series, Ronda Rousey talked about the backstage reaction to her first promo back on Raw with Becky Lynch. She explained the negative crowd reaction she received towards the end of her first run with the company was on her mind when she took to the microphone once again.

Rousey then opened up about the advice Vince McMahon gave her on how to interact with the audience.

“I got through it and I came out and [Paul] Heyman was like, ‘You did great, but I’m going to tell you, he’s going to tell you one thing, he’s going to tell you to smile.’ I’m like, okay. So I went and talked to Vince. He was like, ‘That was fantastic. Just — you need to smile.’ I was telling him like, ‘You know, they were booing me on the way out of every stadium.’”

“He’s like, ‘Yeah, but they’ve forgiven you for that.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I haven’t forgiven them.’ And he goes, ‘But it’s not about you. It’s about them.’ It was like such a good point that I’d been thinking about myself and how this relates to myself, and I was forgetting that this is a show about entertaining them.”

Ronda Rousey admitted that the advice helped change her mindset when she delivered her next promo on SmackDown.

“I feel like I got the jitters out. I got my first performance out of the way. I got my first promo out of the way. So going into SmackDown next Friday, I’m like okay — I’m not going to come out all guarded and defensive. I’m just going to go out and like actually feel the crowd and let them be a part of it.”

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.