Ronda Rousey Discusses What Makes Her Nervous During Promos

Ronda Rousey has recently talked about why she gets more nervous for promos than for matches, and how it particularly came up when she was paying homage to Kurt Angle.

Making her first forray in to the world of professional wrestling in 2015, Ronda Rousey was still under contract for UFC when she famously got involved at WrestleMania 31 alongside The Rock, taking down Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

Officially signing with WWE in 2017, ‘The Baddest Woman On The Planet’ went straight back after the same two foes, teaming with Kurt Angle to defeat them at WrestleMania 34.

This period has certainly stuck in the mind of Ronda Rousey, as she started using Angle’s signature ankle lock in the run-up to WrestleMania 38.

Speaking on the latest instalment of her vlog Ronda on the Road, Ronda Rousey discussed why she wanted to making a point of paying homage to the Olympic gold medallist.

I just really want to be able to put over Kurt as the whole reason I’m doing the ankle lock. That’s a way to pay homage to him. That’s all I really care about getting out, because he was my first mentor in this business, and I’ve never really got to honor him outside of our tag [match at WrestleMania 34].

People compare us all the time because we were athletes outside of WWE and then came to it. As an Olympian, he has been like my hero since I was a little kid, so I love that he gave me the blessing to use the ankle lock.

Rousey also discussed why she gets more nervous for promos than her matches, and why she specifically didn’t want this to happen when she discussed her respect for Angle.

I get more nervous for promos than matches because I have to nail it on the first go. I’ve always been a person that communicates better physically than verbally, but I think I got it. They let me say what I want to say, then I got it.

Everyone was like, ‘Your rhythm seemed off, what were you worried about?’ And I was like if Brock [Lesnar] who is the most over face in the company right now is getting the ‘What?’ chants, they’re gonna ‘What?’ the f–k out of me.

So I just wanted to blow through it [the promo] to the point where the first break in when I was talking was after I mentioned Kurt because if you ‘What?’ Kurt, then you’re an a–hole.

Charlotte Flair defeated Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship, however the pair will now do battle again in an I Quit Match at WrestleMania Backlash.

With thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.