Ronda Rousey has revealed that her appearance at AEW Revolution was partly motivated by a desire to take a dig at TKO Group, the parent company of both WWE and UFC, while also expressing pride in her best friend Marina Shafir’s success in professional wrestling. Speaking in a behind-the-scenes YouTube vlog documenting her Revolution experience, Rousey described her presence at the pay-per-view as a deliberate statement aimed at TKO following the collapse of her UFC return negotiations.
“It’s kind of a cool little bit of a, like little bit of a f**k you to the TKO group, which is kind of funny because WWE is on Netflix, but I kind of figured it’d be easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission on this one,” Rousey said. “Like, I’m promoting your show. It’s fine. We didn’t advertise it. It’s not like we boosted the ratings of it, so it should be fine.”
Rousey also described the lengths AEW went to in order to keep her arrival at the venue secret. “They had me jump into a wheelchair and throw a tarp over me and wheel me in here,” Rousey said. “I was brought into the arena in a very unique way. I thought this was going to be much more chill, but they’re acting like it’s freaking Royal Rumble super secret whatever.”
She offered her impressions of AEW, noting that Revolution marked her first full AEW show as a performer. “It’s a little bit more laidback,” Rousey said. “I’ve never been to an AEW pay-per-view so I don’t really know what to expect so much, but I’m thinking a less restrictive, more adult version of WWE, which sounds like a good time.”
Rousey also spoke warmly about Shafir, who competed in her first AEW pay-per-view match at Revolution. “Marina is my best friend in the whole wide world and we grew up doing judo together as little kids,” Rousey said. “We both quit judo and started doing MMA and then we both quit MMA and started doing pro wrestling. She’s absolutely crushing it and I’m so proud of her. I’m so happy that everybody’s finally starting to take notice of how incredibly special she is.”
Rousey made her WWE in-ring debut in 2018 and competed across two stints with the company through 2023 before departing and becoming openly critical of WWE and TKO. She is set to face Gina Carano in her MMA return on May 16, live on Netflix under MVP Promotions. Her AEW appearance is not expected to lead to any further involvement with the promotion in the near term.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Ronda Rousey’s YouTube channel with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
