Stephanie McMahon has revealed that her one and only WrestleMania match would never have happened without Ronda Rousey pushing for it.
Speaking on What’s Your Story ahead of her 2026 WWE Hall of Fame induction, McMahon looked back at her tag team match alongside Triple H against Rousey and Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 34 in 2018 and made clear that it was Rousey who made it happen.
“I was a big fan of Ronda, always have been. I used to love to watch her fight. I read her book and it made a big impact on me, what she’s lived through. You know, her dad committed suicide when she was young. She didn’t speak her first words until she was like four. My heart just always is with her because she’s so strong in many, many ways, you know, mentally and physically. And then also, I think she has broken pieces too, as we all do, right? So I’m a big fan of hers, and she was the one who requested the match. It was like a couple of years later, originally she was going to come in sooner, but then there was a movie or I don’t know, something happened. And then you sign her and Ronda was the one who said, ‘We need to finish the story with Steph.’ So she’s the reason I ever had a WrestleMania match,” McMahon said.
McMahon noted that Dakota Kai, Lacey Evans, and NXT coach Sara Amato were among those who helped prepare her and Rousey for the bout. She described the match as “safe but stiff,” with Rousey and Angle picking up the victory.
The match served as Rousey’s professional wrestling debut and set the stage for what became two separate stints with WWE before she finished up with the company in August 2023. Rousey is now returning to MMA for a Netflix fight against Gina Carano next month and made a one-off appearance for AEW at Revolution 2026 to help promote the bout.
McMahon is set to be inducted into the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame on Friday, April 17 at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas alongside AJ Styles, Demolition, Dennis Rodman, Sycho Sid, and Bad News Brown. The ceremony streams live on the ESPN app in the United States and on YouTube internationally starting at midnight Eastern.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit What’s Your Story with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
