Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell spoke about Ronda Rousey's dismal run with the company recently.
Rousey has been the focal point of the women's division since her return back in 2022. She won the Royal Rumble match that year and went on to face Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38.
She later won the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania Backlash and then had a storyline with Liv Morgan. However, The Baddest Woman on the Planet had been out of the title picture for a while now and seems to be stuck in the mid-card.
On a recent episode of Story Time with Dutch Mantell, the veteran claimed that Ronda Rousey made some mistakes during the run. He explained that Rousey was a heel but was still smiling and shaking hands with fans during her entrance.
Mantell claimed that possibly someone backstage told her to do that, and creative didn't help her much either.
"Ronda, I think it took her some time to learn the pro-style. She's made a lot of mistakes. She wanted people to dislike her. But she would come out because they told her to, smiling and slapping hands. You can't be smiling at people and slapping hands, then get in the ring and expect them to boo you. I mean, that's not even her fault. That's creative's fault, whoever told her to do that. If you're gonna be an as*hole, be an as*hole from the get-go." [From 2:42 - 3:15]
You can watch the full video here:
Ronda Rousey is in a storyline with Shayna Baszler
The unthinkable happened at Money in the Bank 2023 when Shayna Baszler turned on her longtime friend, Ronda Rousey.
Rousey and Baszler were defending the Unified Women's Tag Team Championships against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez when the Queen of Spades went rogue and attacked her partner. This resulted in the tandem losing their tag titles.
Ronda tried to get answers from Shayna Baszler on RAW, but this resulted in a brawl where Shayna once again beat down her former friend.
Do you agree with Dutch Mantell on Ronda Rousey's current run? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcript.