Ronda Rousey shares disheartening story on "old man" Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and top WWE stars

Ronda Rousey abruptly quit WWE last year. The two-sport champion began blasting the company and making various viral comments when it was time to promote her new memoir two months ago. Rousey has now disclosed new backstage information on Vince McMahon and a few top names from the company.

The Baddest Woman on The Planet won her first SmackDown Women's Championship by defeating Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania Backlash in May 2022. Her first premium live event defense came at WWE Money in the Bank, where she made Natalya submit in almost 13 minutes. After the match, Liv Morgan cashed in her newly-won Money in the Bank briefcase to beat Rousey for the title in 32 seconds.

In her new memoir, Our Fight, Rousey recalled how Paul Heyman told her about the cash-in plan one week prior, but Lacey Evans was to become champion. Rousey expressed approval to Heyman as she and Evans were new moms then plus Evans had helped her develop the Piper's Pit finisher. The UFC Hall of Famer quizzed The Wise-Man on if anyone had told Evans what was planned, and if the title change was a sure thing. Paul told her to wait a week and if nothing changed, then Ronda should be the one to break the news since she would be giving Lacey her first title.

Rowdy Ronda stopped The Lady Of WWE in the hallway one week later. She remembered how Evans broke into a "huge grin" when she learned of the huge victories planned for the show, and while Evans said she wouldn't get her hopes up, Rousey knew she already had. The 8th WWE Women's Triple Crown Champion recalled how she was at home washing dishes two days later when Heyman called to reveal that the former U.S. Marine was no longer booked to win, and that now Liv Morgan would be in that spot.

Rousey responded with confusion, asking if Evans was hurt, which didn't make sense as they had just talked. The 2024 WWE Hall of Famer confirmed Evans wasn't injured, and added that it was just going to be Liv in the role now. Rousey had asked the reason for the change in plans and Paul responded, stating it was just Vince feeling it was Liv's turn that week.

Rousey said she'd be happy for Liv in any other scenario as she was closer to Morgan than anyone else on the WWE roster, besides Shayna Baszler. The International Sports Hall of Famer admitted Liv was the right choice, but she wasn't happy at how she had already told Evans the original plan, and now things had changed.

"All I could think was it would have been better if I kept my big mouth shut. That way, she'd have never known. I hung up, throwing the phone on to the counter, immediately regretting it as the noise startled Pō [her daughter] from her nap. I was angry. Angry for Lacey. Angry that WWE had put me in this position. Angry because Lacey probably didn’t even f*****g know and was out there walking around excited about a moment that would never come," Ronda Rousey wrote in her memoir.

The inaugural UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion continued and expressed more anger at her former billionaire boss. Rousey accused McMahon of treating the WWE talent like action figures.

"Angry that this old man, with our careers and legacies in his hands, put no more thought into his decisions than how he was feeling in the moment. Angry that it wasn’t Liv’s years of back-breaking work, sacrifice, hard-earned fan support, or star power that made this moment happen but the whims of a geriatric billionaire who treated us like action figures. Despite the progress that had been made, our efforts were more frivolous than ever," Ronda Rousey wrote.

Morgan would later team with Raquel Rodriguez to take the Women's Tag Team Championship from Rousey and Baszler at Money In the Bank 2023.

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Ronda Rousey's WWE run ends with brief feud

After losing the SmackDown Women's Championship to Liv Morgan in mid-2022, Ronda Rousey failed to regain the gold at WWE SummerSlam. She did dethrone Morgan in an Extreme Rules match at the Extreme Rules PLE that October.

Rousey's second and final reign with that title ended on the final SmackDown of 2022 when Charlotte Flair returned from a 7-month hiatus to squash Rousey in 40 seconds. This was also Ronda's last singles reign.

The Baddest Woman on The Planet later teamed with Shayna Baszler to capture the vacant Women's Tag Team Championship, which they unified with the NXT Women's Tag Titles by defeating The Unholy Union. Their 32-day reign ended at Money in the Bank as they were defeated by Liv and Raquel Rodriguez.

The Queen of Spades turned on her longtime friend that night in London, causing the title change. This brief feud led to Baszler's MMA Rules win at SummerSlam, which was the end of Ronda's WWE run.