In an interview with Refinery29, WWE RAW Women’s Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey was asked which WWE Superstars have helped her the most in her professional wrestling journey.
“It’s hard to pick one person, because every single person on the roster has been a teacher to me at some point,” she said. “I’ve learned something from everyone. Nattie’s been amazing to me from day one, when I was just training with Brian Kendrick in secret. Nattie knew I was training and she had just finished a South America tour. She had been all over the place, and instead of coming home, she flew all the way out to L.A. and stayed at my house and came to train with me. Now that I’ve been traveling around with them, I’m like, ‘How could you ever have taken some of your home days and spend them on me?’”
Rousey also discussed how the WWE refused to use the rumored angle of Natalya turning heel on her to get her over, instead using Nia Jax against her in her first big match:
“Nia Jax was my first singles match and if I didn’t have her as my partner, I don’t know if it would have been as good as it was. It was extremely intimidating that my first ever singles match was for the Raw Women’s Championship and she was just a great mentor and guide through that whole process. The people you are against [are the ones] you spend the most time with and you learn the most from. There isn’t a single woman in the locker room that hasn’t been instrumental to my success,” she said.
Despite not working in the ring together to this point, Rousey went out of her way to praise Bayley and Sasha Banks as well:
“Sasha and Bayley have taught me so much. [They] have been these great examples of being effortlessly great at what they do. They’ve also been a great resource and made me feel so comfortable about coming to them and asking them questions. I’ve learned so much from every woman that I’ve ever been in the ring with,” she said.
Here’s Rousey’s last RAW segment in the Evolution go-home show with a contract signing with Nikki Bella: