— Ronda Rousey says her time in pro wrestling is all but done.
The former UFC star and WWE alumna appeared on the “Lapsed Fan” podcast to promote her new graphic novel Expect The Unexpected and was asked about her WWE run. When questioned if wrestling was in her “rearview mirror,” Rousey replied, “I mean — pretty much, I’d say so.”
Rousey explained that her main motivation for joining WWE was to wrestle alongside her fellow Four Horsewomen of MMA — Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke. However, she noted that WWE continually teased the idea without ever following through. She said,
“I got into WWE because I wanted to be able to wrestle my girls, you know, the Four Horsewomen, and be able to wrestle my friends. And they kind of dangled that carrot for my whole run and never let it happen. And then the second run, they kept dangling it. And then by the end I was like, ‘I’m f**king leaving unless I can wrestle Shayna [Baszler]. And that’s how I was able to do it at all. And now nobody even works there anymore.”
Rousey’s final match came at SummerSlam 2023, where she lost to Baszler in an MMA Rules bout. Baszler, the last of the Four Horsewomen still with WWE, departed earlier this year.
— Matt Riddle continues to address recent claims that he no-showed a booking for the U.K.-based Global Wrestling Kingdom (G.W.K.) promotion and failed to return his deposit. He first responded via Instagram and later expanded on the situation during an appearance on TMZ’s “Inside The Ring” podcast.
Riddle said he’s received death threats over the incident and criticized the framing of the event as a charity. He clarified that the show was not originally a charity event, only being designated as such at the last minute. He said,
“My girlfriend had an arrangement with this company, G.W.K., Global Wrestling Kingdom, and I’ll be honest dude, I see companies like this in the U.K. all the time. These guys rented an arena, they didn’t sell 150 tickets… I’m not knocking ‘em. They’re trying. They’re trying to do their thing. But, this is garbage dude, and if they actually asked me for the money, which, they didn’t until later yesterday? And then I woke up this morning to a bunch of death threats… death threats. ‘How dare you f*cking scam a charity’ and I’m like, dawg, four months ago, this wasn’t a charity event. Three months ago, it wasn’t a charity event. This week was the first time I got a message saying, ‘What? You’re gonna do this to a charity event?’ I’m doing Make-A-Wish in a couple weeks. I do charity events. Dude, I do multiple charity events, but I don’t get paid a dime. But I’ll tell you this, I’m not flying to London in a middle seat with no meal, with no checked bag. I don’t know why they thought that was a good idea. Dude, I don’t even know how it’s legal.”
Riddle explained that he tried to work with the promoters to find alternative ways to earn money, such as meet-and-greets or appearances, rather than spending two days idle in London. He expressed concern that being idle could lead to trouble. He said,
“Well, I never decided I wasn’t going. I was still gonna go Saturday. So, this is what the deal was: When they told me two weeks out that there’s nothing there, I was like, ‘They’re gonna keep trying.’ I’m like, ‘Okay,’ and then, it was probably Tuesday of last week, and I go, ‘Any word?’ And they go, ‘I haven’t heard anything back’ and I’m like, ‘That means nothing’s happening,’ and I go, ‘Dude, I can’t sit in a hotel room for two days.’ You know, my friends told me not to say this, but man, I got idle hands. If these things aren’t doing something, I get into trouble. If I didn’t have five kids, wrestle all over the world, fight people and do this, I get in — I just do. It’s just what it is. I party. It’s whatever. I have a problem, right? So I keep myself busy. I knew if I sat in a hotel in London for two days, damn, I might not even make the show Sunday, and maybe that’s bad to say, but you know what? I think it’s very responsible to say and it’s true. So, that’s just what it is.”
Riddle also criticized G.W.K. for continuing to promote him even after knowing he would not appear. He stated,
“So they knew this (that I would not be coming). Do you know what they kept doing? They kept promoting me, like I was still coming. It’s a scumbag move. I’ve had other promoters do this and I’m like, dude, you sold tickets and obviously, let’s be honest, no disrespect to everybody else on the card, I’m the King of Bros.”
He later claimed that G.W.K. was likely responsible for leaking the story to Cultaholic. He said,
“Yeah, yeah, it was (the promotion that leaked our situation). They did it and you know what? I guarantee you when they first did it, they were probably like, oh my God, wish we would have had this before the match. You know, more people would have showed up, and let’s say this, it’s probably what they should have done.”
During the same podcast, Riddle revealed that he thinks CM Punk is a “creep” because he’s hanging around at NXT. He said,
“I have no ill will towards CM Punk. He’s a nice enough guy and you agree with it. But, I don’t, and I think he’s fake and I think he’s a creep, and that’s coming from me, and people think I’m a creep and I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t know. I feel like he’s just lingering around the NXT locker room a little too much, you know?”
— Backstage correspondent Quetzalli Bulnes has announced that she is no longer with AAA.
In a recent YouTube video, Bulnes confirmed her departure from the promotion. She previously worked with WWE, hosting Spanish-language programs El Brunch and WWE Ahora. Bulnes said,
“My firing from WWE has affected me too much. Many friends turned their backs on me and the other person (Falbak) involved didn’t tell the truth. I was alone and sick when they gave me the news, and I don’t wish it on anyone. Now I was also fired from AAA, and honestly I don’t know what to do… I don’t know whether to continue wrestling or get away from it. A part of me regrets having accepted WWE’s proposal 7 years ago, because I had everything to succeed in horror cinema: I had won an award in Los Angeles and I left everything for wrestling.”
Before her time with WWE and AAA, Bulnes was an actress who starred in a number of television shows in Mexico. WWE acquired AAA earlier this year.
