WWE superstar and former Raw women’s champion Ronda Rousey spoke about a number of pro-wrestling-related topics during her latest ‘Ronda on the Road’ vlog, which included the Baddest Woman on the Planet paying homage to Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, and revealing that she still gets nervous when cutting promos. Highlights are below.
Paying homage to Kurt Angle by using his ankle-lock submission hold:
“I just really want to be able to put over Kurt as the whole reason I’m doing the ankle lock. That’s a way to pay homage to him. That’s all I really care about getting out, because he was my first mentor in this business, and I’ve never really got to honor him outside of our tag [match at WrestleMania 34]. People compare us all the time because we were athletes outside of WWE and then came to it. As an Olympian, he has been like my hero since I was a little kid, so I love that he gave me the blessing to use the ankle lock.”
Talks fans using the dreaded “What” chant:
“Everyone was like, ‘Your rhythm seemed off, what were you worried about?’ And I was like if Brock [Lesnar] who is the most over face in the company right now is getting the ‘What?’ chants, they’re gonna ‘What?’ the f–k out of me. So I just wanted to blow through it [the promo] to the point where the first break in when I was talking was after I mentioned Kurt because if you ‘What?’ Kurt, then you’re an a–hole.”
Says she still gets nervous for promos:
“I get more nervous for promos than matches because I have to nail it on the first go. I’ve always been a person that communicates better physically than verbally, but I think I got it. They let me say what I want to say, then I got it.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)