Ronda Rousey: Wrestling Is Not A Sport, It’s A Very Intense Performance

Ronda Rousey comments on if she believes wrestling is a sport.

Ronda Rousey dismisses pro wrestling being a sport.

Rousey, who retired from the world of MMA following back to back losses, made her WWE debut at the 2018 Royal Rumble before having two runs with the promotion where she won both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships. In recent months, Rousey has been critical of WWE in several areas, but now she has turned her attention to the sport of pro wrestling.

While speaking to Steve-O on his Wild Ride! podcast, Rousey expressed her belief that pro wrestling at its core is not a sport.

“It’s scripted. Mostly. There is a general idea. They are working together. I like to relate it to figure skating. Two people together creating a performance. As Shayna [Shayna Baszler] likes to say, there is no fake way to take a chairshot. You’re actually getting hit with a chair. It’s also not a competition. A lot of wrestlers and stuff will be like, ‘Wrestling is real. I got this injury or that injury.’ I’m like, okay, as a competitor in an actual sport, I’m never worried about getting injured. I’m worried about losing. That’s the most stressful part of it. Injuries are not at all what you’re thinking about. That’s not what makes it real or makes it hard. It’s the uncertainty of the outcome. When people are like, ‘it’s a real sport.’ No, it’s not a sport. It’s a very intense performance, which I have a lot of respect for, but it’s not a sport. If you’ve ever dealt with the stress and anxiety that comes with competition, you can’t take that out and call it a sport. It’s so tough. It’s very physical, but it’s not a sport.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Rousey expressed her frustration at not getting the same time to rehearse for her matches as Logan Paul. You can read more about that here.

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