Summary
- 1) MJF roasted Rousey for calling her Alexa Bliss match “ridiculous,” saying pro wrestling is a business.
- 2) He said both Rousey and Bliss sold tickets/ratings and called Rousey the “superior athlete.”
- 3) Rousey says wrestling is in her “rearview mirror”; last match Nov 2023 in ROH, AEW return unlikely.
AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman is someone who is known to share his opinion, and it doesn’t matter who you are. He’s not just a menace to the AEW locker room, but to anyone he disagrees with on social media. Former UFC and WWE star Ronda Rousey caught his attention and ire because of her comments regarding her time in WWE.
Ronda Rousey Blasts Alexa Bliss, MJF Fires Back
WrestlePurists shared a quote on X from Rousey’s interview with The Lasped Fan, where the former WWE Women’s Champion was upset about facing Alexa Bliss. Without counting house shows, Rousey and Bliss have had only two singles matches. The first match was when Bliss lost the Raw Women’s Title (WWE Women’s Championship) to Rousey at the 2018 SummerSlam PLE. The second was only a few months later, after SummerSlam, at the Hell in the Cell PLE, where Rousey had successfully defended her title against Bliss. She said:
“The fact that they had me fighting Alexa Bliss at all was f*cking ridiculous, and you wanna know why they had me against Alexa Bliss? Because she had the most merch sales at the time… Like, what the f*ck!? That’s your decision-making process?” (h/t: WrestlePurists)
MJF ended up retweeting it and blasted Rousey about not knowing that it’s a business and just like any other sport. He simply wrote:
“It’s almost like pro wrestling much like any professional sport functions as a business. F—king crazy.”
The former AEW World Champion also replied to a fan, who said that Bliss made Ronda look good in the match. 2018 was the year that the UFC Hall of Famer started her first run with WWE. MJF called her a superior athlete and explained in depth why the match worked so well for ratings. He added:
“Made her look good? No clue what you’re talking about. Rhonda was the superior athlete. However it was good match making on part of the people structuring the fight card because both pro wrestlers would move the most tickets and draw the most ratings.”
He’s definitely not wrong at that. Both Rousey and Bliss brought something to the table. While Rousey has never stepped into an All Elite Wrestling ring, she has been with another Tony Khan-owned promotion — Ring of Honor. Rousey’s last wrestling match was in November 2023, where she teamed with Marina Shafir to defeat Athena and Billie Starkz.
Ronda Rousey Not Interested In Wrestling Anymore, Annoyed With WWE
As noted, during the same interview with the podcast, Rousey shared her views on whether she was going to return to WWE or the wrestling ring. She made it known that wrestling is in her “rearview mirror.”
“The Baddest Woman On The Planet” also complained about how, in her first WWE run, she didn’t get a chance to work with the other four horsewomen — Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, and Shayna Baszler. Rousey shared that when she made her second WWE return, she demanded to work with Baszler, or she was going to leave the promotion. The two ended up becoming the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions and then feuded. Rousey’s last WWE match was at SummerSlam 2023 against Baszler. So if Rousey ends up ever going to AEW, she might have something to tell MJF in person. That is, if she notices his tweets.
