Stephanie McMahon credits Ronda Rousey for making only WWE WrestleMania match happen
If it wasn’t for Ronda Rousey, Stephanie McMahon probably never would have wrestled at WWE WrestleMania.
The only time McMahon actually competed in the ring at WrestleMania was when she and Triple H teamed up against Rousey & Kurt Angle in 2018. Ahead of her upcoming WWE Hall of Fame induction, McMahon discussed her career on “What’s Your Story?” and looked back at that match.
McMahon noted that she’s always been a Rousey fan, seeing how strong she is while still having “broken pieces” from all she’s gone through in life. It was Rousey who requested the WrestleMania 34 match as a way to follow up on the confrontation they had at WrestleMania 31 three years prior.
“I was a big fan of Ronda, always have been. I used to love to watch her fight,” McMahon said. “I read her book and it made a big impact on me, what she’s lived through. You know, her dad committed suicide when she was young. She didn’t speak her first words until she was like four…
“My heart just always is with her because she’s so strong in many, many ways, you know, mentally and physically. And then also, I think she has broken pieces too, as we all do, right? So I’m a big fan of hers, and she was the one who requested the match. It was like a couple of years later, originally she was going to come in sooner, but then there was a movie or I don’t know, something happened. And then you sign her and Ronda was the one who said, ‘We need to finish the story with Steph.’ So she’s the reason I ever had a WrestleMania match.”
McMahon said Dakota Kai, Lacey Evans, and NXT coach Sara Amato were among the people who helped prepare them for the bout. It ended up being “safe but stiff” with Rousey & Angle getting the win.
This match was Rousey’s pro wrestling debut. She went on to have two separate stints with WWE before finishing up with the company in August 2023.
Rousey is now returning to MMA for a Netflix fight against Gina Carano next month. To help promote that, she made a one-off appearance for AEW at Revolution 2026.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.