Former UFC star Ronda Rousey hasn't held back on the realities of wrestling after giving birth as she prepares to challenge Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown women's title at Wrestlemania 38.
Rousey, 35, spectacularly returned to the WWE in January to compete in the Royal Rumble. Having entered at No 28, she duly eliminated Brie Bella, Niki A.S.H, and Shotzi to earn herself a title shot on wrestling's biggest stage.
With the PPV being held over two nights, she'll face Flair at the AT&T Stadium on Saturday, with the main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar scheduled for the following night. Also on night one, Rousey's former rival Becky Lynch will defend her Raw title against Bianca Belair.
Following the Rumble, the first ever UFC women's champion teamed with Naomi to defeat Flair and Sonya Deville, at the Elimination Chamber PPPV, despite adhering to the bizarre stipulation of having a hand tied behind her back. She's since defeated Deville again on Smackdown.
Rousey's return has been deemed remarkable given her and husband Travis Browne only welcomed daughter La’akea into the world late last September. And she's now candidly admitted that health professionals advised her to refrain from doing anything physically draining after giving birth.
"I felt like I had just been hit by a semi-truck with razor blades straight to the crotch," she revealed, in an interview on the The Ellen Degeneres Show. I was like, 'I don't know how I'm gonna make this work,' but I worked really hard and got there."
Having debuted with the company at Wrestlemania 31, Rousey made sporadic appearances with the company between 2014 and 2017. Having trained at the WWE performance centre in Orlando, she then signed a full-time contract, and in 2019 made history with Lynch and Flair when the trio's triple threat match headlined Mania 35.
It was Lynch who prevailed in New Jersey, handing Rousey her first loss in WWE and ending her Raw championship reign at 231 days - at that point the longest ever by a female wrestler. Following the event, 'Rowdy' took a hiatus from wrestling after revealing her and Browne planned to start a family.
However, after winning the Rumble, Rousey claimed she had plans to return for another title at the title even before she'd given birth. "I just had a baby 4 months ago…. Since the day I found out I was pregnant and calculated my due date, I knew I wanted to return to the WWE at the Royal Rumble," she wrote in Instagram.
"Two weeks, even two months postpartum that goal seemed crazier than ever before. But I just missed it so much… and I so badly wanted to give Po the same example that my mom gave to me and my sisters - she never broke stride following her dreams while having us."
Rousey remains the only woman to win a championship in both the UFC and WWE, as well as the only woman to headline a PPV event in both companies. She is also an Olympic medalist in judo, having won bronze in her category in Beijing 2008.
Fellow ex-UFC star Lesnar battle with Reigns will signify the men's division being unified, with 'The Beast' putting his universal title on the line, and Reigns his Smackdown crown.
