“Like, Come On!” – 38-Year-Old Superstar Explains How Ronda Rousey’s World-Famous Image Made Life Tough for Wrestlers Like Him in WWE

Published 08/21/2023, 4:13 AM EDT

The WWE locker room consists of several amazing wrestlers, but not everyone receives the mainstream spotlight. However, every wrestler works hard to build traction and momentum slowly in front of the audience. Despite their efforts, sometimes, these wrestlers have to settle for less because of the presence of more popular wrestlers.

While the management actively pushes the primary wrestler to the top, there are several times that they deliberately push certain wrestlers down as well. A former WWE Superstar has recently opened up and narrated a similar story with Ronda Rousey. This time, however, the demand and the circumstances were very bizarre.

“Oh, come on!” wrestler’s bafflement at unexpected wrestling restraint

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In an insightful conversation with ITRWrestling.com, former WWE sensation Matt Cardona, also known as Zack Ryder, shed light on the unexpected challenges that arose due to the iconic image of none other than Ronda Rousey. He discussed how Rousey’s trendy public image unintentionally created different challenges for fellow performers like him within the WWE environment.

He recounted how a seemingly minor issue arose when he was prohibited from performing a baseball slide during one of his matches. The reason? Ronda Rousey had plans to execute the same move later in the evening on RAW.

Cardona shared his confusion, explaining, “One time I was told — I was having a match before RAW, so Main Event, or Superstars, or whatever it’s called. And my producer told me I couldn’t do a baseball slide to the floor because Ronda Rousey was doing it like two hours later on RAW.”

As he talked more about it, you could really tell that he was pretty surprised and confused. He also added, “I can understand if you’re saying I can’t put Mike Kanellis through the announce table on Main Event. OK, I get it. But I can’t do a baseball slide?! We’re talking about a baseball slide here!

He questioned the rationale that will Ronda Rousey would also perform it. So is that the only reason? Matt continues, “Because Ronda Rousey is doing a baseball slide? Do you think anybody is thinking in the arena, ‘Oh, Zack Ryder did that baseball slide two hours ago’? Like, come on!”

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This isn’t the only time something like this has happened in WWE. There have been many other cases where creative issues caused problems.

The problem of restricting creativity in WWE

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The WWE consists of several stories of several wrestlers who either had to settle for less or got pushed to the sidelines. While several superstars used to be prominent at some time, some were rising prospects that were never allowed to fly.

Sami Zayn is one of the most prominent examples of this. The Canadian wrestling sensation was deliberately snubbed continuously since the management wanted to push other wrestlers up. This forced Sami to be pushed to the bottom of the ladder, despite earning a huge fan following via NXT.

Zayn was recently reintroduced as a mock character for the Bloodline arc, however, his fans always roared for him. While the WWE later moved Zayn down the ladder again, his huge fan following forced the creatives to bring him up again along with his long-time frenemy, Kevin Owens.

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What is your take on this puzzling incident with Zack Ryder and Ronda Rousey? Feel free to share your views down below.

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Written by:

Sheron Singh is a WWE writer at Essentially Sports. She started watching and following the WWE when her father introduced it to her at the age of 6. Sheron has since been an avid fan and devotedly follows the sport.

Edited by:

Amal Joyce

“Like, Come On!” – 38-Year-Old Superstar Explains How Ronda Rousey’s World-Famous Image Made Life Tough for Wrestlers Like Him in WWE

“Oh, come on!” wrestler’s bafflement at unexpected wrestling restraint

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The problem of restricting creativity in WWE