Out of the ring. Ronda Rousey is suspended indefinitely after she attacked a WWE official at SummerSlam.
Athletes Turned TV and Movie Stars
According to the WWE, the incident occurred after the 35-year-old mixed martial artist lost the women’s title match to Liv Morgan on Saturday, July 30. In video footage from the ring, Rousey grabbed referee Dan Engler by the arm and flipped him over her shoulder. Once Engler, 44, was on the floor, the Olympian pinned him down as the crowd cheered, until another official came over to break up the dispute.
An official statement from WWE shared via the company’s website reads, “Ronda Rousey has been fined an undisclosed amount and will be suspended.” The pro wrestling corporation’s statement explained that the athlete’s actions were the result of her belief that the referee “missed Liv Morgan tapping out to the Armbar while he counted the pinfall.”
After SummerSlam, Rousey took to social media to criticize WWE for favoritism. “Hey @wwe if you guys could stop screwing me to put over your golden girls at every major ppv [pay-per-view], that’d be greaaaaaat,” she captioned a carousel of Instagram photos of her and Morgan, 28.
Morgan, for her part, celebrated her victory despite the controversy. “AND STILL SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPION,” she wrote via Instagram, alongside photos of her at the July event. “But NEW baddest woman on the planet,” she continued, referencing a descriptor used for Rousey in the pro wrestling world.
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However, some don’t think the New Jersey native’s victory lap was earned. “Well, @YaOnlyLivvOnce won the championship by taking advantage of the situation and retained it by being a cheating coward. @RondaRousey deserves justice,” WWE television host Greg Miller wrote via Twitter on Saturday. Rousey retweeted the post.
The two women previously faced off at the Money in the Bank event on July 2, where Morgan defeated the UFC alum, earning her the Smackdown champ title. Ahead of their rematch, the relative newbie told TMZ her feelings about her competitor.
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“Ronda, I respect you. You’ve done so much for women in sports and women in WWE,” she told the outlet. “But I love this [belt] more than you, b—h. So, this title is coming home with me.”
The former Riott Squad member added that the feels extra pressure to “represent the company” given her new title. “I am the Smackdown Women’s Champion. There’s layers to that. It’s not just WWE Superstar Liv Morgan anymore,” she said.
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