Ronda Rousey has described pro wrestling as the purest form of fight choreography, framing her career in wrestling as the natural end point of a long creative evolution.
Speaking to Whistle, Rousey traced a through-line from her Olympic judo career to MMA to acting to wrestling, explaining how each step prepared her for the next.
“I feel like MMA was a good segue because being purely an athlete was doing judo at the Olympics. You know, being an athlete that also has to entertain was MMA and having to learn how to be on camera and stuff like that, which I used to be petrified of public speaking. Then that was kind of like a good segue, and then I started acting more in like action films and stuff like that, or I could like do fight choreography and things like that, and that kind of like segued me into pro wrestling, which I feel like is the purest form of fight choreography.”
She elaborated on what sets wrestling apart from film in how fights function as storytelling.
“In the choreography, I really like to mix that extreme realism of MMA, but the huge set pieces of movies, and a lot of the storytelling within the fight itself that you see in pro wrestling. A lot of times in film, you’ll see, ‘Let’s take a break from the story to have this quick fight scene.’ In pro wrestling, I feel it’s the purest form of fight choreography in that you have to tell the story in the fight itself.”
Rousey has stated she is effectively retired from wrestling. Her most recent in-ring appearance came at AEW Revolution, where she appeared in support of Marina Shafir.
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