Ronda Rousey Details Talk With Vince McMahon After Feeling "Super Defensive" Upon WWE Return

While Ronda Rousey initially began her first WWE run as a popular babyface, fan sentiment towards the former UFC fighter changed during the final months of her run and she was roundly booed when opposite the incredibly popular Becky Lynch. 

Rousey has noted she took the boos personally and she held onto that resentment when she returned to the company earlier this year at the Royal Rumble. This resulted in the former Raw Women's Champion, who was supposed to be a babyface, acting like a heel during her first appearance on Raw in three years. 

Speaking on her YouTube channel about her return, Rousey admitted she was "super defensive" as soon as she made her way to the ring in the Royal Rumble but a chat with Vince McMahon after her Raw return allowed Ronda to change her perspective. 

"I really missed wrestling, I did. And I wanted to come back," Rousey began. "I knew I was coming back, or I thought I did, to the animosity that I left. So I came out feeling super defensive from the beginning. At the Rumble, it wasn't like that -- but I just assumed the reaction was from the surprise. So coming out to Raw and Becky was gonna be there, I was like, 'Okay, this is when they're going to troll on me the most. This is when they're going to try and like chant 'Becky' every single time I open my mouth. This is the time they're going to start like screaming the most hurtful things they can. This is when they're going to start bringing the posters that say the most hurtful things they can think of. 

"And so I came out anticipating that. I mean, everything went fine. Of course, there was like those three or four guys on the floor that were just like screaming as I was talking. And I really just had to concentrate to like block them out," she continued.

"I got through it and I came out and Heyman was like, 'You did great, but I'm going to tell you, he's going to tell you one thing, he's going to tell you to smile.' I'm like, okay. So I went and talked to Vince. He was like, 'That was fantastic. Just -- you need to smile.' I was telling him like, 'You know, they were booing me on the way out of every stadium.' He's like, 'Yeah, but they've forgiven you for that.' I'm like, 'Well, I haven't forgiven them.' And he goes, 'But it's not about you. It's about them.' It was like such a good point that I'd been thinking about myself and how this relates to myself, and I was forgetting that this is a show about entertaining them.

"I feel like I got the jitters out. I got my first performance out of the way. I got my first promo out of the way. So going into SmackDown next Friday, I'm like okay -- I'm not going to come out all guarded and defensive. I'm just going to go out and like actually feel the crowd and let them be a part of it."

After winning the 2022 Royal Rumble, Rousey chose Charlotte Flair as her WrestleMania 38 opponent and they will face off for the SmackDown Women's Championship on night one of The Showcase Of The Immortals. 

H/T to F4W Online