Alexa Bliss explains why Ronda Rousey’s recent comments upset the WWE locker room

Over the weekend, comments Ronda Rousey made about her WWE run in an interview were at the center of an internet controversy. She called wrestling fans “ungrateful” and wrestling itself “fake fighting”. Reactions came from all over.

The ones from the women Rousey worked with on the roster came mostly via Twitter. Until now.

Alexa Bliss, who did respond to Ronda’s use of the ‘f’ word on social media, got a chance to give a more in-depth answer when our old pal Brent Brookhouse asked her about it for CBS Sports.

Here’s what Bliss had to say:

“I’ll just start by saying I like Ronda. We’ve always gotten along, I have a lot of respect for her and what she does and what she’s been through. What she does in MMA and UFC, I’ve always been super supportive and everything like that. It was just the use of the word ‘fake.’ Especially because we welcomed Ronda with open arms. We all wanted to see her succeed, and whenever we would have a match, we would respect her UFC background and respect how she did certain things. We wanted to make an amazing story with amazing matches while meshing both styles of WWE and UFC together. I thought every girl that worked with her did an amazing job of that.

But, with that, we had a whole documentary based on my concussions and how I didn’t know if I was ever going to be medically-cleared. The thing is, you know, you’re only as good as the person you’re in the ring with. When you kind of bash the fans who were always really supportive and say what we do is fake, it’s kind of disrespectful when we were so respectful of what she did coming in and we were respectful of her in WWE. Everyone was willing to help her succeed, you know? She did a lot for us, but we also did a lot for her. A lot of bodies laid on the path she walked on. So, to say what we do is fake is really unfair. Yes, the finish is scripted, we say that; it’s protagonist, antagonist and conflict resolution. It’s a story we’re telling. My whole thing is ... if she comes back to WWE? Great. We would all love to work with her again, I’m sure. Just limit the use of the ‘F-word.’”

It’s obviously a more civil tone than Nia Jax took on Saturday, and pretty understandable. While I see the argument that Rousey is just calling a spade a spade, it’s also not that hard to just not do a thing you know a lot of people you worked with find disrespectful.

Of course, Ronda wants us to think she was just “working”. Even though reports indicate there are no plans for her to come back, so the only goal she was “working” towards was getting herself some attention at the expense of the business she seems embarrassed to have been a part of for a year.

Check out Brent’s entire chat with Alexa here. They also cover WWE’s new Quibi series Fight Like a Girl and, most importantly, Larry Steve.