Kurt Angle gives Ronda Rousey plenty of praise for her first year working with WWE.
Rousey's time in WWE saw her not only win the Raw Women's Championship but also compete in not one, but two marquee matches at WrestleMania, one of them including Angle. Rousey's first WrestleMania match saw her team with Angle to defeat both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Speaking to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Angle said he views Rousey's first year with the company as being better than his first year with the company as well as Brock Lesnar's first year with WWE.
"She did an excellent job. The one thing Ronda didn?t do that she could/will do if she comes back, is that she never mastered the business. Because she wasn?t in that long enough and what she did that whole year is incomparable. She dominated and she put on great performances? but we had to tell her, this is what you?re going to do here, this is what you?re going to do there. We had to give her step by step instructions and go over it with her for multiple days, so she would be ready for the match, so she knew everything that was gonna go on. In the business once you get experience, which Ronda was getting it in the end before she left; you learn how to improvise and work on the fly. You come up with 50 percent of the match and then the other 50 percent you make it up as you go along...Ronda didn?t get the opportunity to learn that but what she did in her first year, I would even say she had a better first year than Brock Lesnar or myself," Angle said.
"I think she did incredibly well. But I think that WWE did an incredible job getting her ready for it? Ronda Rousey isn?t just a plus for the women, she was a plus for the whole company," Angle continued. "Whatever amount she got paid, I am sure it was a lot, she deserved it. Ronda is a household name, everybody knows who she is, everybody loves her and she made a big impact in the business and she deserves to have that notoriety. She?s one of the biggest names we?ve ever had, you can?t deny that. She was easy to work with, I love the girl, I consider her my sister."
Rousey has yet to wrestle since she lost the Raw Women's Championship to Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania 35.
You can check out the full interview in the video at the top of the page. Credit to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture for the quotes.