Ronda Rousey Confirms She Refused To Tap Out To Becky Lynch’s Armbar In WWE
The reason Rousey would not tap out is because of her mother’s strict views on it.
The latter half of Ronda Rousey’s first run with WWE was centered around her storyline with Becky Lynch that culminated in the main event of WrestleMania 35, where Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte Flair clashed for the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships.
Lynch won the match with a backslide pin on Rousey. While guest appearing on The Lapsed Fan podcast, Rousey confirmed that she refused to tap out to Lynch because her mother would have disowned her for it. Rousey tapping out to Lynch’s armbar was proposed for their scheduled Survivor Series 2018 bout. Lynch previously said Rousey turned that down for WrestleMania for the same reason Rousey gave.
Rousey’s mother is AnnMaria De Mars, the first American woman to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships. Rousey said the only person she was letting choke her out in WWE was Shayna Baszler, and Baszler did that at SummerSlam 2023.
“It was proposed that I tap out to her (Becky Lynch) armbar at Survivor Series, and I said, ‘My mother would disown me.’ Anytime anyone’s actually ever arm-barred me in real life, I’ve just let them dislocate it and I limp arm out. That’s why my ligaments are all f*cked up in this arm. So, I’m not gonna do it. Anytime anyone ever choked me out in competition, I just went out, and I don’t tap. I no tap motherf*cker. That’s how it is.
The only person I said I would ever allow to submit me was Shayna (Baszler), and that’s why I wanted to go out, so that’s how I went out. I didn’t tap out. Let her choke me out.”
Speaking about the MMA Rules match with Baszler, Rousey said the wrestlers backstage loved it.
“Well, I mean, I love that match (with Shayna Baszler at WWE SummerSlam 2023) because, it’s funny, it was super over with all the wrestlers in the back. I’ve never got more compliments from more people. Yeah, that was more at the point where I’m like, this is for us. Screw you guys.”
Elsewhere during this podcast appearance, Rousey further opened up about the creative collaborations during her run(s) in WWE. For more on that, click here.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Lapsed Fan with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
