Ronda Rousey addresses future in pro wrestling after leaving WWE; Josh Barnett welcomes working with her

Ronda Rousey has no plans to return to WWE but she may still explore future matches in professional wrestling under the right circumstances.

The former UFC champion, who became a superstar in WWE after her fighting career was over, closed the chapter on her book with the promotion after her most recent contract expired and she ended up at odds with WWE executive Bruce Prichard. In the aftermath of her exit from WWE, Rousey appeared at an independent wrestling show in southern California, which donated proceeds to help the victims of the tragic fires in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Due to her history with concussions and plans to expand her family with husband Travis Browne, Rousey doesn’t expect that she’ll ever return to pro wrestling on a full-time basis again but she’s definitely open to opportunities like the one she had this past November after leaving WWE.

“I feel like that’s the only way I’d really want to wrestle for right now,” Rousey said at a Q&A promoting her autobiography Our Fight. “We’re trying to have another baby right now so I’m trying focus on family and stuff. If we have another baby and I come back, I would probably just want to do local indie shows just so that I can get together with my friends and put together a match and prepare as much as we want and do all the moves that we want and do it for as long as we want and not have to work with all these restrictions and pressure and opinions and stuff like that. To be able to showcase these talents that are not getting the kind of spotlight that they deserve.

“That Pro Wrestling Revolver show, we got to do as a fundraiser for the Lahaina fire victims or survivors. That would be more of the stuff that I’d like to do, the smaller more intimate crowds.”

Ideally, Rousey says she would like to have more control over her matches as far as performing certain moves or having time to develop a story with an opponent that probably wouldn’t fit in the time restraints required by organizations like WWE.

“It just feels like more of a good time than something where I couldn’t have that kind of input or say in what was going on,” Rousey said.

While there would certainly be no shortage of options for Rousey if she returns to pro wrestling, one promotion that welcomes the chance to work with her is Bloodsport — the organization owned and operated by former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.

Barnett’s brand of pro wrestling is different from what happens in organizations like WWE and he’s been able to feature a number of high profile fighters on his shows over the year.

In fact his next card slated for June 22 in Japan features ex-UFC champion Quinton” Rampage” Jackson and UFC Hall of Famer Kazushi Sakuraba in matches alongside Barnett in the main event against current AEW star Jon Moxley.

Barnett also featured his longtime student and former UFC fighter Shayna Baszler on one of his recent shows so he knows Rousey would fit right in at Bloodsport.

“We know each other so if that was something that was an itch she wanted to scratch, she knows how to get a hold of me,” Barnett told MMA Fighting. “She’s got a lot on her plate already. She’s a mom. She’s a part of the whole Browsey Acres and everything that they’re doing out there. The product is fantastic. When we’re at the distillery and we’re doing a barbecue and getting together, we always order stuff straight from Travis and we cook all their stuff. I’ve got it in my freezer so I back what they do in that regard.

“Ronda, she’s done a ton of stuff. If she wanted to get back into pro wrestling, she wanted to do some one-off stuff, I couldn’t think of any place better to allow her to be her at her utmost than our arena. You never know. To my knowledge, it’s not at the moment, not on her mind, probably not on her radar.”

Beyond his relationship with Baszler, Barnett has also featured Marina Shafir on past Bloodsport shows and she remains one of Rousey’s closest friends. In fact, Shafir performed with Rousey on that independent wrestling card this past November so Barnett feels like it would be a perfect fit if the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion ever wanted to perform again.

“It would be the easiest place to slot her into a show anyways,” Barnett said. “With Marina [Shafir] being such a regular with our shows, you could easily see one showing up if you saw the other.”