Maxwell Jacob Friedman publicly responded to recent criticisms from Ronda Rousey regarding her booking in WWE. On the social media platform X, MJF addressed Rousey’s frustration over a 2018 program with Alexa Bliss, which Rousey stated was influenced by merchandise sales. Friedman asserted this was a standard industry reality, not an anomaly.
“It’s almost like pro wrestling much like any professional sport functions as a business. F—king crazy 🤯”, MJF stated.
This clash of philosophies highlights the central grievance of Rousey’s WWE tenure: the repeated sidelining of her primary creative goal for business-driven alternatives. Rousey has stated her main motivation for joining the company was a proposed storyline pitting her MMA Four Horsewomen against WWE’s version, featuring Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.
According to Rousey, WWE “dangled that carrot for my whole run and never let it happen,” a promise that remained unfulfilled through both of her stints with the promotion.
The persistent failure to launch the angle ultimately led Rousey to issue an ultimatum near the end of her second run, demanding a program with her fellow MMA Horsewoman, Shayna Baszler. Her statement, “I’m f—king leaving unless I can wrestle with Shayna [Baszler]”, resulted in a tag team run and subsequent feud between the two that concluded at SummerSlam in 2023, the only piece of the original Four Horsewomen concept to materialize.