Ronda Rousey is speaking out about the WWE following the recent allegations with former CEO Vince McMahon. Janel Grant accused McMahon of sexual abuse. Rousey is calling out a toxic culture at the organization and her own uncomfortable encounter with Drew Gulak.
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Speaking with NewNation, Rousey said she had an uncomfortable exchange with Gulak backstage. "One time, I was waiting to go to talk to Triple H in the writer's room or something," Rousey said. "I was standing there with Bruce Prichard and another one of the writers, and God, I forgot his name. Ah, I can't believe I forgot this guy's name! It'll come back to me."
As she walked by, Gulak allegedly grabbed Rousy's string to her sweatpants. It took Rousey by surprise as she didn't even really know Gulak at all for one, and for another, it was unacceptable. She said, "And I wasn't even looking at him. I looked down the hall, and I was like, I don't know if I can swear on this. Are you gonna bleep me? It's a quote, okay? But this guy grabs the string on my sweatpants, and nobody else reacts as if this is abnormal."
She continued, "And he starts going down the hall. I'm just like, 'What the f**k was that? Why are you grabbing the string of my sweatpants? If my husband was standing here next to me, would you feel comfortable walking up to me and grabbing the string of my sweatpants?' But nobody around me acted as if it was abnormal.
Ronda Rousey Calls Out WWE
What shocked Rousey the most was that no one batted an eye. The wrestler said the culture at the WWE allowed such encounters to take place.
She said, "Like all the guys around me were just like, this is part of the day, and I'm like if this guy is coming up to me and doing this kind of stuff to me when there's other people around like what's happening to these other girls when it's not in a hallway or something like that? So that really, really put me on edge to not only is this behavior prevalent, but it's so prevalent that people don't even realize a problem anymore."
She said that she ended up confronting him afterwards. She said, "Yes. Yeah, I went and confronted him later. And I was like, if I ever hear about you putting your hands on any other woman like this or doing anything like this to me ever again, we're gonna have a, you know, I'm editing myself all the swear words out, but we're gonna have a problem."
He ended up backing down and apologizing. She said, "And he was like, no, no, I'm glad that you said something to me. He just really backpedaled and everything like that, but it just put a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there and what's considered acceptable and how to touch and treat the women in the hallways and anywhere but backstage, especially."
