Ronda Rousey, WWE Superstars Lash Out At ‘Ungrateful’ Fans: An Oral History

Ronda Rousey recently made headlines for expressing frustrations with WWE’s at-times difficult fanbase during an appearance on Wild Ride with Steve-O.

Rousey did not hold back with real-life frustrations with WWE fans turning on her after a warm welcome, which is a story just about every major star in WWE is familiar with.

Said Rousey on her WWE exit:

“So it’s just like … what am I doing it for if I’m not being able to spend my time and energy on my family, but instead spending my time and my energy on a bunch of f*cking ungrateful fans that don’t even appreciate me? I love performing. I love the girls. I love being out there … but, at the end of the day, I was just like, ‘F*ck these fans, dude.’ My family loves me and they appreciate me and I want all my energy to go into them. So that was my decision at the end of the day. It’s like, ‘Hey girls. Love what you’re doing. I’m gonna try and take all my momentum and push you guys as far as I can … fly little birds, fly! I’m going f*cking home!’ And that was basically it.”

WWE fans are permitted to express themselves in any way they feel necessary. What makes them unique, and such a dearly missed aspect of weekly television, is their unpredictable nature of whom they decide to support/antagonize and how.

Fan animosity toward Rousey became so palpable during her run, it was eventually adopted as part of Rousey’s WrestleMania storyline with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. At one point, Rousey cut a worked-shoot promo on fans that, in hindsight, may resemble her actual feelings toward WWE’s more rabid supporters.

“It’s not a [expletive] promo, it’s not an act,” said Rousey.

“I’m not going out there and doing their [expletive] act anymore. They can say it’s part of the act to try to save face with everybody else, but it’s not an act. I’m going out there and doing whatever the hell I want. And, they can explain it however they want—but [expletive] ’em. Everybody. WWE Universe included.”

Rousey is not the first WWE Superstar to express frustration with a fanbase often described as obnoxious, flippy-floppy and ungrateful. In fact, the relationship between WWE Superstars and the WWE Universe is a complicated one.

On one hand, celebrities tend to give far too much public attention to their detractors, particularly on social media. Oftentimes, public figures will choose to only publicly address the most extreme and insane comments because it creates the perception that anybody who dislikes them must be a crazy troll, thereby making themselves a sympathetic figure.

But given the amount of big names in pro wrestling that have come forward with horror stories and cautionary tales about the “toxic” and volatile pro wrestling fanbase, it’s only fair that fans share some of the blame as well. With social media culture overtaking how the sport is both consumed and analyzed, letting paying customers do and say whatever they want is increasingly reckless advice.

WWE, AEW Wrestlers Lash out against Pro Wrestling Fans

“I think about [the divide between NXT and AEW fans] a lot because it’s so toxic, and when I say toxic, I mean social media.” (Cody, Busted Open Radio—h/t Wrestling Inc)

“My brother & I decided to leave Twitter permanently a few days ago. We realized it took precious time away from our families who’ve already sacrificed enough time as it is. Also, we’ve noticed how it seems to stifle our creativity. Lastly, after taking numerous breaks this past year from Twitter, we found it to be healing to our mental health, so getting off completely was the next step.” (Matt Jackson, Instagram—h/t Newsweek)

“Thx for all the love We are getting from everyone wondering about Matt and Nick! [sic] They are fine and just need a well deserved break from the toxicity on here! They are the most sweetest most genuine guys ever! They don’t deserve the hate they get! Love u all” (Papa Buck, Twitter)

“The fan got too smart. It’s very difficult these days with the internet, and social media and everything, to not follow this business and not be subjected to the spoilers. It’s just different. The fans have gotten behind the curtain a little bit too much, and I think, maybe a little bit more than they wanted to.” (Glenn “Disco Inferno” Gilbertti, WINCLY Podcast)

“It’s hard being a wrestling fan sometimes. We’re all just going out there doing our best to entertain you guys. We care about you guys. We want you to enjoy yourselves and it hurts when you don’t like it. We feel your pain. We’re all in this together. I’ll do all I can. Just tune into my Twitter. I’ll be entertaining there.” (Becky Lynch, Forbes)

“Back in, like, 2014 when we were doing the super Rocky IV. You know, very patriotic towards Russia. To me there’s nothing wrong with being patriotic to your country. Well all of the United States of America decided to come onto my Instagram, and if I would post a picture of my nephew that was like literally three weeks old, they would be like, ‘He’s the ugliest baby in the world! We hope he dies! USA! USA!’” (Lana, The Matthew Aaron Show)

“[Racism] is something on the regular that we deal with all the time, every day. It’s crazy the type of negativity I get. One of things that bothered me is that people feel like they can say whatever they want, be as disrespectful as they want; and talent has no right or room to respond back or should just be quiet or take the higher road. I feel like you can state your opinion and still take the high road. You can still check people without being disrespectful.” (Naomi, Women’s Wrestling Weekly)

“The crowd is not as diverse of a segment of society as it used to be. When you look at the crowd these days, I see a lot of fans and it looks like comic book conventions…it used to be the crowd didn’t look like that. There used to be a lot more hot girls in the crowd.”

“They’re the goofiest bunch of people I ever met. I genuinely hate them. I really do. I love the fact that they’re fans, but I hate them.”

“I felt like they were the most unfocused group of fans I ever encountered. And it was just really, really confusing to me because I couldn’t even understand why they’re there. Why are they paying their money to come watch a show that they’re not even watching? It just baffled me.” (Batista, E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness)

“I think you should express your opinions, but it doesn’t hurt anybody if you have a shred of respect. Have a little respect for the performers who were out there killing themselves for you.” (Roman Reigns, Forbes)

“If you look at the geopolitical climate closely and you look at everything that is happening out in the world, our fanbase needs to do a better job, I think, to get along in a way and that starts at the top. I can go ahead and say that I think a lot of things get screwed up with what was done with me in WWE but if I was to be in a room with Triple H at this moment, I would shake his hand and would probably give him a hug outside of everything that has happened.”

“I was everybody’s favorite. Those same people that are panning Hell In a Cell, and talking about how Seth Rollins is not cool, are those same people that were clamoring for me to be the guy to face Brock Lesnar going into WrestleMania. I don’t know what changed as far as the fact that, except for the fact that I became the person that they wanted me to be, and then they hated me for it. It’s a very fickle audience.” (Seth Rollins, After the Bell with Corey Graves)

“I don’t remember being this negative as a kid. I mean, I liked things and I didn’t like things, but I got over it. It’s a negative culture.” (Drew McIntyre, Forbes) 

“The loud and obnoxious yelling and taunts from some attention starved morons put a damper on the [2013 WWE Hall of Fame], especially when Maria Menounos was inducting Bob Backlund. The same stereotypes that many fans detest that are unfairly, at times, hung on them from the main stream media was well deserved by a handful of tools who just had to be heard and noticed.” (Jim Ross, JRSBBQ.com)

“It’s just those super ultra fans in their basement that are trying to reject it, which it is what it is, you know, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to watch it.” (Rusev, After the Bell with Corey Graves)

“In my opinion, if you like what we do, it’ll turn out the way you want it to. We’re in a culture of complainers.” (Luke Gallows, Forbes)