Summary

Ronda Rousey says she once mapped out an extended singles program with Becky Lynch after WrestleMania 35, only for the idea to lose momentum by the time she returned to WWE.

Rousey said the plan was built around a full-year story that would bring their rivalry to a clear finish. Instead, that match never happened. Becky Lynch went on to beat Rousey and Charlotte Flair in the WrestleMania 35 main event, and Rousey later stepped away from WWE television before returning in 2022.

That unfinished rivalry has remained one of the bigger loose ends from that era, especially with WWE having already leaned into the tension between the two before the triple threat. It also fits with how Rousey later described her second WWE run as bringing more anxiety than enjoyment.

Quote from Ronda Rousey

In comments to Zack Heydorn, Rousey described how detailed the pitch was:

"After WrestleMania, I literally printed out a whole presentation for them, for me and Becky — the singles match."

Rousey continued:

"How we would do it, how we would plan it out and rehearse these things and have them woven throughout the show. To do something really exceptional and new, and then Vince and them were like, 'oh yeah, this is a great idea, this is great.' Then I went and had my baby, I came back, and they were like, well, we talked about that a year ago."

Rousey later went on to say:

"They said, 'We love this plan, it's an epic showdown with you and Becky that's going to build all year.' I wanted to make basically a final showdown of me and Becky woven throughout the entirety of the show. It would summarize the entire rivalry for anyone watching it for the first time. Someone could watch it and not need to watch everything that came beforehand. It would sum it up and then deliver the ending. I thought it was fucking incredible and it was why I came back."

Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey never got the one-on-one payoff

A Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey singles match would have given WWE a direct follow-up to one of its biggest women's rivalries, but that payoff never materialized. When Rousey returned in 2022, her program shifted toward Charlotte Flair, and the teased Lynch match stayed in the background.

For fans, the main takeaway is simple: one of WWE's most obvious post-WrestleMania stories was pitched internally and still never reached the screen. Rousey is also set to return to combat sports on Saturday, when she faces Gina Carano in the cage.

Sources

Ronda Rousey while speaking with Zack Heydorn of SI's The Takedown