Summary

Stephanie McMahon says Ronda Rousey was the one who pushed to finish their story on the grand stage, leading to their mixed tag match at WrestleMania 34.

Rousey teamed with Kurt Angle against Stephanie and Triple H in what became her first professional wrestling match. According to Stephanie, the bout happened because Rousey wanted to follow up on the WrestleMania 31 segment that first put them opposite each other on WWE television.

Quote from Stephanie McMahon

Speaking on *What's Your Story*, Stephanie explained how the match came together:

"I'm a big fan of hers. She was the one who requested the match. It was a couple of years later. Originally, she was going to come in sooner, but there was a movie or something. You [Triple H] signed her, and Ronda was the one who said, 'We need to finish the story with Steph.' She is the reason I ever had a WrestleMania match. It was her first match and we had to really train and put it together. It was stiff [laughs]. Safe, but stiff,"

How the WrestleMania 34 match came together

That detail adds a little more context to one of WWE's biggest celebrity crossover programs of that era. Rousey had already crossed paths with Stephanie and Triple H at WrestleMania 31 alongside The Rock, so the WrestleMania 34 tag match gave WWE a direct payoff to that earlier setup.

It also fits with how seriously WWE treated Rousey's arrival. Stephanie said the match required real preparation because it was Rousey's first bout, and the finished product helped establish her quickly as more than a one-off attraction.

What it meant for Ronda Rousey's WWE run

WrestleMania 34 ended up being more than a celebrity showcase, because it became the starting point for Rousey's full-time WWE run. She later won the Raw Women's Championship that same year, and the WrestleMania match now looks even more important as the first step in that push.

The interview also produced Triple H's comments about Stephanie McMahon changing WWE's culture, giving a little more background on how both sides of the family viewed her role inside the company.

Sources

Stephanie McMahon while speaking on the What's Your Story podcast