10 Things We Learned From WWE 24: The Year Of Ronda Rousey

7. Brian Kendrick Didn't Train Her The WWE Style

Ronda Rousey Sasha Banks
WWE Network

After Ronda had whetted her wrestling appetite (her 'wrappetite', if you will) during an unorthodox hen night spent at the Performance Center, she got on the blower to best friend Marina Shafir's hubby Roderick Strong - himself at Full Sail - so she could start practicing for real.

The Undisputed Era groupie put Ronda in touch which veteran Brian Kendrick, and the former Spanky took her under his wing for some personalised one-on-one training. Significantly, Rousey was able to avoid being taught the banal WWE style by rote, with Kendrick instead focusing on bringing out the best of her innate attributes.

He muses that there's no point trying to turn Ronda into someone she isn't - in other words, normalising her as an identikit part of the roster. It was by retaining her legitimacy and her reality that Rousey was able to transcend everybody else almost immediately.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.