Following WWE Survivor Series Ronda Rousey came in for heavy criticism on social media for her performance against Shotzi. Although the star retained her SmackDown Women’s Title, the match didn’t go off without a hitch.
Immediately after the match Rousey came under fire for her performance, while in the days after the show ‘Fire Ronda Rousey’ was trending on Twitter. Fans pointed to the star’s apparent indifference to her performances and two notable uncomfortable moments during her match with Shotzi. On one occasion Rousey was supposed to catch and turn a jumping Shotzi into some kind of slam, while she also appeared to almost block a DDT onto the ring apron, meaning Shotzi just fell to the floor.
Dutch Mantell Refuses To Blame Ronda Rousey
Speaking on ‘Story Time with Dutch Mantell,‘ the veteran explained why he was hesitant to call the DDT spot a “botch.”
“This is what I think happened. I don’t know if that was called in the back or Shotzi decided to do it on the fly but a move like that needs to be talked about. And I think what happened, I think Ronda let her go as far as she could, and I wouldn’t call this a botch because you only call a botch in what was intended to happen. Shotzi thought she’s going to DDT Ronda and Ronda had no intention of being DDTed to the mat outside. She held that top rope the whole time and when she went down she just held it so Shotzi took the bump in the floor,”
Mantell added that he actually lay the blame for the incident with Shotzi, rather than the former UFC star.
“I don’t blame Ronda. I mean if there’s anybody to be blamed it’s Shotzi. But you could blame Ronda a little bit, you know, if she didn’t want to take it just have her do something to her and when she attempts to do it, reach up and poke her in the eye or something to stop it. But they went ahead. They both ended up laying there like two leftover steaks thrown out around the butcher shop and you couldn’t use them anymore,”
Ronda Rousey also recently found support in the form of praise from WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. The Nature Boy defended the SmackDown Women’s Champion describing her as “fabulous.”
H/t to Sportskeeda