Brian Kendrick has said that he was in charge of coaching Ronda Rousey prior to her joining WWE and preparing her to be a professional wrestler.
In a recent episode on the “Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast,” Kendrick stated that the opportunity came about through connections he developed in the industry, specifically through Roderick Strong.
“The Ronda training came about because of Roderick Strong’s wife [Marina Shafir] and Ronda go way back. So, Ronda was thinking about getting into pro wrestling, Roddy said, ‘Spanky lives out in LA,’ and so I get a text from Ronda Rousey”
Brian Kendrick via Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast
“She reached out to me and we started training.”
Brian Kendrick via Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast
Kendrick said that Rousey’s agent then initiated contact with WWE, which resulted in her official joining the company. However, this isn’t the first time he’s collaborated with the former “WWE SmackDown” Women’s Champion. He was apparently called in to produce Rousey’s Survivor Series match against Shotzi Blackheart after she reportedly asked him to do so. Since then, he has been retained for freelance production work.
Kendrick has not only coached Rousey, but he was also involved in training Bad Bunny, which led to him being involved in putting together of the musician’s match versus Damien Priest at Backlash. The prospects came his way despite the fact that AEW fired him before his first match when videos of him promoting anti-Semitic and white nationalist conspiracy theories reappeared online.
h/t Wrestling Inc
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