Ronda Rousey unexpectedly entered the chat about Vince McMahon’s resignation from TKO by calling for the removal of one of his longtime right-hand men running WWE’s creative.
“Bruce Prichard is basically Vince’s avatar, if he’s still around Vince still has a hand in the business,” Rousey posted to X on Saturday. “Vince was still running things through Bruce when he was ‘gone’ before.”
The 78-year-old McMahon stepped down from his role as executive chairman of WWE’s new parent company TKO on Friday, a day after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in Connecticut federal court accusing McMahon of sexual abuse and sex trafficking her to other WWE executives.
Prichard, 60, is currently the executive director of Raw and SmackDown and plays a major role in WWE’s on-screen creative, which has been headed by McMahon’s son-in-law Paul “Triple H” Levesque since the billionaire began his six-month “retirement” in June 2022.
Prichard has not been linked to any of the accusations related to McMahon’s alleged sexual indiscretions, and it appears Rousey is speaking strictly about his presence potentially giving McMahon a conduit to maintaining some influence over the company’s talent and creative process.
Prichard has been involved in pro wrestling since the 1980s and spent multiple stints by McMahon’s side in WWE, the latest beginning in 2019.
Rousey worked two stints with WWE from 2017-19 and then most recently from January 2022 to August 2023.
She is a multi-time world champion with the company.
She was with WWE for the longtime promotor’s initial retirement, which was prompted by a Wall Street Journal report revealing the then-WWE board of directors was investigating hush money payments to women made by McMahon.
Prichard was initially named interim head of talent relations for WWE — a job that is now part of Levesque’s duties — and the rumors at the time, along with a report by the Wrestling Observer was that the move was made so McMahon still had a say in decisions during his first hiatus from the company.
He was replacing John Laurinaitis, who was ousted after his involvement in the hush money and sexual abuse allegations against McMahon came to light.
McMahon returned in January to pursue a sale of WWE — ultimately agreeing to a transaction with Endeavor for $9.2 billion last April.
Endeavor would merge WWE with the UFC to form the publicly traded TKO, which has a $21.4 billion valuation.
Rousey is a former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and the first female inductee into their Hall of Fame.
