Ronda Rousey: As long as Bruce Prichard is at WWE, Vince McMahon is involved

With Vince McMahon’s resignation from all his roles at TKO Group last night (Jan. 26) in the wake of allegations of sexual abuse made against him in Janel Grant’s federal lawsuit, attention has turned to what other changes could be coming to WWE as its parent company tries to assure partners, sponsors & consumers that nothing like what McMahon is accused of doing to Grant can happen again.

Ronda Rousey is publicly telling Ari Emanuel & his team at TKO where they need to start — with Raw & SmackDown Executive Director Bruce Prichard:

Prichard is a pro wrestling lifer whose WWE career began in the 1980s. On-screen, he’s most well-known as his Brother Love character. Behind the scenes, he’s long been thought of as McMahon’s “right-hand man” across multiple stints with the company. His latest tenure with the company began in 2019 when he was brought back as a Senior Vice President and eventually took control of WWE’s two main roster shows after Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman’s time in charge of SmackDown and Raw.

With John Laurinaitis ousted after the first round of hush money/abuse allegations against McMahon in 2022, and Kevin Dunn’s resignation having preceded this current scandal, Prichard is the person most closely associated with McMahon still working in WWE.

For her part, Rousey seemed to sour on WWE throughout her time with the company — particularly the UFC Hall of Famer’s second run in 2022-2023. In an Instagram posted not long before she wrapped up her time with WWE at last August’s SummerSlam, Ronda wrote that the operation was “hamstrung by a bunch of octogenarians who still think they know how to be hip while putting less than 5 minutes of thought a week into each women’s storyline.”

Rousey’s claim that Prichard acts on Vince’s behalf in his absence also aligns with rumors & reports during McMahon’s 2022 controversy-induced “retirement” from WWE.

Given her relationship with TKO’s other brand, it’s conceivable that Rousey’s take will carry more weight than others who may have called for Prichard’s ouster as part of post-Vince housecleaning.

We’ll see what TKO’s next move is.