Ronda Rousey's mother emerges as hero in hilarious anecdote from fellow WWE Superstar

No matter where you are in the world of professional wrestling, chances are that someone helped you get there.

Whether it was through training and guidance or a source of incredible inspiration, nobody generally ends up in a position of prominence in the industry without something or somebody helping to push them along.

Whether it’s Hulk Hogan and everything and everyone that ushered in the Hulkamania/Rock n’ Wrestling era of the 1980s, or Stone Cold Steve Austin and D-Generation X playing a role in the Attitude Era, there are always contributing factors and individuals.

Shayna Baszler proved that theory and then some in quite an entertaining way this week when speaking in an interview with WWE UK.

The 39-year-old has spoken previously about the huge impact Ronda Rousey has had on her career but is it Rousey who is claiming credit for Baszler’s sensational rise? It appears not.

In an amusing anecdote, Baszler admitted it is actually Rousey’s mother, the former Judo athlete, AnnMaria De Mars, who is throwing her arm up in the air to take the acclaim for Shayna’s success – and it’s all thanks, it seems, to a chance piece of advice via a throwaway comment some years ago in their home in Venice, California.

Baszler explains:

“If it was up to Ronda’s mother, she would take full credit for the way my life and career has gone! There was a time where I was living with Ronda in a house in Venice and I happened to be watching wrestling on television, a RAW or a SmackDown. Ronda’s mother came over and everyone got up to greet her, but I didn’t, because I was fully enthralled. She came to the living room and was watching me watching wrestling, and she goes ‘you are not watching this, you are studying this’ - and she said ‘keep that in mind’ and then walked away. She credits that as the moment that pushed me in this direction!”

It appears, then, that we have an all-new unsung hero to thank for the emergence of the bitter, battling Queen of Spades. The former NXT Women’s Champion has been in fine form since signing with WWE, rising through NXT before embarking on a major ‘main roster’ feud with RAW Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch.

The two are scheduled to meet for Lynch’s championship at WrestleMania next weekend.