** UPDATED ARTICLE **
Drew Gulak tweeted out the following response to Rousey’s claim:
Backstage at a WWE event in 2022, I saw Ronda talking with a group in the hallway. I stopped to say hi and shake all their hands, and in an attempt to shake her hand, I accidentally touched her drawstring. Complete accident, and one that I had apologized to her for the mishap.
** ORIGINAL ARTICLE **
She stated that no one around acted as if that was abnormal.
X user @rondarouseyszn posted a clip from Ronda Rousey’s interview with NewsNation. She spoke to the outlet about the sex trafficking allegations against Vince McMahon and the full interview is set to be released on 4/3.
In the clip, Rousey recounted a situation when current WWE talent Drew Gulak grabbed the string of her sweatpants. She added that no one in the vicinity reacted to what Gulak had allegedly done.
Rousey stated that Gulak continued walking down the hall afterwards. She later confronted him about it.
Bruce Prichard and another one of the writers and, God, I’ve forgot his name. Ah! I can’t believe I’ve forgot this guy’s name. It’ll come back to me but I was standing there and this guy that I was barely an acquaintance with, grabs the string of my sweatpants as I’m walking by, and I wasn’t even looking at him, and I looked down the hall and I was like — I don’t know if I can swear on this. Are you gonna bleep me? It’s a quote, okay? But this guy grabs the string of my sweatpants and nobody else reacts as if this is abnormal and he grabs it and he starts going down the hall and I’m like, ‘What the f*ck was that!? Why are you grabbing the string of my sweatpants? If my husband was standing here next to me, would you feel comfortable walking up to me and grabbing the string of my sweatpants?…’ And nobody around me acted as if it was abnormal. All the guys around me were just like, you know, this is part of the day and I’m like, if this guy is coming up to me and doing this kind of stuff to me when there’s other people around, what’s happening to these other girls when it’s not in the hallway or something like that? So that really, really put me on edge to not only is this behavior prevalent but it’s so prevalent that people don’t even realize it’s a problem anymore… Dude, I swear to God, I know exactly what he looks like and I am completely blanking on his name. Is this part of my concussion test? Drew Gulak! Drew Gulak! That’s who it was, yes. Yeah, I went and confronted him later and I was like, ‘If I ever hear about you putting your hands on any other woman like this or doing anything like this to me ever again, we’re gonna have a –’ you know, I’m editing myself — all the swear words out but we’re gonna have a problem and he was like, ‘No, no, no, you know, I’m glad that you said something to me.’ He just really backpedaled and everything like that but, it just put a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there and what’s considered acceptable and how to touch and treat the women in the hallways, in anywhere, but backstage.
Rousey has spoken candidly regarding her thoughts about the culture at WWE. In January, she tweeted that as long as Bruce Prichard is in the company, Vince McMahon will have his hands in the mix.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit the original source with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
