Eager to secure herself a singles match at WrestleMania 40, former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley was the first to declare herself for the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble. And while the event is still nearly two weeks away, Bayley has made it clear that if she wins the Women’s Royal Rumble match, she plans to challenge WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley.
Praise For Ripley
Speaking with The New York Post, Bayley shared praise for Ripley’s journey through WWE, which has resulted in her now being the most talked about woman on WWE programming.
“If I’m able to work with [Rhea] at WrestleMania, that would just be a dream match I never even thought of before,” Bayley said. “She is obviously untouchable. She is the most talked about woman on TV right now and she backs it up. She doesn’t just have the look. She doesn’t just have the body. She doesn’t just have – besides Damage CTRL – a badass group to align with. She’s so good and it makes me so mad. ‘I’m like why are you so good, you are so young.’ I can’t even throw a drop kick and she can do one over my head. Just little things that she does that she’s able to do and portray on TV is very hard to do and she does it with ease.”
Excluding past Royal Rumble matches, “The Role Model” and “The Eradicator” have only shared a ring on three other occasions. After teaming together in the 2022 Women’s WarGames match, Ripley and Bayley found themselves in opposite corners during a triple threat match to determine the number one contender to the WWE RAW Women’s Championship — a match that saw Bayley emerge victorious. The two later met again in March 2023 for a singles affair on RAW, in which Ripley picked up the win.
Should Bayley and Ripley face off at WrestleMania 40, it will mark only their second singles match.
“She carried that title on her back proudly,” Bayley said. “I’m gonna have to take it off of her and it will be an honor to do. It will be an honor, Rhea.”