Rhea Ripley addressed reports that she is no longer in the United States due to work visa issues. In a video uploaded to social media, the former NXT Women’s Champion clarified that she’s still in the US. As seen below, she accompanied a clip of herself at home with a message reading, “Yo wrestling world…still in America…”
Confusion Over Rhea Ripley’s Status
Conflicting reports had surfaced as to why Rhea Ripley had lost her championship to Charlotte Flair. At first, it was speculated that Flair had reclaimed the title in order to help bolster NXT’s ratings in their ratings war with AEW Dynamite.
However, separate reports suggested that her loss may have been related to her work visa needing renewing. According to these, Ripley was set to renew her visa in Australia. She would then travel back to the United States for further TV tapings. With the coronavirus pandemic shutting down production of most shows, WWE is instead readying plans to pre-record several episodes. They intend to continue delivering their flagship shows RAW, SmackDown and NXT.
If there was truth to these visa issues, Rhea Ripley would not have been able to participate in these subsequent tapings. Although that doesn’t seem to be the case right now, if Ripley needed to travel back to Australia, she may have a hard time returning to the States due to the travel restrictions currently in place.
