Prior to her victory in the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble, Bayley loudly proclaimed that if she won the match, she intended to challenge WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley for her title at WrestleMania 40. Ripley, however, believes “The Role Model” should be looking elsewhere right now.
Following Bayley’s Royal Rumble win, ‘The Eradicator’ addressed this previous claim during an interview with Denise Salcedo, suggesting that Bayley may be better served by looking inward at her Damage CTRL stablemates, particularly WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY.
“I love Bayley. I think she’s great,” Ripley said. “I’ve danced with her in the ring a couple times, and we’ve teamed together with WarGames and all that.I want to say that she has love for me too, and she wouldn’t choose me for Wrestlemania and just throw away her ticket to WrestleMania like that. If I were her, I would keep my eyes on the people around her because it’s good to keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.”
As Ripley alluded to, recent months have seen the majority of Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane) gradually distance themselves from Bayley. Coming off her Royal Rumble win, Bayley now has an opportunity to confront that divide head-on by facing SKY for her title at WrestleMania 40.
For right now, though, wrestling fans will have to stay tuned to find out which champion Bayley will officially issue a challenge to.
Assessing The Royal Rumble Field
While she didn’t partake in this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble, Rhea Ripley kept a close eye on the events that unfolded within the match. In surveying her potential competition, Ripley noted this year’s entrants thoroughly impressed her, making her even more excited to see who would eventually prevail.
“I was just standing there watching it and I’m like ‘Yo, all of these women they’re competitors.’ I could easily step in the ring with any one of them and you would think that I’m in danger and I love that,” Ripley said.
“That’s a way that the women’s division is thriving and it’s all about competition. I live for that, so I was so over the moon and thrilled to see these women going in there and getting their opportunity to shine. Then watching the whole thing, like everyone did so exceptionally well. I’m proud of our division. We really showed everyone exactly what we’ve got and I’m very proud of them.”
This year’s field featured several surprises as well, including the returns of Naomi (also known as Trinity) and Liv Morgan. Recent signee Jade Cargill also made her official WWE in-ring debut, eliminating the likes of Becky Lynch, Nia Jax, and Naomi during her outing.
