WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley recently spoke to TV Insider. The Australian Superstar discussed a number of topics during the interview, including her RAW Women’s Championship victory at WrestleMania 37.
Ripley defeated Asuka on Night 2 of WrestleMania 37, using her Riptide finishing move to get the win and cement her place on the Red brand of WWE going forward on Monday nights.
Rhea Ripley Talks Vince McMahon
“One of the big ones was talking to Vince McMahon afterward” Rhea Ripley said during the interview, discussing what it was like backstage after her big win. “Hearing him say ‘well done’ and that I did great. It was so surreal.”
“It’s a dream, and I’m living it” Ripley added. “To have the big boss man say well done was pretty insane to me.”
Rhea Ripley also revealed some advice that Paul Heyman gave her. “It was Paul Heyman who said to me, ‘You can stay humble, but don’t stay silent’” Ripley revealed. “That really hit me because I’m a very humble person.”
Asuka stepped into the ring with Rhea Ripley with the Raw Women’s Title on the line at Sunday’s WWE WrestleMania 37 pay-per-view event from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Peacock.
The match saw both wrestlers get plenty of offense. At one point, Asuka hit a DDT off the apron. Ripley won with the Riptide for the win.
Originally, Charlotte Flair was slated to challenge Asuka for the title but then a turn of events changed that. Flair was informed by WWE that she wasn’t medically cleared because they thought she was pregnant, which ended up being a mistake on the behalf of the company. Then, Flair tested positive for COVID-19.
With Flair on the sidelines, WWE made the call to have Ripley take her place with the idea that they could always add Flair into the match and make it a three-way bout.
Ripley dropped the NXT Women’s Title to the daughter of Ric Flair at WrestleMania then went into a feud with her and Io Shirai for the title on NXT TV. Shirai later dethroned Flair for the title. Ripley was also an entrant in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble.
Rhea Ripley has ended speculation as to what she would be doing when she was called up to the main roster.
The former WWE NXT Women’s Champion did so during Monday’s episode of Raw. It happened after Asuka had beaten Peyton Royce. This led to Ripley coming out to the ring and challenging Asuka for the strap at WrestleMania 37.
It was previously reported by PWinsider.com that she was headed to the main roster soon and then WWE started airing hype videos for her debut. Ripley’s Last Woman Standing match loss to Raquel Gonzalez at NXT New Year’s Evil special was planned to be her final appearance for the brand. Dave Meltzer later reported that her moving to the main roster was imminent.
Ripley held the NXT Women’s Championship once during her time in the developmental system after winning the title from Shayna Baszler in December 2019.
Ripley made some main roster appearances in the build-up to WrestleMania 36 last year during her feud with Charlotte Flair.
WWE presents WrestleMania 37 on Saturday, April 10th, and Sunday, April 11, 2021 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida that will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
WWE has confirmed that the former NXT women’s champion Rhea Ripley will be making her Raw debut on Fastlane follow-up episode of the show this Monday.
The company announced the former champion’s main roster call up on the Red Branded show back in February. They had been airing promos for her arrival since then but the officials had not confirmed the date for her debut.
Rhea Ripley signed with WWE back in 2017 and competed in the inaugural Mae Young Classic where she was defeated by Dakota Kai in the second round.
The female star made her NXT debut after this and became the inaugural NXT UK women’s champion after joining the newly established brand in 2018.
She made her surprise return to the NXT brand in 2019 and Ripley went on to win the NXT women’s championship after defeating Shayna Baszler towards the ending of the year.
The NXT star kept the title until WrestleMania 36 where she dropped it to the 2020 women’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair at the event in April.
She continued competing in the NXT brand in the following months. Rhea Ripley also participated in the 2021 women’s Royal Rumble but she has been away from in ring action since then.
WWE confirmed on last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW that Rhea Ripley will soon be coming to the main roster. The former NXT Women’s Champion is regarded by many as one of the best performers in the Women’s division, if not the entire company.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley reacted to Ripley making her way to the Monday Night RAW roster. The Hardcore Legend appears to be very nervous about the way WWE will possibly book Ripley when she joins the likes of Asuka, Charlotte Flair and Peyton Royce on Monday nights.
Mick Foley on Rhea Ripley
“It’s vital that @WWE not mess around when it comes to pushing Rhea Ripley” Mick Foley wrote on Twitter. “PLEASE don’t allow her to suffer a 50/50 fate. Strap that rocket to her back, and see how far she can fly.”
The success rate for NXT Superstars moving ‘up’ to the main roster has been hit-or-miss over the past couple of years. Once main event talents such as Aleister Black and Andrade have been missing from RAW for months now; so it’s easy to see why Mic Foley would have reservations.
It has not been confirmed exactly when Ripley will be coming to RAW, but it is likely to be in the next few weeks.
Check out the hype video for the debuting Rhea Ripley below:
Rhea Ripley is officially headed for WWE’s main roster. A vignette aired on Monday’s WWE Raw announcing she is headed to the red brand soon.
Fans last saw Rhea Ripley in January at NXT New Year’s Evil. She lost to Raquel Gonzalez on the show in a Last Woman Standing Match.
WWE has not announced exactly when Rhea Ripley will join Raw, but you can see the promo video below:
Rhea Ripley In WWE
Rhea Ripley is a former NXT Women’s Champion and NXT UK Women’s Champion. She competed in the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble. She eliminated the most competitors (7) and lasted an impressive 39 minutes in the match.
Ripley appeared on WWE Raw last year when she was NXT Women’s Champion. She feuded with Charlotte Flair and is the first woman to defend the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. She wrestled on Raw last February and defeated Sarah Logan in singles action.
Rhea Ripley participated in 2017 in the Mae Young Classic and was later signed to a contract for NXT. She appeared on the second Mae Young Classic, as well. She was later moved to NXT UK where she became the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion.
She then moved to NXT where she won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Shayna Baszler in December 2019. Ripley has been a woman of many firsts in WWE. It will be interesting to see how she makes her name known WWE’s main roster.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley commented on the news, pleading the WWE to “not mess around” in regards to pushing Ripley.
“It’s vital that @WWE not mess around when it comes to pushing @RheaRipley_WWE. PLEASE don’t allow her to suffer a 50/50 fate. Strap that rocket to her back, and see how far she can fly.”
Former NWA commentator and outspoken pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette recently discussed Rhea Ripley and her current stature in WWE.
It was recently reported that Ripley is due to join the ‘main roster’ imminently, with Monday Night RAW the likely destination. Jim Cornette has stated in the past that he is a huge fan of the Australian Superstar, and he questioned on the most recent episode of The Jim Cornette Experience why WWE hasn’t done ‘more’ with her character by now.
“The match that Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair had at WrestleMania? It was the highlight of the show, it was the best thing on the show” Cornette began. “Because everybody else was still trying to figure out how to do the empty arena thing and it was a bunch of garbage matches.”
Jim Cornette on Rhea Ripley
“It was people that couldn’t ‘get’ it. The girls? They nailed it and had an athletic contest” Cornette continued. “And then shortly afterwards Charlotte leaves to have surgery.”
Jim Cornette would finish by slamming WWE for not utilizing Rhea Ripley more in the months that Charlotte Flair was off of television. Cornette firmly believes that Ripley has the potential to be the top female star in pro wrestling.
“If anybody had had any forethought, because it’s not like somebody can’t see that Rhea Ripley should be a movie star, a female action movie star? She’s probably, I would say, more qualified than anybody else in wrestling to be the number one female box office attraction. Charlotte would be right there, if Rhea Ripley is not available. Why didn’t they (WWE) spend the time establishing Rhea Ripley as the top girl in any of the WWE divisions? Why?”
Do you agree with Jim Cornette? Do you think that Rhea Ripley will become the biggest box office attraction in WWE? Let us know in the comments
Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36. Flair was then briefly a fixture on NXT for the remainder of the spring before dropping the title to Io Shirai in a triple threat match.
Many fans likely figured that Ripley was either going to defeat Flair at WrestleMania, or defeat her on NXT to regain the title soon after. It never happened, however, and Flair never ended up losing a match to Ripley.
According to a report from Fightful, the RAW writing team shot down the idea of Flair losing to Ripley at WrestleMania. The RAW creative team also reportedly shot down an idea that would have seen Ripley win a triple threat match against Flair and Bianca Belair, with Belair being the one to take the pin. It appears the NXT creative team wanted Ripley to get at least some type of victory over Flair but the RAW team wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
Charlotte Flair’s Stint In NXT This Year
Flair has wrestled in NXT 5 times this year. She also wrestled for the NXT title at WrestleMania. In those 6 matches, she’s
Current NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb knew NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley would be a star the second she saw her.
Deeb joined Women’s Wrestling Talk to discuss a variety of subjects. She eventually turned her attention to who impressed her the most in WWE when she was a WWE Performance Center coach. She immediately singled out former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley.
“There are some who are naturals and wrestling just clicks with. Rhea Ripley is an example of that,” Deeb explained. “She was somebody that from the second I saw her, I was like ok, the girl is going to be a star and do big things in this business and watching the growth of someone like in the time I was there was really rewarding and just proud.”
Ripley participated in last night’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames event. She was a member of Team Shotzi alongside Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, and Io Shirai. They lost to Team Candice, comprised of Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, and Toni Storm.
Triple H recently opened up about WWE’s canceled plans for Rhea Ripley following her WrestleMania 36 loss. At the event, Ripley lost the NXT Women’s Championship to Charlotte Flair. It was a blow that unfortunately caused Ripley to lose a lot of confidence in herself at the time.
Serena Deeb, meanwhile, has recently been appearing on All Elite Wrestling. Deeb successfully defended her NWA Women’s Championship last month against Thunder Rosa on an episode of AEW Dynamite.
Latest reports have revealed that there have been renewed talks of Rhea Ripley being moved to the main roster within WWE.
During her recent interview with Lillian Garcia on her Chasing Glory podcast, the NXT star talked about things like the development of her on-screen persona, her relationship with boyfriend Demetri ‘Action’ Jackson and more.
Discussing the reports about her future and a potential move to the main roster, Ripley said that she would like to go to Raw or SmackDown but at the same time there are still a lot of things she wants to do in NXT:
“I would like to go to Raw or SmackDown, but at the same time, there are so many people in NXT I haven’t faced yet, and I feel like there is so much more that I can do, like, I would love to wrestle Candice [LeRae], especially since her persona has changed.
I’d also love to wrestle Indi Hartwell; I would love to wrestle Shotzi [Blackheart]. I haven’t had a match with Shotzi. I’ve tagged with her but haven’t wrestled her.” said Rhea Ripley “I wanna wrestle Raquel [Gonzalez] again. Hell, I would love to have a stipulations match with her. I want to be in WarGames again.”
The Australian star, who also recently opened up about her struggles with mental health this year, talked about the upcoming year as well.
Ripley said that if she had full control, she would like to get back to being the confident star she knows she is and skyrocket her career in 2021 like it did in 2019.
NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley has talked about the relief she felt after opening up about her mental health issues. Ripley first did so last year as a guest on Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory. Now, one year later, she has reflected on how being open and honest with herself has helped her.
“It feels like a weight that’s been lifted off my shoulders. Just like talking about it as well which is nice,” Ripley said. “I’m very glad that the conversation went that way cause like you said there is a lot of bullying and suicides especially like in the sport and it’s really, really sad. Like I always see posts coming up every now and then of like someone new that has passed away and it makes me really mad and sad cause like like they could have help…”
Garcia noted how Ripley’s disclosure came a week after Toni Storm’s similar confession. Despite having been friends for almost a decade, however, neither woman knew the other was suffering the way they were. They have since spoken to each other and now support one another, especially as they are so far from their home country of Australia.
“[…] it’s very lonely here at times so I’m glad that she’s now here and we can help each other out,” Ripley said, “especially knowing each other’s stories like now, so yeah.”
“Communication Is Key”
Talking about her mental health issues has helped Rhea Ripley learn a lot about herself. She reflected on how she used to bottle things up growing up. Ripley refused to tell anyone about how she was feeling, leading her to feel as though she would “snap and absolutely lose my mind and it would create fights with my friends, with my parents with other family members and it wasn’t fun.”
She acknowledged she has since matured and now understands that “communication is key.” Ripley explained how giving voice to your issues helps in letting them go. She confessed it’s been a long journey to come to that realization, but she finally understands it.
Rhea Ripley addressed her NXT status during last week’s episode. She will be a part of Team Shotzi versus Team Candice at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames takes place on December 6th from NXT’s Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, FL.
Former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley has opened up about her loss to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36. She acknowledged how her momentum has slowed down since her championship loss in April.
Speaking with Lilian Garcia on Garcia’s podcast Chasing Glory, Ripley confessed how it has felt like the wind has been taken out her sails in recent months.
“I felt like I went through a stage where I was losing confidence in myself because I wasn’t portrayed the same way. Even now, I’m still slowly building myself back up from it,” Riple explained. “My confidence was tainted a little, which sucks because I try to keep it up and do my best all the time. I don’t know if it was something in my head that wasn’t getting the picture, I just got a little bit lost after that.”
She added how she feels like she’s finally getting back on track. Ripley noted that she has committed to building herself back up but shared how it’s been an undeniably difficult process.
Ripley explained how she’s been watching matches from NXT UK and footage from her feud with Shayna Baszler.
She confessed she’s been doing this in an attempt to “remember who I am because I forgot who I was.”
Ripley admitted this active effort to reconnect with who she was has been helpful for her.
Rhea Ripley took to the ring during last week’s episode of NXT to address her future. She was interrupted by Candice LeRae alongside Toni Storm, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez. Ripley will be a part of Team Shotzi versus Team Candice at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames takes place on December 6th from NXT’s Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, FL.
WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio Bully Ray recently discussed NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley. It has been heavily rumored over the past week that Ripley will be heading to the ‘main roster’ shortly, and Bully Ray would give his reasoning as to why she could end up being a major player in WWE.
Bully Ray on Rhea Ripley
“When when I watch her? The thing that comes to mind the most is command of her own athletic ability” Bully Ray would begin on the show. “This is what I think separates talent, the good, the great and the exceptional. Rhea is tall, she’s about 5’10. She’s lanky, she’s not like ultra thin. She’s got a little bit of thickness to her, a good sickness to her. And she has control of all of it.”
Bully Ray used a baseball analogy to elucidate his point. “I always compare control in the ring to how a pitcher on a pitcher’s mound has control of his fastball. If you can throw a fastball 90 miles an hour? That’s great. But if you can’t throw it for a strike? It’s pretty much worthless. That’s command of your own athletic ability, being able to put the ball where you want it.”
“When I see a woman like Rhea? She really is a standout to me” Bully continued. “She has such great control of her own athletic ability, no matter what she’s taking or no matter what she’s giving. I don’t see any wasted movement in her. Whether she’s selling or moving around? She doesn’t just flop and flail, I can tell she’s selling realistically.”
Do you agree with Bully Ray? Do you think that Rhea Ripley could end up a major part of the WWE roster? Let us know in the comments
NXT Superstar and former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley may be heading towards WWE’s main roster.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, Ripley could soon be featured on either WWE’s red or blue brand. He revealed how he had recently “heard talk of Ripley moving to the main roster.”
Rhea Ripley competed on this week’s episode of NXT. She faced off against current NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai in a hard-hitting affair. Despite her best efforts, Ripley lost her bout to Shirai. After the match, the women embraced and showcased mutual respect for one another. Meltzer noted how the matchup and respect shown was done to showcase “finishing up their story.”
Following their match on the black-and-yellow brand, both Ripley and Shirai were listed on NXT’s Injury Report. Ripley reportedly suffered multiple contusions, with her ear getting split and bleeding at one point during the bout. Shirai, meanwhile, is said to be dealing with a sore neck.
Ripley has already had experience competing for WWE’s main roster audience. As well as her Survivor Series 2019 appearance as a part of Team NXT, she more recently competed against Charlotte Flair. The two competed for the NXT Women’s Championship during Day 2 of WrestleMania 36 back in April. Flair defeated Ripley for the championship gold.
Ever since Rhea Ripley dropped the NXT Women’s Championship, people have been wondering if it’s the start of the end of the former Champion’s NXT run and if WWE could be planning to bring her up on the main roster.
The Australian star recently had an interview with Newsweek where she talked about a number of things and also revealed her thoughts on a potential main roster call up.
Ripley said that she can’t outgrow NXT and she wants to be on the Black and Yellow brand for a long time but revealed that she doesn’t know if that’s what the officials are planning for her:
“I don’t think I can ever outgrow NXT. There is always something coming up and I honestly want to be in NXT for a long long time, Whether that’s the case or not, I don’t know, I don’t have that call.
I feel like I have so much more to do here.” said Rhea Ripley. “Whether that’s singles matches or whatever, I love NXT and I love being a part of it. And I hope I’m here for longer. I guess we’ll see.”
The former champion also admitted that she feels that the spotlight on her has diminished a little bit since her WrestleMania loss, though the NXT star said that her time will come again.
Apart from this, Rhea Ripley talked about her match with Dakota Kai, possibly facing Mercedes Martinez in the future and more. You can check out her full interview at this link.
Charlotte Flair didn’t survive the Triple Threat Match as NXT Women’s Champion against two of the best stars that NXT has to offer as Io Shiri dethroned her.
Shirai won the NXT Women’s Championship by beating Rhea Ripley and Flair in the main event of the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special on Sunday night.
It was a wild match that saw them brawl over ringside. At one point, Flair used a kendo stick on her challengers. Flair sent Io through the window part of the set while Ripley threw a plant at Flair. Io did a dive off the roof of the house set onto Flair and Ripley.
The finish saw Io hit a moonsault to Rhea’s head off the top rope for the win.
This feud all started when Flair defeated Ripley by submission to win the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36 – Night 2. Fast forward to the April 8th episode of NXT, Shirai won a ladder match to earn a championship match against Flair.
Moving along to the May 6th episode, Io won the match against Flair but failed to win the championship due to the DQ victory.
After the contest, Rhea made her return to NXT television in order to make the save for Io. Then, a match between Shirai and Ripley ended in a no-contest on the May 20th episode when Flair attacked them leading to this title match.
Back in March, tattoo artist Celeste from the Built 4 Speed Tattoo shop in Orlando, FL posted a photo of the ‘wendigo’ tattoo she was putting on the former NXT Women’s Champion.
The wendigo is a “mythological man-eating creature or evil spirit” from the folklore of the First Nations Algonquian tribes, according to Wikipedia.
Celeste posted an updated look at the new ink, which has come a long way since our first look a few months ago.
You can see Rhea Ripley’s new wendigo tattoo in the Instagram post embedded below. The post has a ton of positive comments. We agree with those sentiments – this looks absolutely badass.
Rhea Ripley became the inaugural Women’s Champion on WWE’s NXT UK brand and her career in the company has been on the rise ever since.
However, during a recent appearance on the Wrestling Friends podcast, the former champion discussed a number of things and she also revealed that she wasn’t originally going to win the title.
Rhea revealed that she wasn’t supposed to make it past the second round of the tournament that was held for the crowning of the inaugural champion, but she somehow ended up winning the whole thing:
“It was a wild couple of days. I don’t think I was supposed to make it past the second round. I don’t really know what happened, everything just kept changing. They kept changing the matches, everything.
Going into the final with Toni, I wasn’t supposed to be in the finals.” said Rhea Ripley “I don’t know what happened in the meetings or what was said or done, but somehow I won the whole tournament.”
The female star joined NXT UK in 2018 during the shows’ premiere. She competed in the tournament for the crowning of the inaugural women’s champion of the brand and defeated Toni Storm in the finals to win the title.
Ripley has become a fan favourite since then and she has been featured regularly on WWE programming. After losing the NXT UK title, she had a reign with the NXT Women’s Championship and she competed at this year’s edition of WrestleMania as well.
Rhea Ripley made her WrestleMania debut on this year’s edition of the Show Of Shows where she defended her NXT Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair.
During a recent interview with Wrestling Friends podcast, the now former women’s champion talked about the big bout and revealed how she felt about it afterward.
Ripley revealed that she started crying after the match was over because she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she was very happy:
“I remember, after the match was done, even though the outcome wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it didn’t matter. Once the match ended — it was such a stressful day, you have no idea — I remember, everything was done, the cameras were off and I just started crying. I was bawling.
Everyone came down to the ring and were like, ‘please tell me these were happy tears.’ ‘Guys, you have no idea. I’m so happy. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as well.'” said Ripley. “I was super stressed and I was so happy because it is WrestleMania and it still means a lot. I was happy that we did well.”
The Australian star also mentioned how WrestleMania 36 was her first time wrestling in an empty area with no audience because, before that, she had wrestled during the NXT Fans Appreciation night in early March.
Rhea Ripley will get a chance to win her title back when she will face Charlotte Flair and Io Shirai in a triple threat match at the NXT TakeOver: In Your House event on June 7
Rhea Ripley made her WrestleMania debut this year but it was likely not how she had originally thought it would go.
Of course, Ripley wrestled Charlotte Flair with the NXT Women’s Title on the line at WrestleMania 36. Flair was able to dethrone Ripley to win the championship.
With the outbreak of the coronavirus, WWE had hold the event on a closed set with no fans in attendance.
In an interview with Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, Ripley commented on her match against Flair at Wrestlemania 36 and how she felt about the match.
“I absolutely loved it. I enjoyed it thoroughly, even though it was super weird with no crowd. And it was the first time that I had competed or just come out in front of no crowd. It was super strange, but at the same time, like WrestleMania is Wrestlemania and it was still a huge moment for me in my career. To be able to share that and share the ring was no one other than Charlotte Flair was just incredible.”
Ripley continued by noting how much praise she got about that match after they did it. She thought it was insane to think that at just 23-years-old and only wrestling for eight years and worked her first WrestleMania.
“Everyone telling me that I just absolutely killed it. Man, it was definitely a confidence boost.”
Ripley stated that she was legitimately happy about the match and cried about it because she was so overwhelmed with the feeling of prideful and the stress being lifted was amazing.
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…”
*reports*: "Rhea Ripley lost to Charlotte because her visa expired and is back in Australia"
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.
NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley lost her NXT Women’s Championship this past weekend at WrestleMania 36. She was defeated by Charlotte Flair. Following the loss, it was rumored that Ripley’s work visa had expired. This supposedly forced the Superstar to return back to Australia in order to renew it. It was speculated that Ripley’s visa situation could have played into WWE’s decision to have Flair reclaim the championship.
According to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observerforum, however, this may not be the case. He revealed he had spoken with a high up source within WWE who denied the story.
“I’m double checking on this but one person high up just denied that to me. Again, I’m not saying Mike is wrong, in this company the left and right hand rarely know what the other is doing. But the person I checked with would know the creative reason given which was Charlotte to NXT for ratings help.”
He followed up, adding how another high up source also rebuffed the claim. According to this secondary source, Rhea Ripley is still in Orlando.
It had previously been reported that WWE wanted Flair to return to NXT as the champion to help in their ratings war with AEW Dynamite. At the time of writing, it is unclear to the extent WWE intends to utilize Flair now that she holds the black-and-gold brand’s championship.
If Rhea Ripley is currently in Australia, it is likely not possible for her to return in time for the upcoming set of tapings for WWE programming due to the quarantine regulations amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Former NXT women’s champion Rhea Ripley is reportedly back in Australia and there is no timetable for her return to the United States. According to a report from PW Insider, Ripley’s work visa has run out and she has traveled back to Australia in order to start the process of getting it renewed.
As a result of the quarantine regulations involved with travel into each country, it is likely not possible for her to return in time for the upcoming set of tapings for WWE programming.
Ripley’s match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36 opened the main show portion of night 2. It is also being reported that the producer for the match was Adam Pearce and that he put together the match with both Flair and Ripley’s input.
WWE is said to begin filming content for upcoming shows beginning this Friday and going until next Thursday.
Rhea Ripley In WWE
Real name Demi Bennett, the 23-year-old has already achieved the following in her young career:
NXT Women’s Champion
NXT UK Women’s Champion
#7 Ranked women’s wrestler in 2019 by Sports Illustrated
#35 top women’s wrestler by PWI in 2019
CBC Sports Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year for 2019.
It turns out that it wasn’t the night of WWE NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley as she was dethroned by Flair.
Ripley dropped the title to the former RAW and SmackDown Women’s Champion at the WWE WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event in Orlando, Florida.
This marks the second time that Flair has held the NXT Women’s Title. It was a back and forth affair that opened the show.
It all started back on the February 3rd episode of RAW when Flair came out for the second straight week to reveal who she would be challenging at WrestleMania 36.
Ripley interrupted by walking out to the ring. Ripley cut a promo about how Flair has beaten many top stars but never defeated her. In fact, Ripley brought up how she holds a win over Flair.
Flair won the 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in Houston, Texas at the Minute Maid Park. As a result, she had the right to challenge for any title in WWE such as the RAW, SmackDown, and NXT Women’s Championship.
Ripley retained the title over Bianca Belair at the WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland event from the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Post-match, Flair made her way through the crowd and attacked Belair. She cut a promo about how she would see Ripley at Mania.
Rhea Ripley is scheduled to face Charlotte Flair for the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36 this weekend. The match was supposed to take place inside Raymond James Stadium in front of a packed crowd. Instead, the match has already been filmed in front of no live crowd at the WWE Performance Center.
During an interview with Fox Sports Australia, Ripley admitted to being disappointed about the change.
“The main reason I was bummed was that I knew my family wasn’t going to be there. It made me really sad to think I wasn’t going to be able to share that special moment with them and not see them at all, because I haven’t seen them for a long time,” she said.
“So to not have them there with me on the day, it made me really sad, and I had to remind myself that they’d be watching from home and cheering me on.”
Ripley would continue to say, however, that she knows fans will be watching from home as well and that provides motivation for her to do well.
“Even with the zero people in attendance, there’s still a crowd that’ll be cheering us on, and even if we can put a smile on someone’s face in this critical time, that’s me doing my job.”
She also commented on how even though WrestleMania this year is taking place at the WWE Performance Center, it’s still WrestleMania.
“So I need to think of the bigger picture sometimes. It’s still WrestleMania, and it’s still an amazing accomplishment. Even if it is at the Performance Center, it doesn’t take away the fact that it’s WrestleMania.”
The full interview with Ripley from Fox Sports Australia can be found here.