WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was interviewed on “After The Bell with Corey Graves” and she talked about WrestleMania 39.
Ripley’s thoughts on her WrestleMania 39 match against Charlotte Flair:
“It is really, really cool. I have to say it’s epic. Coming out of that match, I did feel like we stole the show. I feel like we went out there and we left everything we had in that ring, and that’s why we proved to everyone exactly why we should have been the main event spot. Like yes, we didn’t have a good build like Sami and Owens and The Usos did, but at the same time, Charlotte and I, every time we step in that ring, we bring the brutality. We bring the ferociousness. We go out there and we just beat the living crap out of each other.”
How she felt going into the match:
“That whole day, I was just everywhere. I couldn’t get in the zone of, I’m going to be out here competing. All I could really think about was how tired I was, how I shouldn’t eat because my gear might not fit properly, how my family was going to get into the building. I was stressing about that. How my boyfriend was going to get into the building. I’m stressing about that. Then also just on top of that, like the overwhelming feeling of like, this is WrestleMania and I don’t feel like I am as prepared as I should be for it. I had so many different emotions going through my body.”
“Then there was the excitement as well on top of that. I remember, I know it’s on film somewhere, they haven’t posted it yet, but they were asking me by the ring before the doors opened all these questions because I was getting really emotional before that watching Dominik go through his entrance. I was getting real emotional and then they started asking me questions because they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s vulnerable. Let’s get her with the camera.’ I don’t know. I just burst out crying. I was just so happy and excited, but also stressed out and nervous. It was like a commercial and everything all at once. but then once the the crowd got let in and everything was starting to sink in a little bit more, I knew that my family were in there, they were all good, because with Australian phones, my mom’s not very good at technology, so I wasn’t going to be able to contact her at all, and I’m super busy too. So once I knew they were in, I was good.”
“Then it was just trying to get ready in time because it was an early show because we’re on the west coast. I’m not used to that either. I’m trying to do my makeup, get my gear ready, warm up, like all these different things while trying to eat and drink water which I don’t normally get to do. I normally have people feeding me like fruit all day.”
On her chemistry with Charlotte Flair:
“Building up to the big match is very intense because she’s always on and you don’t know how she’s gonna react to something, which I love because it keeps me on my toes at the same time. It keeps me staying on and I think that’s why I enjoy being in the ring with someone like Charlotte because we bring out the best of each other. We’re both extremely competitive people and I feel like you can see that from a mile away while watching us wrestle.”
On her relationship with the members of Judgment Day:
“I’ve definitely learned a lot being in the Judgment Day. The Judgment Day, it just works. I feel like we’ve all grown individually within the group as well, which has been really, really cool to see. At the start when it was me, Priest, and Edge, I feel like I learned a lot about myself and my own confidence when being in the ring with them boys, especially learning from someone like Edge. He’s a legend in his business. I loved him growing up. He was one of my favorites. I cried when he retired. So knowing that I get to go out there and stand in the ring with him and back him up, and he has my back as well, it was really, really cool. It brought me to this other side of the business where like, I do get to be in the ring with the boys and I do get to be around them and listen to how they talk and how they do things. It was a different learning curve for me, which was really fun. It’s not super different, but at the same time, like the way that they speak to each other, the way that they plan little bits and pieces, sometimes it’s just so intricate, and I was like, ‘Yo, I didn’t realize that we could do something like this.’ I feel like being with the boys, we get away with a lot more, which I was having fun with.”
“I’ve been able to learn from people like Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and then also with Dominik. We’ve been growing in this business. He’s been in this business pretty much his whole life, which is wild to even think. But just watching his growth over the last six months, I want to say, it’s been so incredible. We weren’t even really friends before this. We barely even talked. We just said hello, like, how are you? So to see how much I’ve bonded with these guys in such a short amount of time, it’s been so rewarding, and so much fun. When we’re out there, we all just help each other, which is why a lot of the time you don’t even see it ,like we’re slowly or quietly talking to each other telling each other like what we should do, or how we should act, and what the plan is, sort of thing. It’s been a lot of fun.
Rhea on getting advice from Raquel Rodriguez and Scottie 2 Hotty:
The two people that I really like have to give credit to are Raquel Rodriguez. She’s my best friend. We went through so much at the Performance Center together. We were the only two girls in Scotty’s class. Scott is the other one. Every single day at training he would see me be so depressed and upset and question everything. He would take me to the corner of the ring, tell me to wipe my eyes, and give me a little pep talk sort of thing. He’d be like, ‘You’re doing great. Don’t listen to people. You’re doing fantastic. You’re learning, you’re improving, it’s gonna get better, and you’re gonna leave people behind’, and that’s exactly what happened. So Scotty and Raquel are the main two.”
On who she would like to wrestle:
I think one of the main ones is, I want my singles match with Beth Phoenix. I want my singles match, not a tag, a singles. But if she doesn’t fit the mold of what we’re going with, and we’re going with first time ever, I want to say Lita. I think that would be a lot of fun.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit After The Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
