Mami is always on top – Ripley on fans; her name; and Wrestlemania moments

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CVV = It’s so fun seeing you interact with fans; you create this moment for them. Who was that person for you when you were growing up?

Rhea – Oh. Oh, you know, I didn’t really get to meet too many like real famous people growing up and like when WWE came to Australia, they were always so like tired, which I understand. It’s a long flight. I get that now. As a kid, I didn’t understand. So, like it was hard to really like get excited cuz they were all just so sleep deprived. They just wanted to get through the airport, get to the next show. Adelaide’s a small place. So, like I didn’t really have that moment until I started going to like Riot City Wrestling, and that’s where I started wrestling, and I just meeting like Chris Basso, Matt Basso, um Brad Smyth, like all the wrestlers that were on that show. They’re the ones that I got like giddy over and really excited over, and they’d all come out after the show had done and they’d go around the ring, all the baby faces, and they’d sign photos and hug babies, high five children, and all that jazz. And that was like my time to shine. I was like, I love these people.

CVV – And then did it remind you of like, all right, if I ever get in that spot one day, I want to make people feel like this?

Rhea – Yeah for sure. Like that was a really special thing for me and I remember like just going home after those shows and like being so hyped up and excited and just going straight to mom and telling her everything that happened, being like, “Oh my god, Jonah Rock spat his chewy gum at me.” Which is now Bronson. Um, back in the day I used to watch him wrestle at Riot City. Like I’d go and I’d go and tell her whatever happened, I’d just be like beaming and just so excited and for me to be able to do that for people now, like it just it makes my day. And that’s why I really do love like the house shows and stuff cuz we get to connect more with the fans and give them little memories cuz that’s what wrestling is and that’s what meeting like your idols is and all of that. So, they’re the moments that I really loved growing up. I didn’t really get that too much with anything else, but Riot City Wrestling was my thing you know.

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CVV – Did you always think this was possible growing up?

Rhea – Honestly, no. No. I um I always talk about like my Riot City Wrestling tryout and it’s funny because my coach um, he went around the room after the tryout and was like what where do you want to go in wrestling? He asked everyone in the tryout, and everyone said, “I want to make it to WWE” and he straight up like got sick of that answer and he’s like I don’t want to like break your heart or like ruin your dreams, but like that’s probably not going to happen. Like we’re in Australia. We’re very, very far away. WWE doesn’t really come here so making it to WWE is going to be extremely difficult and probably won’t happen. So, for me, I was a little bit realistic about that, and I was like, I just love wrestling. I find it fun. I find it entertaining. I like going out there and entertaining a crowd and showing people that they can do whatever they want to do, especially a female in such a male dominated sport. Like, I liked that challenge. I’ve always been someone that likes a challenge, but I never thought that I would be able to make it as far as I’ve come. And even like by the time that I did get signed and I moved to America, and I started in NXT, I never thought that the name Rhea Ripley would be as big as it is now.

And it’s just wild to see like especially the last couple years how much I’ve blown up. It’s I forget who I am sometimes. Like I’m walking around I’m like why are these people looking at me? Like why I look like a 13-year-old boy? Like are they staring at me because I look stupid? Like what is wrong with me right now? Like, is my hair like staticing to my face or something? Like, why are they looking at me? And I get mad. I’m like, “Look away. Take a photo. It’ll last longer.” And then I’m like, “Oh, oh shit, they probably know who I am. I just get so mad sometimes.” And I’m like I just don’t know. I just forget that like I’m known. And it’s not even like if I knew that they knew who I was, like I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t feel bad about it. Like I’d be like, “Oh, like you want a photo?” I’d be really nice. But it’s just like I forget that I’m Rhea Ripley sometimes.

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CVV – What’s the meaning behind the name Rhea Ripley?

Rhea – Rhea Ripley? So, when I first started, they asked me for five combinations of names. And I went through try to find, well trying to make combinations of names that I liked from like either band members or like just strong women in general.

CVV – What were you going by before?

Rhea – Demi Bennett, which is my name. Yeah. I don’t know why they didn’t want to change my name. They’re like, “Yeah, Demi Bennett’s good. It’s a good wrestling name.” It’s really not. Okay. So, hey I’m glad because some people have three, four wrestling names and I’m glad that I just have two.

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CVV – What’s been the Wrestlemania moment for you?

RR – Honestly, the Wrestlemania moment I always said, my match with Charlotte because it’s everything that I wanted my first Mania to be because it ended up being the covid mania. I didn’t get my family; I didn’t get the crowd; I didn’t get anything that normally goes into a mania. And it was just like, wow, I’m back at the place that I really didn’t like going to every day and this is my Wrestlemania. So, to then go and face Charlotte again, but it being in front of a crowd and I saw my family in the front row, I had like all the adrenaline in the world, everything was like so perfect. And then I beat her for the first time. I won the Smackdown Women’s Championship. That was my Wrestlemania moment. But then now I feel like the match with Io and Bianca has triumphed that.

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CVV – What do you think of the comparisons you’ve had to Chyna?

Rhea – I love them. I do. I really do them. I think she was such a unique being in this industry and she really did like open up so much for women. Um especially like intergender wise and just like being a part of DX and all of that. Lik she’s done so much incredible stuff and she’s really someone that like I look up to, especially being different, being bigger and bulkier and just having a different build to a lot of the women. She’s someone that I really do look up to. So, I’m glad that I get the comparisons, but at the same time, like I want to be the first Rhea Ripley. Like I love that the whole storyline with Dom, him being Eddie, me being Chyna, it kinda just like flowed. And a lot of the stuff that we did, we didn’t actually mean to match up with stuff that they did. It just kind of worked out that way. Like even just mannerisms, like it just came so naturally that, that would be what we would do. And we did it and we’d come back and then on Twitter people would have like comparisons of like us doing it next to Chyna and Eddie doing the exact same thing and we’re like, “Wow, like we didn’t even mean to do that.” So, like I love that there’s that comparison, but at the same time I want to be like the first Rhea Ripley.

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You can check out the rest of the interview below