The talented Miss Ripley: How an Adelaide schoolgirl became wrestling’s hottest property
From suburban Adelaide to the prestigious WWE, Rhea Ripley has elbowed, leg-locked and punt kicked her way to the centre of the wrestling universe. We take a look at her extraordinary journey so far.
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From sporty schoolgirl, to one of the biggest, most bankable stars of the industry, Adelaide’s own Demi Bennett has had a meteoric rise to the pinnacle of world professional wrestling through her in-the-ring persona Rhea Ripley.
After being mesmerised by her wrestling heroes on the small screen, Bennett has hit the big time in her own right, crushing records as easily as she crushes her hapless opponents.
After making her big time US wrestling debut in 2017, Bennett has already become only the fifth woman wrestler in WWE history to complete a Grand Slam of titles, earning comparisons with the greatest performers in the history of the format.
All that is a long way from Glenelg where Bennett grew up.
We take a look back at her extraordinary journey to the centre of the wrestling universe.
EARLY YEARS
Ripley’s real name is Demi Bennett.
She was born on October 11, 1996 and grew up in the seaside Adelaide suburb of Glenelg.
She went to Henley Beach Primary and Henley High.
INTEREST IN WRESTLING
As Sean Fewster wrote in 2017, Bennett was a talented young soccer player but also started devouring wrestling shows on TV around the age of 15.
“I started watching it every now and then when I was younger,” she told Channel 7’s Sunrise in 2021.
“It was real hard to watch WWE, because it was always on the weekend, so I would have to watch it in between my sport. I was a very sporty kid,” she said.
“But eventually we got Foxtel, and I started recording it and I just, I loved it from the first moment I laid my eyes on it.”
Bennett explained her interest in wrestling went from passive fan to something she actually wanted to try for herself after a family holiday to Queensland, where she was surprised to discover the sport was actually happening in Australia.
“I was so surprised that by the time we got back to Adelaide we looked up where there was wrestling in Adelaide and I found Riot City Wrestling.
TIME AT RIOT CITY WRESTLING
At 17, Bennett attended a tryout at Riot City Wrestling, an independent pro wrestling promotion based in Adelaide, and won herself a place there.
But as Sean Fewster writes, Bennett quickly realised that while wrestling may be a kind of soap opera inside the ring, with simulated combat and predetermined outcomes, it takes real skill to put on a convincing show, without hurting yourself or your opponents.
For the first few months, Bennett was only allowed to train and help set up and pack down shows before she finally earned her own shot at stardom.
As Fewster writes, Bennett impressed fans early with her speed and power and before she’d turned 21, had won RCW’s women’s championship twice as well as performing a promotions interstate and even in Japan.
As Bennett told Sunrise in 2021, when she set foot inside RCW “that was pretty much the start of my career”. “I loved it from the start and I just dedicated my life to it, and now here we are.”
BIG US BREAK
In 2017, America’s legendary WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) came calling, recruiting Bennett to take part in the Mae Young Classic.
The classic was a celebration of women’s wrestling, and women wrestlers, from all over the world, named after celebrated wrestler Mae Young, who was active in the sport from the 1940s until just before her death in 2014.
Bennett, aged just 20, became the first South Australian to earn a WWE contract and debuted her now beloved character, “Rhea Ripley”, at the Orlando, Florida event.
As she told Sean Fewster in the lead-up to a tournament that would be beamed into 650 million homes in 20 languages, her US debut was nothing short of overwhelming.
“To be completely honest, I was out the back on this flimsy little plastic chair with my head in my hands, almost in tears,” she said.
“It felt like it was my first match all over again. I was about to cry, I was so nervous – and then my music hit, so I walked out that curtain and did my thing.”
With Bennett’s move to the US came the demanding and unrelenting training schedule of a professional wrestler in one of the world’s biggest wrestling markets.
Bennett began training at the WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, where she was also mentored by the biggest current and former stars of the sport.
“Everyone is so helpful and it’s an amazing atmosphere – also a noisy one, because we have seven wrestling rings and everyone’s screaming and crashing all at once,” Bennett told Sean Fewster in 2017.
“We work every day and pull crazy hours, with physical training from 10am to 2pm, and then again from 4pm to 6pm”. “And in the evenings there’s ‘promo class’, where we work on our characters.
Bennett, who we’ll call Ripley from here, was knocked out in the second round of the 2017 classic, but in 2018, made it through to the semi-finals, beating US performers MJ Jenkins and Kacy Cantanzaro, who also appeared on American Ninja Warrior.
RHEA MAKES HISTORY
Ripley made her TV debut on the WWE NXT program in late 2017, and in 2018 joined the line-up for the newly created NXT UK show.
In August of that year, Ripley was crowned the show’s inaugural women’s champion, becoming the first Australian woman in history to win a WWE championship.
Ripley backed up her historic win by taking out the US equivalent, the NXT Women’s Championship, in 2019, ending the 416-day reign of Shayna Baszler.
She became the first woman ever to win both titles.
Ripley wrestled in her last match for the NXT brand in January, 2021 at the WWE’s first New Year’s event “New Year’s Evil”, going down to Texan Raquel Gonzalez - her best friend - in the Last Woman Standing match.
MOVE TO RAW
In March, 2021, Ripley joined the main line-up on Monday Night Raw, one of the WWE’s two flagship shows, along with Friday Night Smackdown.
Within weeks, the 24-year-old announced her arrival to the brand by taking out yet another belt, the Raw Women’s Championship at the legendary event WrestleMania in Tampa Bay in front of 25,000 fans.
The victorious Ripley, whose nickname is “The Eradicator”, told The Advertiser, winning the title was “a dream come true”.
“It’s been such an emotional and wild rollercoaster of two days, honestly a dream come true – I finally got my WrestleMania moment,” she said.
“It felt like everything that I had worked for really meant something, like (for) every single time someone has doubted me I’ve proved them wrong,” she said.
“I’m not going to say I’ve had the toughest run, but my wrestling journey has been really, really hard – I’ve had people doubt me at every corner.”
RHEA RACKS UP THE GRAND SLAM
In April, 2023, Ripley achieved what The Advertiser described as a “legend-making moment” when she won the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39.
With the win, Ripley also completed a WWE Grand Slam, becoming the fifth woman in history to achieve the milestone, but the first to hold all five titles (including the NXT UK championship).
Speaking to reporters, Ripley said she was extremely proud of her journey to the top.
“I’m here to make history,” she said.
“Growing up in Adelaide, South Australia, I always got told that my dream of coming to the WWE would probably not happen, so just making it here is such an accomplishment,” she said.
“But being the first Grand Slam champion to have those exact championships is so satisfying.
“I am so extremely proud of myself and my journey to the WWE and my journey here within the WWE. To be able to accomplish all those historic moments, man, that’s the one thing that I strive for, making history. I want my name etched in the history books forever.
“And I’ve gone and done that.”
As The Advertiser’s Ben Bennan wrote, Ripley was already a star of the WWE franchise “but her net worth is now tipped to skyrocket as she becomes one of the most marketable personalities in wrestling.”
PERSONAL LIFE
Ripley follows the Adelaide Crows in the AFL and is dating fellow Aussie wrestler Matthew Adams, who performs under the name Buddy Matthews.
Together they make a dynamic duo.
While Ripley was the first Australian woman to win a WWE championship, Matthews was the first ever Australian to achieve the feat.
Speaking in April 2023, Ripley revealed she struggled with homesickness and a recent trip home had been her first visit in four years.
“I’m hoping WWE end up doing a show down in Australia where I can stay an extra week …I just want to go home and see everyone again,” she told The Advertiser.
“I missed my family so much, I missed my friends so much and it was so lovely getting back and seeing them all even though it was for such a short time because my schedule is so busy I could only miss one TV (event)”.
Family heartbreak
Ripley was forced to make an unscheduled visit home in May, 2023 following the death of her beloved Nonna.
In a tweet to her 848,000 fans, Ripley said she had lost “one of my favourite people”.
“Nonna, I’m going to miss your strong loving hugs and your sassy cheeky attitude,” she wrote.
“I miss you & I love you with all my heart”.
Ripley also shared several images on her Instagram, including a photo of her Nonna proudly posing with a copy of The Advertiser that featured a report on her impending shot at glory at the WrestleMania event.
During her trip home, Ripley spent some quality time at several of her favourite Adelaide spots.
She was spotted with a fan at Henley Beach, stopped in at Bomdia Bowls in Glenelg for breakfast and posed with friends at Hallett Cove, which was captioned “Life is way too short and goes by way too fast…Enjoy the time you have with the ones you love”.
TV AND MOVIES
Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise after her Raw Women’s Championship win in 2021, Ripley revealed she would be interested in following in the footsteps of wrestlers-turned-actors The Rock and John Cena and trying her hand at TV or movies.
“I mean I’m up for anything,” she said.
“I sort of just want to see how far I can go in life, so, if someone comes knocking with some sort of movie role then I’m definitely down because I would love to try that out.
“We’ll see if that ever happens but if they ask, I’m keen.”
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