Adelaide wrestler Rhea Ripley to compete in championship match at WrestleMania despite global COVID-19 pandemic
Adelaide grappler Rhea Ripley has defied the odds, made history and is about to step into the WrestleMania spotlight – but the global pandemic means this will be an event unlike any other.
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When she signed her WWE contract in July 2017, all Glenelg-born athlete Rhea Ripley was promised was a wage, a place to train and a chance to make herself famous.
Less than three years have passed and, in that time, Ripley has made professional wrestling history time and time again, and is now poised to appear on the grandest stage of them all.
This weekend, the 23-year-old will defend her NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania – the $1.5 billion industry’s premier event.
In doing so, Ripley will become the first Australian in the event’s 36-year history to compete in a one-on-one match for a championship.
WrestleMania is, for those who step into the squared circle, the ultimate accomplishment – an opportunity for which all performers long and but a select few have achieved.
But no one, least of all Ripley herself, could have imagined that triumphant moment would come to pass in front of a crowd of exactly zero people.
Thanks to COVID-19, WrestleMania will be broadcast not from the 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida but from WWE’s 7925sq m training facility in Orlando.
The jarring change may faze some – but not Ripley.
“What’s happening in the world right now is absolutely ridiculous, but it’s still WrestleMania and I’ve been working for this moment my whole career,” she says.
“Even if there will be zero people in attendance, there’ll still be millions at home watching.
“If what we do can put smiles on the faces of the people who are sitting at home feeling miserable because they’re stuck inside, if I can bring them joy, then I’m doing my job.
“That’s what makes me happy.”
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After making her name with Adelaide promotion Riot City Wrestling, and in Japan, Ripley signed with WWE in 2017 and quickly staked her claim for the spotlight.
A standout performance in August 2018’s Mae Young Classic led to her first championship – WWE’s UK women’s title later that same month.
Before the end of 2019, she had claimed its NXT women’s championship from noted MMA fighter Shayna Baszler, making some enemies along the way.
Most notably, she pinned Charlotte Flair – arguably the greatest female competitor of the modern era – on live television, sparking a rivalry that will culminate at WrestleMania.
Ripley has nothing but respect for her opponent.
“It’s absolutely insane to know I’ll be stepping into the ring with Charlotte Flair, someone I’ve watched for a long, long time and is so good at her craft,” she says.
“She’s made so much history in this business, and it’s pretty much an honour to share this historic moment with her.
“Ever since the Mae Young Classic, people have compared me to her, which has been cool and frustrating at the same time.”
Flair has frustrations of her own – Ripley’s meteoric rise has loosened her grip on WWE’s women’s division, and she wants to regain it by taking the championship.
Ripley says the veteran is welcome to try.
“For my entire life, people have told me I’d never make it, that I was silly, that I should do something else with my life,” she says.
“And all I’ve ever wanted to do, my whole life, is prove people wrong – and I have.
“If Charlotte wants to disrespect me, to underestimate me, I say ‘please do’, so I can show her exactly who Rhea Ripley is.”
Though laser-focused on the event, Ripley has lost one important piece of her preparation because of the global pandemic.
Her parents and sister were due to fly to Tampa to watch her perform – their enforced absence has amplified the young Australian’s homesickness.
“This was a special moment that I wanted to share with them but, more importantly, they’re all safe and healthy and doing all right,” she says.
“And, at the same time, the show must go on – I know they’ll be watching and cheering me on … I think I’ll be able to hear my mother screaming at the television.
“In person or not, they’ll always be with me.”
As bizarre as the “empty arena” setting may be for some of WWE’s locker room, Ripley concedes it might just give her an extra edge on Flair.
“Working for RCW back in Adelaide, there would be bad nights when we’d only get 15 people (in attendance), and some of those would be our family members,” she says.
“Other times we’d be performing at comic conventions, like Supernova, where people are walking past and only sort-of paying attention to what we were doing.
“We’d still go out there and give 110 per cent and that practice, that experience, of performing in ‘absolute silence’ is something I can use to my advantage.”
Even with that mindset, Ripley says her true motivation will come from the knowledge her fans around the world – and especially in Adelaide – will be watching.
“This year’s WrestleMania is going to be too big for one night, so we’re having it on Sunday and Monday,” she says.
“The situation is weird, but that just means it’s going to be something you’ve never seen before, will never see again, and will remember for the rest of your life.
“If you’re Australian, then this is a historic moment for me as an Australian so please support me.
“I’m going to be doing everything I can to take your mind off what’s going on, to make you smile, and to make you proud.”
WrestleMania screens on Foxtel’s Main Event channel and the WWE Network – available online – on Sunday, April 5 and Monday, April 6, 8.30am SA time/9am AEST.