South Australian star Rhea Ripley is headlining WrestleMania, making it now the best time to be a wrestling fan in the state
Rhea Ripley is about to main event WrestleMania, and high quality homegrown talent shows why it’s the best time to be a South Australian wrestling fan.
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Mainstream professional wrestling has always been dominated by America and American wrestlers, highlighted by the world’s biggest organisation, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
While New Japan Pro Wrestling is also home to big names in the wrestling business, WWE is the pinnacle, and for the first time, we’ll see a South Australian on its biggest show of the year – WrestleMania.
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That South Australian is Rhea Ripley, and her rise through the ranks in WWE has been remarkable and culminated in her winning the NXT Women’s Championship a few months ago.
She had signed with WWE in 2017 after starting her career in Riot City Wrestling (RCW), which has shown it can be a gateway to the elite level following her rise.
RCW is never forgotten by Ripley, she wears its green, white and black colours on her wrestling attire often.
Now it’s in the spotlight, RCW has a significant amount to offer not only in an entertainment realm to South Australians, but to the higher level in terms of developing talent.
It’s most recent event – Reanimated XV – was terrific, highlighted by its tag team main event between World Class Egos and Gods & Monsters.
The match was filled with high-risk manoeuvres, including those from two athletes (Grimm and Brodie Marshall), who stand at a significant height.
The storylines across the rest of the card were engaging, and if you didn’t attend a regular show, you could pick up what was going on fairly quickly.
Yet, one of the best things to see was the RCW wrestlers engaging with the fans.
The heels (villains) hurled abuse back at the crowd as all bad guys do, and the babyfaces (heroes) engaged with the younger audience, which automatically makes a positive impression.
Sitting on the sidelines, it was remarkable to see the talent on show for a wrestling promotion in Adelaide in the Latvian Hall, as wrestling certainly isn’t easy.
You need to perform physically and mentally to ensure there are no serious injuries, but to also maintain your charisma levels and keep the audience engaged.
It’s a lot to focus on at one time.
Furthermore, many RCW athletes have found themselves in WWE tryout camps in recent years, and that’s only a good thing for the future of South Australian wrestling.
RCW has grown considerably amongst the South Australian people as well, with it being a main draw card to this year’s Gluttony at the Adelaide Fringe on Saturday afternoon with its ‘Glutton for Punishment’ event.
With Ripley headlining WrestleMania in front of 80,000 people just three years after featuring at Latvian Hall in front of hundreds, the pathway to the top is clearer, and it’s exciting for South Australian wrestling fans to see one of their own on the big stage.
Let’s hope there’s many more to come.