‘Goth’ Aussie megastar Rhea Ripley taking America by storm
Australia’s Rhea Ripley is taking wrestling by storm as one of WWE’s biggest stars, but her dominance has sparked debate.
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An Australian woman has become the face of the WWE and is now so popular and dominant that she’s having to try hard not to win her matches too easily.
Rhea Ripley, whose real name is Demi Bennett, hails from Adelaide and is now in her second reign as the WWE Women’s World Champion.
Shoulder injuries ruled her out of much of 2024 but she reclaimed her belt by defeating rival Liv Morgan at WWE Raw’s debut on Netflix at the start of this year.
Ripley, who nicknames herself Mami, told news.com.au she was “excited to see how many days I can hold this bad boy (the belt) for again.”
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“It feels absolutely amazing,” Ripley said.
“I say ‘Mami’s on top’ for a reason. Without a championship, it’s hard to get people to believe that.
“I missed my women’s world championship dearly. I didn’t want to vacate it to begin with. I hurt my shoulder so I had to, I was going to be out for a few months, which sucks.
“To go through Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania 40, stay strong, keep the championship and then have something backstage hurt you to the point where you have to vacate it, it sucks.
“To be able to conquer everything that Liv Morgan threw at me, whether it was Dominik Mysterio or Racquel Rodriguez, and come out victorious with my women’s world championship. It feels absolutely amazing.”
Ripley making ‘goth, punk’ look her own
Along with Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, Ripley has emerged as a bona fide star of WWE thanks to her undeniable athleticism and her eye-catching persona.
Ripley won the 2023 women’s Royal Rumble and the SmackDown championship at WrestleMania 39 as part of the Judgement Day stable.
A few years ago Ripley decided to ditch her long blonde hair, dying it black and cutting it short. She’s acquired several tattoos on a bulked up physique, while black lipstick has become part of her wrestling uniform.
The 28-year-old says she feels more like herself and wants others to feel comfortable in their own skin. It’s also helped her amass a mammoth following on social media.
“I feel like I hit a different genre compared to a lot of the other people,” Ripley reflected.
“I’m all these things — a goth, a punk — whatever you want to label me as. I feel like I fit a specific genre but I’m just being myself.
“I like to find out that I help others and inspire people to be comfortable in their own skin. I think that’s something that’s helped my name blow up.”
Ripley, who still has a strong Australian accent, blew up on TikTok, where many of her fans first discovered her and become wrestling diehards.
She has five million followers on Instagram and 4.1 million followers on TikTok, where each of her videos of her in the ring and the gym rack up millions and millions of views.
“I feel like after doing the Judgement Day stuff, the name Rhea Ripley has made it big on multiple different platforms,” she said.
“Like on TikTok, my name took off and I didn’t even have a TikTok for the longest time.”
Fans constantly stop Ripley while she’s out and about, and she’s still getting used to her skyrocketing fame.
“It’s wild. I don’t even know how to put it into words to be honest with you,” she said.
“I’m just a little girl from Adelaide, South Australia trying to accomplish her dreams and now somehow I’ve made it big in the WWE. I’m just living my best life, you know.
“It’s wild to think that I’m one of the top performers in the WWE. It feels weird, like egotistical saying that. But the facts are there, which is wild.
“It’s crazy to think that so many people know the name Rhea Ripley. I have so many people come up to me all the time, whether I’m at the shops or at the gym, it doesn’t really matter where, there’s people that just come up to me and they’re just freaking out.
“I sometimes forget who I am. I’m like, ‘Why are you freaking out so much?’ It’s just me, like I’m just a human. It’s really cool to see.
“Even talking to my wrestling friends from Australia, hearing them talking about people coming up to them and saying, ‘Oh you know Rhea Ripley, right’. That’s just wild to me. I don’t know how I became such a big name in the WWE.
“All I know is it took seven years to get to this point. I don’t know what finally clicked, but I’m so glad that it did.
“I was never someone that wanted fame, but I’m glad my name’s out there and I get to go out there and be myself and also inspire others to be themselves.”
Ripley is at the top of her wrestling game and is on a mission to defend her Women’s World Championship against challengers including Lyra Valkyria, Dakota Kai, Nia Jax and Piper Niven.
She beat Nia Jax at last weekend’s Saturday night Main Event, and had another moment go viral when Jax grabbed at Ripley’s backside during the match.
Rapper LilYachty was ringside and said: “Rhea Ripley, that’s the only thing that matters to me. Shouts out to Mami.”
Ripley is on a golden run of victories, and she has been so dominant there have been calls for her to tone down the ‘selling’ in matches, where a wrestler reacts to absorb the opponents blow to make it look realistic.
under the age of 30, Rhea Ripley has already become a six-time champion in WWE. pic.twitter.com/sJV8gn6KTI
— ໊ (@gay4ripley) January 7, 2025
Kevin Nash says that he’s never seen a female sell like Rhea Ripley.
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) January 25, 2025
(via @KliqThisPodcast) pic.twitter.com/FdeTQAbB6C
Former WWE writer Vince Russo said on SportsKeeda Wrestling’s Legion of RAW: “I just think they make Rhea Ripley sell way too much, man. I’m watching her, and I’m like, I can’t help but think of it, and I’m like, ‘(WWE legend) Chyna would’ve never ever sold like that.’
“And that’s why she was so ‘over’ (cared about by fans). You got a woman who is so much shorter than Rhea, just throwing her around that ring and tossing her around that ring. I just think they’re having her sell way too much.”
But WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash said on his podcast Kliq This: “To me, she’s so special because I’ve never seen a female sell like she does.”
Nash compared Ripley’s ring entrances to those of WWE legend Barry Wyndham and likened her in-ring movement to that of a “panther”.
Asked by news.com.au about the art of ‘selling’, Ripley said: “I want to go out there and have people not know who’s going to win. I want people to be excited and tuned in and be on the edge of their seat watching these matches.
“I feel like my last run, people knew I was dominant and they just had a feeling that I was going to win everything. I mean, I did.
“But this time around with everything that’s going on in the company, I’m really hoping people are going to be built up and we get these back and forth periods.
“I’m here for it. I want a good challenge. I want to go out there captivate the audience. I want to have them oohing and aahing and not knowing what the outcome is going to be.
Russo also believes Ripley’s popularity will remain sky high even if the WWE storyline makes one of her rivals champions instead.
“Rhea Ripley is super over with the people, she don’t need the belt,” Russo said.
“Liv (Morgan) does, that belt and that title really helps Liv. Rhea Ripley will remain over whether or not she wins the title, she doesn’t need the title. They just need to protect her in this match. I think — I mean, they should keep the title on Liv.”
For her part, Ripley said she is happy wrestling whether she is the champion or not.
“Honestly, I went a long time without having a singles championship or even a tag (team) championship,” she said.
“I was having the time of my life. I was going out there and doing my thing. I think at the end of the day, the one thing I truly love is professional wrestling and going out there and entertaining people.
“Whether it’s for the championship or not, I do love going to work and doing the one thing I’ve worked my whole life to do. Being the champion, there comes a lot of responsibilities and a lot of eyes on you, a lot more people get brought your way and your name becomes a bit bigger in many different ways.
“Championship or not, I love what I do.
“I don’t know who my next challengers are going to be. I’ve been locked into this story thing with Liv Morgan for a very long time. Every single bump into the road she threw my way, I tried my best to overcome it.
“I am a very dominant force but I feel there are other dominant forces here within the WWE women’s division.
“People like Nia Jax. I had a match with her at Elimination Chamber in Perth and it was one of the toughest challenges I’ve had. You go back and watch the match, I was on my arse pretty much 75 per cent of the match. Lucky for me, I’m very stubborn so I didn’t want to give up.
“I feel like heading into 2025 with the new championships within in the women’s division in WWE, it's going to open up so many more opportunities for the women. People are going to grow as characters and performers. I’m just excited to see where everything goes. I feel like this Netflix deal has really put us into a new gear where we all want to get on TV, we want the opportunities, accomplish things.
“I think a lot of the women are going to be spotlighted.”
Ripley’s growing stardom has seen her feature in the WWE2K25 video game, which will also feature intergender wrestling for the first time, allowing players to match Ripley against Dom Mysterio, for instance.
“I think this game is going to be absolutely incredible,” Ripley said.
“Every single year, WWE 2K, they step up their game with the fighting and selling and just the graphics of how we look and our entrances and how smooth everything looks. Every single year it gets so much better.
“I’m excited to see the matches in 2K and also what I look like and how identical it is to us.
“In WWE2K24, seeing myself for the first time, I was like, ‘Wow that’s terrifying. It really looks like me’.
“I’m excited to see what version of myself is in it. I’m excited to see the little bits and pieces and details, like me licking my teeth or doing the spin on the apron.
“I’m excited for intergender wrestling to be a thing. I want to play and face the guys. It’s going to open so many match possibilities and I’m excited to see what the fans get going on there.”
Ripley’s next major WWE moment could come at WrestleMania 41 in April, where she stole the show in an epic match with Charlotte Flair in 2023.
Originally published as ‘Goth’ Aussie megastar Rhea Ripley taking America by storm
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