WWE star Grayson Waller slams AFL as Rhea Ripley torches husband Buddy Matthews on Adelaide Crows victory over Carlton

Making friends with Aussie rules fans was clearly not on the star’s travel itinerary during his recent press junket.

He might have been sent back home to Australia to win the hearts and minds of Aussie wrestling tragics, but WWE superstar Grayson Waller wasn’t playing with AFL fans.

The superstar provocateur clearly did not have an AFL game on his tight schedule on the lightning trip home to announce WWE’s new plans to make another big splash with a series of major shows in Perth later this year.

“No, I watch real sport … I’m a (Sydney) Roosters fan,” Waller, who hailed from Sydney before being lured to the US, told The Advertiser.

“You know, the thing with AFL, it’s like 47 blokes fumbling over a ball for a couple of hours. “And the one thing I don’t understand, this is a sport where if you miss, they go, ‘Oh, you tried, we’ll give you a point. You tried really hard.

Roosters fan and WWE wrestling star Grayson Waller meeting Sydney Roosters players Egan Butcher, Sam Walker, Blake Steep and Mark Nawaqanitawase during a visit home last year. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Can you imagine that in any other sport? You fail. You do the wrong thing. You’re not good enough to do it. And they’re like, oh, here you go. Here’s a point for trying.

“I feel AFL is like primary school when you get the, you know, you come fifth, but they give you the participation thing. That’s what the AFL is. It’s like a participation game.”

Waller’s last trip to Australia stirred controversy too, when he clashed live on air with Channel 7’s Sunrise crew.

But the NRL fan’s unAustralian Rules sentiments weren’t shared by his fellow traveller, Adelaide-born WWE icon Rhea Ripley.

She said she was lapping up the chance to report back home to her husband in US as the Crows laid the smackdown on his beloved Blues, despite his attempts to rope her into the Cartlon family.

“He was like, well, if they beat the Crows, then they have to be your team. I’m like, you don’t want to make that bet. And then they lost,” she laughed.

“So it made me a little bit happy, but it definitely did not make him happy … he woke up to a nice little score text in the morning.”

Their comments come just over a year after the global wrestling superpower staged its biggest ever Australian event in Perth last year, and just days after it revealed plans to return to the West Australian capital later this year.

WWE will hold three major shows over three days from October 10 in Perth, including its flagship TV programs Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown, as well as its Crown Jewel: Perth premium live event.

The company drew more than 50,000 fans to Optus Stadium in Perth during its last visit to Australia.

Originally published as WWE star Grayson Waller slams AFL as Rhea Ripley torches husband Buddy Matthews on Adelaide Crows victory over Carlton