Rhea Ripley says she and Charlotte Flair proved why they should have been in the main event spot of WrestleMania 39.
Ripley won the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble, and she went on to challenge WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair for the title at WWE WrestleMania 39. Many fans assumed the match would main-event the show. Instead, on WrestleMania Saturday, the Undisputed Tag Team Championship match where Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn faced The Usos went on last.
Speaking on WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves, Ripley shared her thoughts on the high-profile match and stated that she felt like they stole the show.
“Coming out of that match, I did feel like we stole the show,” Ripley said. “I feel we went out there and left everything we had in the ring and proved to everyone exactly why we should have been in the main event spot. Yes, we didn’t have a good build like Sami, Owens, and the Usos; at the same time, Charlotte and I, every time we step in the ring, we bring the brutality, we bring the ferocious when we go out there and we just beat the living crap out of each other. All the praise that we got, it made me happy and made me proud that we went out there and beat the crap out of each other and loved it. It’s a weird feeling. I get it, I do get it.”
When asked whether she approached the match with a mentality of “top this,” Ripley responded by noting that she felt similar going into the first women’s WarGames match. She made it clear that she was “emotionally unstable”, given her lack of sleep and the emotional importance of the bout, but once it was showtime, she was determined to steal the show.
“It’s a lot how I felt going into the first women’s WarGames match,” Riplay said. “We had our WarGames shirts and it was FTMF, that was printed on the back and that was the same mentality that I had going into this WrestleMania. The day of was a complete mess to me. I was emotionally unstable, I want to say, because of the lack of sleep and everything coming full circle. I knew that as soon as my music played and I stepped out of Gorilla and into (the arena) and all the fans staring back at me that I was going to switch on and that’s when the Rhea Ripley you see comes out and all my confidence comes rushing through my body and I’m going to go out there and do everything I can to steal the show.” (Transcription credit of Jeremy Lambert of Fightful).
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