Rhea Ripley seemed ascendant three years ago at WrestleMania, but she wasn't. Now she is in the main event of Night 1 at WrestleMania 39.
, the most decorated female star in the WWE, won that year’s Royal Rumble, earning her a title shot against anyone she wanted. Instead of challenging the champion of the “Raw” or “SmackDown,” brands, Flair surprisingly challenged Ripley.
It was assumed that Ripley would win, move up to the main roster and become the dominate star. Instead, she lost by submission to Flair, then disappeared for a while returning to Australia to deal with work visa issues. She returned to NXT and didn’t get promoted until almost a year after WrestleMania 36. Over the last year, since becoming aligned with the Judgment Day faction, she has become arguably the most popular woman on the roster, even though she is a heel.
It all culminated back where it was three years ago. This time Ripley won the Royal Rumble and challenged Flair for the SmackDown women’s title in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania on Saturday. We recently talked to Ripley about her journey.Three years ago, it seemed you were on the cusp of being one of the top WWE stars, instead, you lost and your rise was delayed.
I think it’s more of a confidence thing for me. Finding confidence in myself, it’s a very roller-coaster situation. Some days I am the most confident person in the world. And some days I have absolutely zero confidence, it really depends on me as a human outside of work. And it shines through into what you see in WWE where I have to portray myself as confident every single day. And sometimes it is very, very difficult.
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