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Over the last year, if there is one woman who a case can be made is the defining performer for WWE NXT, it may very well be Australian star Rhea Ripley, who closed 2019 with an emotional NXT Women's Championship win and who stole the show at Wrestlemania against Charlotte Flair. With a bout against Dakota Kai tonight potentially setting her up for a return run at the Women's title, Ripley sits down with PWInsider.com to reflect on what has happened, the future and more.
Mike Johnson: Hey everybody. It's Mike Johnson in the middle of a tropical storm here in New York City. Somehow the tropical storm pretty much missed the Sunshine State of Florida, which I guess is good for our guest at this time - Rhea Ripley returning to talk to us yet again. Tomorrow evening on WWE NXT on the USA Network, she will be facing Dakota Kai. The winner of that will become the new #1 Contender to Io Shirai's NXT Women's Championship. We've got a lot to talk about with Rhea, it's always good to catch up with her, so first of all - how are you doing and are you excited that you missed I would assume perhaps your first big tropical storm experience?
Rhea Ripley: [laughs] I'm good, mate and yeah, I'm very glad that it missed us, because we actually had one here when I first moved to Florida and it knocked down a lot of trees and I was very scared for my car, so I'm glad that this time it wasn't as bad.
Mike Johnson: Well I'm glad you lucked out and perhaps you will luck out again tomorrow evening on NXT. We'll be seeing you go against Dakota Kai, as I mentioned the winner of that - will have major championship implications going into Takeover 30 in a couple of weeks. Thoughts on the potential moment to get back to the NXT Women's Championship by going through Dakota.
Rhea Ripley: It's not going to be an easy task pretty much. Dakota's changed a lot from the Dakota that I used to know and it's gonna be very hard to defeat her this time, but you know, I miss my NXT Women's Championship so I'm going to do anything that I can to try and go through Dakota and become the #1 Contender and get a singles match against Io Shirai, so I guess we'll see if I can pull it off or not tomorrow, but you know I'm down for a fight.
Mike Johnson: You mentioned that Dakota has changed - what is it about her that you feel has evolved in the last couple of months, in the last year in NXT and how different does that make her as an opponent as she evolves and becomes less familiar to you?
Rhea Ripley: So the Dakota that she was before NXT Takeover: War Games - she was sort of like a team player and she just tried to please everyone and I understand that, cause that's how I was in the first Mae Young Classic, but the Dakota that we see these days and that has evolved into the person that she is today, she no longer cares about anything that anyone says or anything that anyone thinks. She's not a team player like she says and that's very dangerous cause - like that, I was like that in NXT UK and I know what it does to your mind and I know how angry she is feeling right now, so I know that she's not going to hold back at all and she wants to go, she wants what she thinks that she deserves and I really gotta watch myself going into this match tomorrow because I honestly don't really know what to expect from her, she could do anything.
Mike Johnson: So prior to entering this match, the last couple of weeks, we had seen you kind of run afoul of Robert Stone and be a little bit distracted by that. That allowed you to kind of be placed in a little bit of a different environment within the WWE storylines than we had become accustomed to seeing Rhea in - usually we just see her kicking ass in the ring. Instead there were some vignettes and some torment of poor Mr. Stone. Thoughts on stepping a little bit outside of your comfort zone and doing some more sport entertainment-esque material as opposed to just straight in-ring performances.
Rhea Ripley: I think everyone's used to the 'serious Rhea' and I've seen a lot online, a lot of people were excited for the storyline with Robert Stone and a lot of people were upset about it, but at the end of the day it's character development and I'm honestly just being myself. Like every time I go out there and I'm serious, I'm how I would react in that circumstance and me doing this so-called 'comedy storyline' that everyone's claiming it is, this is just me going out there and having fun and you don't always have to be in the title picture to stay relevant and keep doing the one thing that you love doing and that is, uh, being wrestling. So yeah, I'm happy to be going out there and having fun doing my job and doing the one thing that I love doing and if it means that I get to throw Robert Stone in the trash can then so be it, like that's a lot of fun to me, I love doing that, and I love tormenting Stone - he hates it. Good old stinky feet Stone, like I [laughs], I just love tormenting the dude [laughs].
Mike Johnson: Well, you know, as much as there might have been criticism on some aspects of that, there was a reason for all of it, because it led to Robert Stone now managing Mercedes Martinez, so I mean there was an end game to this, and I think sometimes fans in the moment, they go "Ah I don't like this right now, in this very little pinpointed moment," but then when you look back with the gift of hindsight and you can see "Oh ok, well that led him here and this led her there", and that's kind of the beauty of pro wrestling, it never ends, but one of the things that we also get to see is a lot of reprisals and one of the things that we might see...
Rhea Ripley: [laughs]
Mike Johnson: ...if you get past Dakota Kai, one of the things we might potentially see at Takeover is Io Shirai against Rhea Ripley again. The last time the two of you fought it ended up in a No Contest and then there was a triple threat match with Charlotte, but - unfinished business with Io Shirai. She's someone that you've wrestled before in NXT and even before that, thoughts on potentially finally having that final showdown with Io with the NXT Women's Title at stake.
Rhea Ripley:, I would love to have a one on one match with Io Shirai going for the NXT Women's Championship. Like you said, the last match I had was a three-way, it had Charlotte in it, so you sort of have to watch your back at all times, where if it's one on one, you can really just pay attention to the one person, and last time I stepped in the ring with Io in a one on one match was the Mae Young Classic 2, and she beat me, so [laughs], and now she has my NXT Women's Championship, so I would love to have a one on one match with Io and try and reclaim what was mine and I think it would be a lot of fun. She's great, she's a fantastic performer and athlete and she's incredible at everything that she does, and she's a lot of fun to step in the ring with, cause you never really know what's going to happen, so yeah I'm very excited to see if that is what happens.
Mike Johnson: So last time we spoke we talked about how, in my opinion, I thought Rhea Ripley against Charlotte Flair stole Wrestlemania. Obviously Charlotte has taken some time off right now, at some point she's going to return. Do you see a Wrestlemania rematch as like a goal? Is that a match that you want to get the chance to revisit on a major stage again, like, it was a really perfect moment in your career, even though you didn't win, but I think the performance kinda will be one of those matches that stand the test of time, and people look at fonder as the years go on. Do you want to go back and reprise that? Do you think something can be improved? Would you like to do it on a larger scale? Like when you think about Charlotte is that like, a major goal for you down the line to get back to that position and back on a major stage against her?
Rhea Ripley: Definitely, every time I step in the ring with Charlotte, it's always magic, and we always steal the show, so I really hope that we get to have another one on one match sometime down the line, when that is, I have no idea, hopefully she comes back soon, but yeah I would definitely love it, and hopefully this time it can be in front of fans in the audience, which would be amazing, cause it's just a different sort of setting and it's something that we haven't done yet.
Mike Johnson: So when we see you on Wednesday, you're going to be facing Dakota Kai. Wherever she goes, Raquel Gonzalez is nearby. They've kind of got that Shawn Michaels/Diesel thing going on, that sort of unique chemistry. Thoughts on dealing with Gonzalez and how she's grown since coming into a partnership with Dakota.
Rhea Ripley: Raquel has grown so, so much since joining with Dakota and to be honest it's terrifying, cause she's a big girl and she's tough and she's strong. I know exactly how strong she is - I used to tag with her for a good year and a half, so I know Raquel like the back of my hand and I know what she's capable of, so I gotta watch my back a bit this Wednesday against Dakota. We'll see if she decides to interfere at all but you know, I'm ready for her, I know her like I said, I'm hoping that one day I get to face Raquel, so we'll see if that gets to happen, but I would love to step in the ring with her. I think she's absolutely incredible, like I said she's grown so much and she's just looking amazing right now.
Mike Johnson: The company continues to produce a lot of original content in the ring and out despite the pandemic. You're one of many that have kinda been caught in that vortex. You were supposed to go back to Australia right after Wrestlemania and to the best of my knowledge you still haven't been able to get back there because the borders are closed. How are you dealing with all this? I can only speak personally - I haven't seen my parents in 5 months, they live a half hour from me, but I don't want to go there and chance getting them sick or vice versa. Your family's in Australia, so I mean that's the other side of the world and you haven't been able to go home. We talked a little bit about how you're supposed to get your green card renewed, things like that. How have you found your way navigating all this madness and keeping yourself happy and content despite all the chaos that the world is in and put yourself in the position where mentally, emotionally and physically you're ready to perform at the same time?
Rhea Ripley: Oh man, it's been a crazy time for everyone I think, I do miss my family a lot, words cannot describe how much I do miss them and I can't wait until the borders open up and I get to travel home to go see them because I haven't seen them in a long time [laughs]. I don't even remember the last time I saw them, probably Christmas last year I want to say, yeah, it's been a long, long time. I sort of try and keep my mind busy so I don't think of that stuff, like I still Facetime them every now and then but it's hard cause they are in Australia and the time zone is extremely different, so it's hard to contact them, especially with them going to work, cause everything's starting to open up in Australia now, so I'm sort of just trying to keep my mind busy, so whenever I'm at work and doing the one thing that I love which is wrestling, I'm distracted and I'm happy. Other than that I'm just trying to work out as much as I can, I'm working out like a madman [laughs] cause that distracts me. I love going to the gym and I love going to all that stuff, so that's pretty much just a huge distraction right now just so I don't have to think about how much I do miss my mom, dad and sister.
Mike Johnson: Have you figured out how to resolve the working visa issue? Like I'm sure there's a million people who are in a similar situation with bureaucracy the way that it is in general but now add in all the COVID-19 shutdowns and stuff. Have you been able, have you and WWE been able to navigate your way out of that mess yet?
Rhea Ripley: I think they're finished with the, I'm not entirely sure, I'm sort of kept out of the loop a little bit, but from my knowledge they've worked everything out in my visa. The only thing that I have to do is go back to Australia and get it signed but until that happens I can't leave America cause then I can't get back into America [laughs]. So my next trip has to be to Australia to get it signed.
Mike Johnson: So it's literally 'Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200' for you at the moment, wow. That'a a Monopoly reference for those who don't know.
Rhea Ripley: [laughs]
Mike Johnson: All right so we got 2 more questions for ya and then I know you have to go on to do your next commitment. there's always a lot of talk online amongst the fans of WWE's women's division about things that they want to see. If it was up to you, if Triple H came to you tomorrow and said, "Listen, we gotta flip a coin, which would you prefer - do you think it would be better to see the company put together another Mae Young Classic to have a bunch of other up and coming women get a spotlight or would you like to see a fully fledged Evolution 2 pay per view? If the company had to choose one path right now to develop and start towards that goal, which would you like to see happen?
Rhea Ripley: Oh man, that's really, really hard.
Mike Johnson: I know it's a hard decision because they're both excellent events.
Rhea Ripley: Yes, oh man I think I would have to go with another Mae Young Classic, just because like you said it, it helps get the spotlight on all the up and coming women that are really trying to get into the spotlight to start with, and you just get to see a whole bunch of new faces instead of seeing like, all of us again, I think it would be better to see a whole bunch of new faces and then that can lead to maybe another Evolution [laughs].
Mike Johnson: How about this - let's hedge our bets here. How about we do another Worlds Collide show and we have the women's roster face alumni from the Mae Young Classic? How about that?
Rhea Ripley: Yeah, let's do that. [laughs]
Mike Johnson: Let's do that. Now we've covered all the bases.
Rhea Ripley: Yeah, perfect. [laughs]
Mike Johnson: So I know you gotta get out of here, I appreciate all the time you always give us, for fans who aren't watching NXT on a consistent basis, cause there are fans who just watch Raw or Smackdown or whatever, why should they tune in and make sure they watch NXT this Wednesday? Why should they make sure that they're watching your match against Dakota Kai?
Rhea Ripley: Man, so many different reasons why they should be tuning in this Wednesday, [laughs], myself, Rhea Ripley, I get to step into the ring with Dakota Kai in a #1 Contender's Match to go for Io Shirai's NXT Women's Championship. Every time that Dakota and I step in the ring together it's always crazy and hard hitting and amazing and every other exciting way to describe it, if they want to see Australia versus New Zealand, which is always a great rivalry, they should definitely tune in to this Wednesday, USA Network, 8 PM, NXT, because it's going to be one to watch, definitely.
Mike Johnson: All right. Well you can find all things NXT related obviously at WWE.com. You can check out the NXT Twitter and to follow our guest you can visit Twitter and go to @rhearipley_wwe, and I just want to say thank you for sitting down with us yet again. I think this is like the second or third time we've had the chance to do this in the calendar year or so, it's always a fun conversation. I hope you get home to Australia soon, but mostly we just wish you the best personally and professionally and we look forward to seeing what happens on Wednesday night when you mix it up with Dakota so thank you again for your time.
Rhea Ripley: Thank you, mate. Stay safe all right?
Mike Johnson: I'll do my best. Until next time everybody, I'm Mike Johnson, thank you for listening.
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