Rhea Ripley has become one of the tp female stars in WWE, winning gold in NXT UK, NXT, and WWE Raw.
Ripley competed in the first two Mae Young Classic tournaments and over the years, has transformed her look from having long blonde hair and regular wrestling gear to the style fans see today.
Speaking to Mark Andrews on My Love Letter to Wrestling, Ripley discussed how changing her look and her mindset led to her saving her job.
"A lot of things. It was the whole year between the Mae Young Classic one and two. I went through a lot, mentally, behind the scenes. I was having troubles at home, at work, I hated myself. Very mentally weak at that point. I didn't feel like I was good enough. I was constantly being told I wasn't good enough and I had to do something to improve it. I was on the chopping block a couple of times and I nearly got booted. I just had a lot going on and I was very down. I want to say, I had a six month period and I was like, 'eff this, I don't care what anybody thinks about me.' All they're going to do is judge me anyway and I can't listen to everyone because everyone's advice is clashing with other people's advice. I had to change my mental game completely. I started going to a gym, I signed up to an actual gym," she said, noting that she doesn't always like to be around people.
"We have this thing called car wash where you take all the photos and videos, leading up to the Mae Young Classic, so we get all the footage we need. I sort of walked up in this new gear. I got my haircut, but I (showed up) in this new hear and one of the coaches was like, 'What's this?' 'The new Rhea Ripley, and I'm a heel.' 'Okay,' and I knew that 'okay' was like, 'this is your ass if it doesn't work,'" she recalled, saying that she wanted to do things her way.
Ripley is currently part of the WWE Raw brand. She competed in the Elimination Chamber at WWE Elimination Chamber, but was unsuccessful in earning a shot at the Raw Women's Championship.
On Raw, she picked up a victory over Nikki ASH. If you missed anything from WWE Raw, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
