Rhea Ripley had a lot of time on her hands the day she won the NXT Women's Championship. Ripley ended Shayna Baszler's dominant reign on the Dec. 18 episode of NXT, putting Baszler away with an Avalanche Riptide.
On the day of the event, Ripley barely ate and was left alone with her thoughts longer than she anticipated due to a miscommunication. Speaking to Sporting News, Ripley walked fans through her memorable day.
"Of course, there's always going to be nerves, mainly because it's live TV and I'm one of those people that don't like screwing up. I don't like screwing up in any way possible. That's always on my mind. I actually didn't get much sleep the night before so I woke up super early as well and I had to be at Full Sail by 10:30 a.m. So, I woke up, I had to get ready. It took me forever to pick what I was going to wear to Full Sail which never happens because my closet is just, like, black clothes. That's all I have. It all looks the same so I don't know why it took me so long, but it took me a while to pick out that stuff," she said. "And then it took me a while to put my makeup on because everything has to be perfect for tonight. I just wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. I finally got to Full Sail and I was sitting around from 10:30 to 2:00 just with my own thoughts, just waiting for someone to tell me what was going on. Then I got told that I actually wasn't needed there so that was cool (laughs)."
Ripley continued, "I would normally work out in the morning and go there all pumped and hot but I didn't have time because I thought I had to be there for something but apparently I got the wrong email. So, I'm sitting there with my own thoughts, working myself up, working the nerves up and just freaking out a little bit. I didn't get to eat breakfast either so I went to Starbucks and I had two uncrustables and it's all I ate until 5:30 because, after 2, I was legit running around filming so many different things. I didn't have time to think. I didn't have time to sit down, eat, drink water, or anything. I was so dehydrated and so hungry. I didn't have time to think. Then, I finally sat down to eat around 5:30 after filming everything, then at 6 I was changed.I had maybe one more thing to shoot and then I finally got to relax a little bit and think about everything that's happening on that day because it was such a huge day for me. It's a huge day for my career and it's just a huge day in general so I finally get to sit down and think about it and then warm-up and prepare for the match. It was definitely something. To go out there with Shayna Baszler and put on what we did with the amount of time that we did in the spot that we did was absolutely amazing. Everything I did that day leading up to it, I wouldn't change anything, even the not eating until 5:30."
Following her victory over Baszler, Ripley was greeted backstage by William Regal, Sara Amato, Triple H, and the NXT women's roster. Ripley previously discussed her relationship with Triple H and how she tries not to mark out around him. You can view her comments by clicking here.
