Rhea Ripley On Trying Out For WWE At 17, Reinventing Her Appearance, Training With Guys
Rhea Ripley made her WWE debut at the 2017 Mae Young Classic in which she lost in the second round. But she was on WWE's radar much earlier than that and met with them when she was just 17 years old.
She talked about that experience on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia.
"I had a tryout in Australia when I was 17 years old. The WWE contacted my trainers and asked who would be a few names that they would put forward for a tryout. My name was thrown in there, which I had only been wrestling for a year, and so I sent them back all my information after they emailed me and I was super excited," recalled Ripley. "But I was also a little child and couldn't word things, so I sent them back all my stuff, then they realized I was 17 years old and told me to contact them again when I was 21."
Ripley still went to the tryout and introduced herself to a couple of people on the WWE staff. Not being hired at that time was a bit disappointing but it also allowed her to go train in Japan.
"I ended up after that going to Japan for a little while, went there for three months and lived in the Dojo. I trained there every single day; it was intense and I wanted to quit but I thought to myself that I couldn't quit, this is what I want to do. I hate quitting, but there in Japan I felt like I really found myself that made me more of who I am today," said Ripley. "It was very hard-hitting, that sort of style and I love that style. It also taught me how to take a hit, which was nice. I thought I was going to take a hit before when I was in mosh pits, but after that I was like, okay, I can pretty much do anything."
Ripley's appearance has changed over the years as she used to have long, blond hair. She discussed why she changed her look into the current style that she rocks today.
"It was a few different reasons for it. Growing up in Australia I always had the long, beachy hair, that was just who I was. But then when I got here and Toni Storm was also here people kept saying we looked the same – because we are both rockers as well," stated Ripley. "So, I said to myself that I have to try and stay away from Toni. A few people had mentioned that I should cut my hair and I had thought about it myself so I just did it. I actually like it now. When I first did it, I was really, really nervous. The hair kept getting cut shorter and shorter where I slick it back now."
Ripley is a former NXT UK Women's Champion, but she discussed how training with guys is actually something that made her a better performer for the women's division.
"I think training with guys is a big thing that everyone needs to do. Training with only girls is good and beneficial because we work with each other and there is no intergender in WWE. So, we have to all get along and know each other's stuff, but I just think training with guys is so beneficial and it made me excel in the way that I did," said Ripley.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.