After spending the vast majority of her professional wrestling career as a heel, what happens when Rhea Ripley is tasked with wrestling a universally reviled heel in front of 52,000 of her home country fans in the main event of the Elimination Chamber?
You make her into Australia's hottest babyface and lean all the way into it as if the last two years and change haven't happened. You give her the huge entrance, you have her shake hands with the kids in the crowd, and most importantly of all, you keep her far, far, far away from the rest of Judgment Day, especially “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio, who was almost booed out of the building an hour earlier.
Working the rare underdog match of her professional wrestling career, Ripley was consistently overpowered by Jax for much of the match, but much like Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 3, all it takes is one big move to turn the tenor of a match, and that's what Ripley did with a massive Riptide off the top rope, sending her opponent packing and the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
So what gives? Is Ripley a babyface now? Unlikely, this felt more like a Bret Hart match in Canada than some major character change for Mami. Still, for a few moments at the Elimination Chamber in Perth, Ripley got to experience what it's like to be the most over babyface in WWE, and considering her popularity with the crowd and incredible in-ring efforts, it's a look Paul ‘Triple H” Levesque and company may be wise to revisit at some point down the line.