With WrestleMania 39 firmly in the rearview mirror, Rhea Ripley was invited into After The Bell with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick to discuss her main event-caliber match with Charlotte Flair on Night 1, even if it technically landed the penultimate spot on the card instead of the main event. While Ripley understood the decision to go with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens versus The Usos in the final match of the night, as the feud was almost a year in the making, in “The Eradicator's” opinion, she delivered a match that was just as good as any other effort on either card.
“It is really, really cool. I have to say it's epic,” Ripley said via Wrestling News. “Coming out of that match, I did feel like we stole the show. I feel like we went out there and we left everything we had in that ring, and that's why we proved to everyone exactly why we should have been the main event spot. Like yes, we didn't have a good build like Sami and Owens and The Usos did, but at the same time, Charlotte and I, every time we step in that ring, we bring the brutality. We bring the ferociousness. We go out there, and we just beat the living crap out of each other.
“That whole day, I was just everywhere. I couldn't get in the zone of, I'm going to be out here competing. All I could really think about was how tired I was, how I shouldn't eat because my gear might not fit properly, how my family was going to get into the building. I was stressing about that. How my boyfriend was going to get into the building. I'm stressing about that. Then also just on top of that, like the overwhelming feeling of like, this is WrestleMania, and I don't feel like I am as prepared as I should be for it. I had so many different emotions going through my body.”
Ripley then turned her attention to putting over her WrestleMania 39 opponent, declaring that not only is Flair incredibly intense, but has the competitive drive to back it up.
“Building up to the big match is very intense because she's always on and you don't know how she's gonna react to something, which I love because it keeps me on my toes at the same time. It keeps me staying on and I think that's why I enjoy being in the ring with someone like Charlotte because we bring out the best of each other. We're both extremely competitive people and I feel like you can see that from a mile away while watching us wrestle.”
Though Ripley's match with Flair wasn't given a five-star rating by Dave Melter, the two matches that were afforded that honor were Zayn/Owens versus The Usos and Gunther versus Drew McIntyre versus Sheamus, it's hard to imagine that either performer should be too disappointed with their in-ring efforts at “The Showcase of the Immortals,” as the bout has been widely celebrated across the WWE Universe for the hard-hitting, fast-paced action and the willingness from both women to leave it all on the mat. If Flair was going to see her 14th world championship reign come to an end, it sure feels like Ripley appreciated that she put up one heck of a fight.
Rhea Ripley names one WWE dream match she still wants to cross off her list.
Elsewhere in her interview with Gates and Patrick, Ripley was asked if she has any dream matches she would like to wrestle now that she's champion, and “The Eradicator” of The Judgement Day names one match in particular that she would still like to wrestle.
“I think one of the main ones is, I want my singles match with Beth Phoenix,” Rhea Ripley said. “I want my singles match, not a tag, a singles. But if she doesn't fit the mold of what we're going with, and we're going with first time ever, I want to say Lita. I think that would be a lot of fun.”
While Ripley and Phoenix have shared the ring on multiple occasions over the last year, including a mixed tag match with Edge and Finn Balor, she hasn't actually earned a singles match with “The Glamazon.” Would WWE still book that match despite the feud between Edge and The Judgement Day officially coming to an end in Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 39? Only time will tell, but based on how over Ripley is at the moment, any angle featuring the SmackDown Women's Championship is sure to get over.
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