Rhea Ripley is not someone folks typically want to mess with within the WWE Universe. She's a powerhouse who can slam Luke Gallows, a dominant performer who has won 90 percent of her matches in 2023, and potentially the SmackDown Women's Champion if she's able to take care of business against the Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39.
And yet, if there's one opponent who refuses to acknowledge “The Eradicator's” prowess and is willing to go toe-to-toe against The Judgement Day's enforcer, it's airport autograph seekers who will stop at nothing to get as many signatures as possible from WWE Superstars in order to optimize their potential profits on eBay.
Tweeting about the situation after a particularly nasty interaction, Ripley let these alleged fans know what everyone already should: no means no.
“People need to respect that no means no!” Ripley wrote. “At airports do not follow me outside. Today has put me off completely! I will not sign ANYTHING that isn’t a personal photo of us anymore. Hate me, I don’t care. Disagree with me, try putting yourselves in our shoes for one bloody day.”
Afforded a chance to discuss what happened to elicit such a firey response by Chris Phelan of the USA Network, Ripley detailed the horrific-sounding experience that caused her to change her personal autograph policy.
“We fly around so much and we travel so much,” Rhea said. “Right now I'm doing both brands, so I'm at the airport pretty much every single day. So I run into fans every single day and there's a lot of them. And when it comes to signing, some of them have piles of the same photos, of the same action figures, of the same pop vinyls, of the same cards — and they want you to sign every single one of them. And if you say, ‘Hey, I'm just going to sign one, I've got places to be' — because most of the time we do, we're running late. I was running late to work this morning because I landed so late and I've got to be here at a certain time, and sometimes we just can't sign it all.”
“It's sort of an entitled thing when some fans expect us to just do it and they start making a fuss if we say no,” she began. “So I had a fan follow me outside the airport today because I said no to them because I didn't have the time and it was all of the same stuff they wanted signed. It was one fan specifically, he's notorious, he's always at the airport getting our signatures and selling them on eBay — we know his face, we know who he is. He was the main instigator, he followed me out and others followed him too and they all followed me as I'm trying to find my Uber. So I'm trying to tell them no and they're all being persistent and I ended up getting lost, I had no idea where my Uber was, and I ended up down the stairs away from everyone else and I'm just surrounded by these five guys and they're just hassling me.
“I don't think people understand how threatening that is,” Rhea continued. “Especially because you don't know what's going to happen. I don't know these people.”
Goodness, that sounds horrible; no wonder the former RAW Women's Championship isn't exactly going out of her way to sign 20 Funko pops that'll pop up on eBay for $242.69 a pop a few hours later. Fortunately, Ripley isn't going full-on anti-fans, as she still appreciates what they bring to the WWE Universe.
Rhea Ripley draws the line between genuine WWE fans and profiteers.
Discussing her issues with autograph hounds further, Ripley provided an alternative for fans who genuinely want a memento without bothering the wrestlers they love.
“Like I said before, if you're a genuine fan and you just want a photo with us — we don't mind taking photos,” Ripley said. “We love our fans, we love our support, and we love everything about the WWE Universe. If you want a photo, I'm down to take a photo, and I know everyone else is, too. If you have a photo of you and us together, I'm going to sign it because that's a personal thing and I know you're going to keep that and cherish that, and you're a true fan, you're not just trying to make quick money off us while we're at the airport. Especially at an airport, in many cases, we're sleep deprived, we're in a rush, we haven't eaten, and then there's people jumping down our throats expecting something from you. It's just a lot.”
“Just treat us with respect like we're normal human beings instead of products. I find that a lot of the time when you go to the airport, people that are waiting there, waiting for signatures and autographs, a lot them — not all of them, there is some good ones in the batch that actually want to meet their favorite Superstars and that's all good and fine, but it's the ones that are trying to make money off our signatures and just treat us like we're a product for everyone's use.”
Welp, there you have it, WWE fans; if you run into a Superstar at the airport, just ask for a photo, instead of whipping out a few dozen of their trading cards in the pursuit of making a month's worth of rent in a few minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clqOvuI_0pM
Follow Us
Subscribe