Chelsea Green is looking forward to eventually settling the WWE Women’s Championship picture with Rhea Ripley.
Green captured the WWE Interim Women’s Championship at SummerSlam after Ripley was sidelined with a knee injury suffered at Clash In Italy. Provided Green is still holding the interim title when Ripley is cleared to return, the two are expected to meet in a championship unification match.
Speaking with ETalk (see video below), Green named Ripley as her current dream opponent and joked about fighting for “permanent residency” as champion.
“I’ve had 13 years to think about who my dream opponent would be, but I think it’s only fair that I say Rhea Ripley,” Green said. “Considering I am technically the interim Women’s Champion, you know, and Rhea Ripley is the WWE Women’s Champion, I think we need to duke it out for a position of maybe permanent residency.”
Green also discussed finally getting the opportunity to work on WWE television with her husband, Matt Cardona. After years of their careers nearly crossing paths on-screen, Green said the moment felt inevitable.
“Matt and I have been together for 10 years,” she said. “We have had so many instances in our careers where we’ve almost crossed paths, where we’ve almost worked together. We’ve almost been on the same show, and it was an amazing moment to be able to have him brought back to WWE, have us be able to work together on screen, on SmackDown, but then also have backstage footage from Unreal. That was really cool as well.
“I mean, I think that right now in wrestling, we love to blur the lines and we bring in current events. We bring in real life situations. So for Matt and I to end up on screen together was, in my opinion, inevitable. You cannot avoid the fact that we are together. We are both in WWE. We are very public people with our personal lives.”
Green continued by noting that fans have followed their relationship away from wrestling for years, making Cardona coming to her aid on SmackDown even more meaningful.
“Everyone has watched us build our house and adopt our animals and kind of grow this life together. So I think it was really beautiful for the fans to be able to see that on screen, on SmackDown. He came to my aid and it was just really fun. It was- I got to watch in the ring as a fan as well. You know, everybody was watching him come save me, but I also got to watch that, which was really fun.”
As for Green’s own health, she currently has 30 days to receive medical clearance or find an appropriate protective face mask to avoid being stripped of the interim title. Green made it clear that her latest injury isn’t going to stop her.
“You know what, I’ve been doing this 13 years, no broken bones are ever going to keep me down,” she said. “At this point I’ve had, well, at this point I’ve had heart surgery, I’ve had a broken ankle, collarbone, nose, cheekbone, orbital bone, and three broken arms, and we’re good. I wake up feeling amazing every single day.
“So especially at this point in my career, there’s not a single thing that can happen to me that is going to keep me down because I’ve been waiting my entire career for this moment. So I’m ready to go. Put me in, coach. I will fight with a broken orbital bone, whatever I need to do.”
It appears Green already has the protective equipment covered as well. She confirmed that her face mask is ready — and naturally, she has already customized it.
“I have my face mask ready to go that can protect my orbital bone. So if someone comes at me for this title, know that I am prepared. Would you expect any less from me? I bedazzled the entire thing. I’ve got eye patches ready to go as well that match my outfits, depending on what I wear.”
