WWE superstar and former NXT women’s champion Rhea Ripley recently spoke with the New York Post to hype up WrestleMania 37, where Ripley will challenge Asuka for the Raw women’s title. Highlights from the interview can be found below, which include Ripley stating that she doesn’t care of Charlotte Flair gets added to her Mania matchup.
On last year’s WrestleMania taking place at the PC:
It’s funny to think that my first WrestleMania was at the Performance Center, which is still awesome because it’s still WrestleMania, but now I finally get my second chance to do it in front of a crowd and it’s something that I’ve been waiting for, for a year. It’s super exciting for me. I can’t wait to see actual faces in the crowd.
On her move to the main roster:
I was super excited. I honestly found out like super late, but that’s how it goes in wrestling. You always find out last minute. It’s always so exciting and it’s a new adventure for me. Even though I miss NXT, I miss all my girls, it’s a new opening for me and I get to experience new things with new people. I was scared and terrified and nervous but I was still super excited.
Says there are a lot of things that intrigue her about a matchup with Asuka:
A lot of things really. I remember when I was 17 I went to Japan for a three-month tour and I was actually on one of the same shows as Asuka. I don’t think she remembers me at all from it, but I really do remember her. I thought she was super cool looking and I loved the way that she wrestled. I’ve watched her since she started in NXT since she had that (win) streak going. I wanted to be the one to break it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t (Laughs). I’ve always had that intrigue in wrestling Asuka. I feel like this match is definitely going to be a very hard-hitting match and it’s going to bring things out of me — and hopefully her — that we haven’t seen before because it is a new challenge. We wrestle very differently and somewhat still the same. So I’m very excited to put on a great match for everyone.
Says she wouldn’t mind if Charlotte got added to the match, but does have a desire to face Asuka one on one:
I’d be down for the match if she got added, but also in a selfish way I really want to have a one-on-one match with Asuka. It’s something that I’ve wanted for a long, long time. I’ve always wanted to step in the ring with Asuka and we haven’t had a one-on-one match ever. So I think there is that it factor that everyone is really excited about. If Charlotte gets added to the match, I’m still not going to complain. It’s still going to be a fantastic match and it’s going to be a fantastic story. So I guess we will just see what happens. She always has her way, like you said, she’ll probably end up in it but that’s not my call to make. So I’ll be happy either way. I’m just happy to have a match at WrestleMania and I think it’s still gonna be great whether it has Charlotte in it or not.
How main roster Rhea Ripley will differ from her run in NXT:
I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last few weeks and I’ve thought about all my NXT days and how I got a little bit soft to the fact people were trying to push me over and they didn’t really care about the name Rhea Ripley. I had people calling me out left, right and center. I want people to be afraid of me. I don’t like it when people want to be buddy, buddy. I don’t like that at all. So I’m definitely going or trying to get my mental state back to the same way that I was at the start of NXT and in NXT UK where I don’t care. I have to remind myself every now and then not to care about other people and their feelings because I’m here for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to accomplish everything that I want to accomplish. It’s just pretty much what’s going through my mind right now. I want the gold. I want to be the top dog. I want to be the face of “Monday Night Raw” so I have to portray that in myself and just stop caring about everything, to be honest.