Rhea Ripley made an appearance on Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling to discuss a wide range of topics.
During it, Andrews stated that Rhea’s match with Shayna Baszler in NXT felt like a re-debut for her and asked her what moment was it where she changed her character up:
“A lot of things really. It was sort of the whole year between the Mae Young Classic I and II. I went through a lot mentally behind the scenes. I was having troubles at home. I was having troubles at work. I hated myself. I was very mentally weak at that time. I just didn’t feel like I was good enough. I was constantly being told that I wasn’t good enough and I had to do something to improve it.”
“I was on the chopping block a couple times and nearly got booted. I just had a lot going on and I was very down. I want to say, at that six month period, I was like, ‘You know what? Stop this. I don’t care what anybody thinks about me. All they’re going to do is judge me anyway.”
“I had to change my mental game completely. I started going to a gym which is the first gym I’ve ever signed up for. I was terrified. I don’t like being around people, so I was absolutely terrified.”
“We have this thing called carwash where you take photos and videos leading up to the Mae Young Classic so we can get all the footage we need. I rocked up in this new gear. I got my haircut of course. Everyone of the coaches were like, ‘What’s this?’ I said, ‘The new Rhea Ripley.’ They were like ok. I knew that ok was like, ‘This is your a**. If it doesn’t work…’ I didn’t care. This was my one shot. This was my one opportunity that I have to take and I have to do it my way. If it works, it works, and I can shove it in their faces. If it doesn’t, then I’ll leave myself.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription