WWE star and former women’s champion Rhea Ripley recently joined My Love Letter To Wrestling to discuss a number of different topics, including why she decided to change her look after the first Mae Young Classic, stating that it was done in an attempt to strengthen her mental game. Highlights are below.
Why she changed her look after the first Mae Young Classic tournament:
“A lot of things. It was the whole year between the Mae Young Classic one and two. I went through a lot, mentally, behind the scenes. I was having troubles at home, at work, I hated myself. Very mentally weak at that point. I didn’t feel like I was good enough. I was constantly being told I wasn’t good enough and I had to do something to improve it. I was on the chopping block a couple of times and I nearly got booted. I just had a lot going on and I was very down. I want to say, I had a six month period and I was like, ‘eff this, I don’t care what anybody thinks about me.’ All they’re going to do is judge me anyway and I can’t listen to everyone because everyone’s advice is clashing with other people’s advice. I had to change my mental game completely. I started going to a gym, I signed up to an actual gym.”
On her shift towards being a heel:
“We have this thing called car wash where you take all the photos and videos, leading up to the Mae Young Classic, so we get all the footage we need. I sort of walked up in this new gear. I got my haircut, but I (showed up) in this new hear and one of the coaches was like, ‘What’s this?’ ‘The new Rhea Ripley, and I’m a heel.’ ‘Okay,’ and I knew that ‘okay’ was like, ‘this is your ass if it doesn’t work.’”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)