Rhea Ripley: ‘I snap into this zone where I’m a killer’ (2024)

Rhea Ripley is undoubtedly one of WWE's icons-in-waiting. The only person to have held the NXT, NXT UK, Raw and WWE Tag Team women's titles, the 26-year-old Australian recently became the first woman to win a Royal Rumble as the number one entrant, and isn't content with stopping there, both personally and for the women's division as a whole.

“I want the women's division to be the biggest that it's ever been,” says Ripley in the build-up to this weekend's WrestleMania 39, where she'll be facing old foe Charlotte Flair in one of the event's most anticipated match-ups. “But there's always that selfish side of you that wants to be the face of the women's division.

“I want to make history, to make a legacy for myself – but if accomplishing that means that the women's division doesn't grow and get better, then it wasn't really worth it.”

While viewers are engrossed by the athleticism and pageantry of professional wrestling's very best, many aren't aware of the hours of hard work and stress involved in reaching the pinnacle of the discipline. From last-minute flights in the middle of the night, to the struggles around finding time to cool down or even eat, professional wrestling is as much a vocation as it is a career. However, once Ripley steps out in front of the crowd, it all becomes worth it. “Adrenaline is crazy,” Ripley explains. “Hearing the crowd erupt really does bring out so much energy within you that you didn't know you had. When you go through the curtain and in front of the crowd, something takes over your body.”

Ahead of WWE's weekend-long extravaganza, we caught up with the Royal Rumble champion to find out just what it takes to make it in professional wrestling's biggest ring.

Training for WrestleMania

When it comes to Mania season, it's an 'I'm trying my best' approach. There's less time to go to the gym with all the media and shows, and a lot of travelling, especially being on Raw and SmackDown at the moment.

Normally, when I go to the gym, I do 20 minutes of cardio, then lift weights for two and a half, sometimes three hours – it really depends on what I want to do. It's my happy place, so I like to spend time there – it's the one place I get to turn my brain off. At the moment, I still get in to do cardio and I'm weight training at least six days a week, but today I only did back [training] for an hour. It definitely isn't my preference, but you just have to go in and hustle, because when it comes to WrestleMania, you want to be as fit and look as good as you can.

For me, it's about staying ready, so then if you need to maintain for a day or two, you can. At the end of the day, you will have a day off where you can just go completely ham.

Taking time for yourself

It's a very intense job and environment. It can be quite stressful, because there are a lot of things that are needed from you; a lot of things that people don't understand we do and go through.

It's important to have those moments of free time when you can turn your brain off, whether it's at the gym, watching a movie, or just spending time with friends and family – anything you can do to put yourself at ease and make yourself feel like a normal human for a couple of hours!

People don't understand all the media responsibilities, the sleepless nights and the travelling – because you're travelling so much, you end up getting on these horrible travel schedules. So many things go wrong with planes – you could be delayed for hours, and then you miss your next flight, which means that you miss out on the time to go to the gym that you tried to pencil into your busy schedule. Or you have to wake up at 3.30 in the morning to catch a flight, land and go straight to training. People don't really think about these things.

Training by doing

I haven't gone to a wrestling ring outside of work for a while. I try to train at the gym in the way that would help me the most in the ring, but it's really hard to find something that's the same as your in-ring cardio. You're not only using your strength, agility and speed, but you're yelling at the same time and learning how to breathe while talking smack. It's so hard on the body, and you can only really get better at it within matches, which is why we have the smaller live events on the weekend.

We're on the clock 24/7. We could get called to do anything at any time. When people on SmackDown got stuck in Saudi Arabia [in 2019], it was 12 o'clock, I was at the gym and I answered my phone to them [WWE] saying, “we need you to get on a plane right now”. I was an NXT star at the time. I had to quickly go home, shower, pack a bag and head to the airport. We legit landed and went straight to the show. I remember Shayna [Baszler] getting off the plane, getting in the venue and running straight out onto live television.

Instinct and experience

A lot of the stuff that we do is just reaction time. It's what we're doing on the fly. People think that we rehearse things for days, but we don't. Our days are filled up with so much stuff that we have to improvise out there. I know pretty much all the girls' movesets because I watch them, and I've come up with them in NXT or wrestled them a fair bit, so I know what they do and vice versa. A lot of the time, we're going out there thinking, You know what, we'll see what happens.

Wrestling is a different type of animal – people don't give it the credit that it deserves.

Finding the zone

It's a weird feeling. Rhea Ripley is obviously a 10 times version of myself [Ripley's real name is Demi Bennett], so it's very easy for me to click in, but it's like stepping into a completely different body. Before last week's SmackDown, I hit legs so hard on Wednesday that I wasn't able to walk properly for a few days, and couldn't even move properly through rehearsals. But as soon as the music hit, and I walked out there in front of the crowd, it's like I had never hit legs in my life – they were completely fresh. I was good to go.

Adrenaline is crazy. Hearing the crowd erupt really does bring out so much energy within you that you didn't know you had. When you go through the curtain and in front of the crowd, something takes over your body.

I don't know how the others feel, but I find it hard to take in everything around me until afterwards. I snap into this zone where I'm a killer – I'm ready to do what needs to be done.

There are thousands of people there in attendance and even more at home watching. You don't want to freak yourself out. Once the match is done, you look around and think wow, we just did that. It's crazy. When it comes to something like WrestleMania or other big matches, I'm normally on a wrestling high for a long time, and it's really hard to come back down.

Nutrition

I get meals sent to me every Sunday by a meal-prep company with the macros I want. I definitely don't eat as much as I should – I don't know how I have as much muscle as I do, because sometimes I don't eat. I did legs the other day, burnt 2,500 active calories, and I only ate 8-900 calories that day.

I definitely fluctuate with my eating habits. It's not good, especially in the profession that I'm in. I need to be eating more just to save my body, but sometimes you're just so busy that you don't have time to have a proper meal.

I don't know about the others. I think they're just better at managing it than me. I'm a very big stress head, so once I know that my schedule is full, I don't really pencil in time for the little bits and pieces that I know I need to do, like eating and drinking water! I definitely need to drink more water. It's something I need to get better at, but I'm trying!

Progression of the women's division

I want the women's division to be the biggest that it's ever been, and I know that others want that too, but there's always that selfish side of you that wants to be the face of the women's division.

I want to make history, to make a legacy for myself – but if accomplishing that means that the women's division doesn't grow and get better, then it isn't really worth it. Yes, I'd get to put my name in the history books and accomplish cool things, but if nothing comes from it, and the women are still getting two-minute matches or not being looked at the same way as the men, then we didn't really accomplish anything.

I think all of us are in it for the right reasons. We want to win championships and make history for ourselves, but we also want to see all of us grow. We want to be taken seriously, have the opportunities and prove the point that we can do everything just as well as the men.

Intergender matches

It's a guilty pleasure! Growing up on the independent scene in Australia, most of the time I was the only female at training. Training with men was how I learned. Coming to WWE and initially being told that it's women only, I had a point to prove.

I have a lot of fun going out there with the guys. I don't know how far we can take it – I had my match with [Akira] Tozawa and that was a lot of fun. It's bringing back a lot of the Attitude Era and doing things that Chyna used to do. It's really cool that I get to be the first woman in a long time to do these things.

It's a cool elevation for the women's division because it means that we're taking that extra step in our evolution. It's proving that we can be just as strong as the guys. Hopefully, we can keep running and the ball keeps rolling from here.

WrestleMania 39 will be held across two nights on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2, live from the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Tune in on the WWE Network or on BT Box Office.