Rhea Ripley recently did an interview with Newsweek.com. Here are the highlights.
Baszler on how she felt before her title match: “I was left with my thoughts sitting there for all those hours, and I had no idea what was going on. I have bad anxiety sometimes, and it was kicking in at that point. I was just like oh my God, should I start stretching now? It’s too early, I don’t go on until like 9:30.”
Rhea Ripley on Shayna Baszler: “I read a lot of things on Twitter, and I see a lot of things about Shayna and about me. I absolutely hate it when they rag on her and say she’s boring. She’s a heel, she’s not supposed to be exciting. She’s not supposed to make you like her. She’s not supposed to do any of that stuff. She’s doing her job right. And I hate when people disrespect that fact. So to go out there and put on a match like that with Shayna and prove to everyone how wrong [they are about] not only me but her as well,it’s a feeling that can’t be matched. I just love proving people wrong.”
On making her friends and trainers proud: “It makes me so happy to make everyone proud. I think I did my job right, and this is what I’ve been working for my whole life. I’ve been wrestling for seven years now, and this is why I do it. This is the feeling I love to get from wrestling.”
Ripley on being excited for what’s next: “I’m just feeling excited for whatever comes next. I just want to fight. I grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler, and that’s exactly what I’m going to keep doing. If people want to challenge me for the NXT Women’s Championship I’m ready. I haven’t gone with Dakota yet, so I’m looking forward to kicking her if she ends up coming for me. If Mia [Yim] wants to go, let’s go. Candice [LeRae], anyone. I’m ready.”
