During a recent interview with Sporting News, Rhea Ripley revealed what Triple H said to her following her WWE NXT Women’s Championship win, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On what she did the day of her win and if she was nervous: “Of course, there’s always going to be nerves, mainly because it’s live TV and I’m one of those people that don’t like screwing up. I don’t like screwing up in any way possible. That’s always on my mind. I actually didn’t get much sleep the night before so I woke up super early as well and I had to be at Full Sail by 10:30 a.m. So, I woke up, I had to get ready. It took me forever to pick what I was going to wear to Full Sail which never happens because my closet is just, like, black clothes. That’s all I have. It all looks the same so I don’t know why it took me so long, but it took me a while to pick out that stuff. And then it took me a while to put my makeup on because everything has to be perfect for tonight. I just wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. I finally got to Full Sail and I was sitting around from 10:30 to 2:00 just with my own thoughts, just waiting for someone to tell me what was going on. Then I got told that I actually wasn’t needed there so that was cool (laughs). I would normally work out in the morning and go there all pumped and hot but I didn’t have time because I thought I had to be there for something but apparently I got the wrong email. So, I’m sitting there with my own thoughts, working myself up, working the nerves up and just freaking out a little bit. I didn’t get to eat breakfast either so I went to Starbucks and I had two uncrustables and it’s all I ate until 5:30 because, after 2, I was legit running around filming so many different things. I didn’t have time to think. I didn’t have time to sit down, eat, drink water, or anything. I was so dehydrated and so hungry. I didn’t have time to think. Then, I finally sat down to eat around 5:30 after filming everything, then at 6 I was changed. I had maybe one more thing to shoot and then I finally got to relax a little bit and think about everything that’s happening on that day because it was such a huge day for me. It’s a huge day for my career and it’s just a huge day in general so I finally get to sit down and think about it and then warm-up and prepare for the match. It was definitely something. To go out there with Shayna Baszler and put on what we did with the amount of time that we did in the spot that we did was absolutely amazing. Everything I did that day leading up to it, I wouldn’t change anything, even the not eating until 5:30.”
On the first person she called after her win: “I called my partner. After I saw everyone backstage and seeing them so proud of me and so happy and applauding Shayna and I, it was such an awesome feeling. But after all that, I finally got changed and sort of calmed down a little bit and then I called my partner Kevin. It’s funny because when he answered the phone, he was there with one of our friends and as soon as he answered the phone, I had to stick it away from my ear because it was just them screaming. ‘OHHHHHHH YOU’RE THE CHAMPION! OH MY GOD!!!!’ (Laughs) It was so embarrassing. I’m just glad it wasn’t on speaker.”
On what Triple H told her: “He was pretty much just saying how proud he is of me and that means a lot coming from him, someone that I’ve looked up to for the longest time. He’s the reason that I started watching wrestling. He’s the reason that I started wrestling and why I’m here where I’m at today. So, to have him say he’s proud of me and actually believe in me and give me the spotlight that I’ve always wanted is an amazing feeling. I can’t even really describe it. There’s no words to describe it. I’m proud that he’s proud. He just kept going on about how I deserve it.”
