Rhea Ripley advanced in the 2018 Mae Young Classic after Tegan Nox suffered a devastating knee injury during their quarterfinal match. Nox was originally slated to move forward in the tournament, but the injury forced her to withdraw, allowing Ripley to continue on and face IYO SKY in the next round.
Reflecting on the moment during her appearance on the “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” podcast, Ripley discussed the emotional impact of that match and shared her thoughts on the incident and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On facing IYO SKY after her match with Nox: “[IYO] didn’t really speak English at that time either. It was very, very rough. We had 20 minutes to put a 15-minute match together and it was just alright, plan something. I’m still trying to get over this really traumatic situation which I was just a part of. I still had Tegan’s screams in the back of my head and just the noises that were coming out of her … It’s just like a really specific noise that a human makes when they’re in literal pain. But then going out there and putting on such a good match with IYO, first time ever touching, having Hunter come out and raise my hand on the stage, it was just like I feel like they’re noticing now.”
On how her NXT Women’s Title win over Shayna Baszler came about: “That was when we were filming at Full Sail [University]. We’re filming four weeks in a row, so it was like alright, we’re here all day. We’re going to be filming four shows, so everything’s already pre-planned. I was supposed to wrestle Shayna and I was supposed to lose. I wasn’t supposed to win. It was supposed to be a throwaway ‘Rhea is here, she lost to the champion, now we probably don’t know what to do with her’ [situation], but because I got such a massive reaction from the Full Sail crowd, Sara Amato literally ran into the locker room. She’s like ‘We have to change the ending of the match. Rhea can’t lose.’ We’re going to do a DQ because that’s all we can really think of right now to continue it. So it was a DQ finish. I think I hit her with a chair and then I sat on the chair and told her to come back in my ring because I wanted to continue fighting. Then it trickled down and we had the match with the championship. The rest is really much history.”
Tommy Dreamer was pleased to see Seth Rollins switch up his appearance on this week’s episode of WWE RAW. Rollins ditched his usual flashy attire in favor of an all-black look, and Dreamer felt the change gave him and his group a more dangerous, intimidating presence.
Speaking on a recent edition of the “Busted Open After Dark”, Dreamer praised the new presentation and said it made a strong impact. He said,
“Seth Rollins, what a nice breath of fresh air, kind of, sorta. ‘Cause [there are] so many different stories, and here comes Seth and Paul Heyman. I also really like the all dressed in black Seth Rollins.”
He continued, “We’ve all talked about like this outfit change has been wonderful. I like the Money in the Bank briefcase, pretty much designed for him. I like both Bron Breaker and Bronson Reed wearing all black. It makes him look like more of a badass, you know, Paul Heyman, carrying the briefcase, everything works.”
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