10 Things We Learned From Rhea Ripley On Stephanie McMahon's WWE Show
1. When She Wanted To “Throw [Her] Dream Away”
Shortly after signing with the promotion, WWE put Rhea in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. That was a chance for Ripley to show off what she could do, but she was riddled with anxiety throughout and remembers crying before her first match. Things got so bad that the promising young star seriously considered moving back to Australia and throwing her dreams away before they properly got started.
Thank God she didn’t! Think of all the great moments fans would've been robbed of.
Pulling it together, Rhea sat herself down and had a little inner pep talk after that shaky experience. She told herself this: “You need to be better. You need to be yourself, and you need to prove people wrong”. That internal speech led to her image change by the time the 2018 Mae Young Classic rolled around, and she was visibly confident as she strutted to the ring with a new look.
This story, along with the admission that Rhea is "normally sh**ting a brick" before making her way through the curtain even today, will inspire so many young performers. It'll help some get over their own nerves to know that somebody this successful also has moments of crippling self doubt even after years of working WWE's biggest PLEs.
That's something Ripley makes no apology for, and nor should she. Her story is inspirational and heartening to say the least, but it's scary to hear her admit that she legit thought about whether or not she should "throw [her] dream away" before it ever really got going.
What else did you learn from Stephanie McMahon's chat with Rhea Ripley? For more WWE, check out 8 Things We Learned From Cody Rhodes On Stephanie McMahon's WWE Show and 15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Vader!