10 Wrestlers WWE Have Ruined Without Fans
1. Rhea Ripley
When Rhea Ripley cried following a gutsy loss to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36, the hope was that WWE and NXT would book her to rebound better than ever after a month of real life setbacks.
'The Nightmare' had filmed a vignette in an empty Raymond James Stadium after Flair challenged her for the NXT Championship at the show, noting how big the leap was but how ready for the challenge she was. When that and her title were taken away, the company crucially (and perhaps fatally) forgot how to progress the story.
Ripley faded into relative obscurity in NXT, only working upwards to the point where she could put Raquel Gonzaelz over on the way out. A victory over Asuka at WrestleMania 37 was supposed to play as her redemption but mostly played to silence thanks to a wretched build.
Her follow-on feud with Charlotte Flair has been the worst storyline in WWE all year not including goo leakages and human torches, and confusion from the creative team about if she's a heel or face has extended to the audience before they've even made it back into the building.