8 Wrestlers Who Can't Hide Their Frustration RIGHT NOW
4. Rhea Ripley
Picture the emerging main event star who sauntered across the pond from NXT UK, walked up to the invincible Shayna Baszler, and questioned why she thought she ran the place.
"You haven't beaten me, bitch!" Rhea Ripley said.
NXT lost the Wednesday Night War on several and indeed most fronts, but mostly, it was striking just how synthetic and bland AEW's promos made the usual NXT copy feel. And yet, Ripley's aura was so fierce that she got even the most eye-rolling pop shortcut over. She was over outside of Full Sail, too; her Women's Title win over Baszler in their eventual clash on December 18 scored NXT's sole 18-49 demo win over Dynamite.
Frustration can manifest in different ways. Some can barely hide their contempt. Others don't even have contempt left, and just looked bored by and numb to the entire process.
In Ripley's case, every ember of confidence has totally burned away. Clearly frustrated by an unflattering smily babyface role, she looks almost haunted by the idea of being so drastically miscast and mishandled whenever she's on camera.
The experience of watching Ripley struggle to enter the zone is deflating. A heel turn might help, but then, she'd still be handed a page of d*ck drawings these hacks call a script.