Rhea Ripley Was Almost Fired From WWE NXT Before Changing Up Her Character

Rhea Ripley is known for many things, including her famous look. That did not happen overnight and there were some issues with her in NXT that almost left her without a job.

Ripley became NXT Women’s Champion and many fans have their favorite moment from The Nightmare. She was already an NXT UK Women’s Champion prior to making her way to NXT’s black and gold brand. Many consider her match against Shayna Baszler as a moment when she was able to reinvent herself.

My Love Letter To Wrestling with Mark Andrews recently sat down with Rhea Ripley for a discussion about her career. She went into all of the things it took to help craft the Superstar that fans see today. As it turns out, there were times when her job was on the line as well.

“A lot of things really. It was sort of the whole year between the Mae Young Classic I and II. I went through a lot mentally behind the scenes. I was having troubles at home. I was having troubles at work. I hated myself. I was very mentally weak at that time. I just didn’t feel like I was good enough. I was constantly being told that I wasn’t good enough and I had to do something to improve it.”

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“I was on the chopping block a couple times and nearly got booted,” she continued. “I just had a lot going on and I was very down. I want to say, at that six month period, I was like, ‘You know what? Stop this. I don’t care what anybody thinks about me. All they’re going to do is judge me anyway.’”

“I had to change my mental game completely. I started going to a gym which is the first gym I’ve ever signed up for. I was terrified. I don’t like being around people, so I was absolutely terrified.”

“We have this thing called car wash where you take photos and videos leading up to the Mae Young Classic so we can get all the footage we need. I rocked up in this new gear. I got my haircut of course. Everyone of the coaches were like, ‘What’s this?’ I said, ‘The new Rhea Ripley.’ They were like ‘Okay.’ I knew that okay was like, ‘This is your ass. If it doesn’t work…’ I didn’t care. This was my one shot. This was my one opportunity that I have to take and I have to do it my way. If it works, it works, and I can shove it in their faces. If it doesn’t, then I’ll leave myself.”

While she was successful in NXT, that look took some tweaking. Like any other WWE Superstar, it takes a while to get the process down to a tee. Luckily, Rhea Ripley was able to figure things out. It was soon off to the main roster where her story is still being written.

H/T Wrestling News