In 2017, Rhea Ripley made her WWE debut when she defeated Miranda Salinas in the first round of the Mae Young Classic, but her first match with the promotion wasn't as glorified as it might've seemed on TV. Speaking on"Insight"with Chris Van Vliet, Ripley explained that she was terrified before wrestling Salinas, stating that she feared making mistakes in her first televised WWE match, which caused her to have a panic attack.
"Iwas just scared like I was 20 years old on the other side of the world by myself and I hadnever wrestled on TV before. I'd never been in such a massive production before ...I didn't want to screw up and I didn't want to fail in a way. I'm someone that doesn't like failing. Failing is not an option in my books." Ripley explained. "I was scared that I would stuff something up and then be looked at as a failure and I didn't want that to happen. So I put so much pressure on myself that I gave myself pretty much a panic attack."
Ripley continued to share that she was offered a WWE contract before entering the Mae Young Classic, but was afraid the company would release her if they were unimpressed with her in-ring ability, which meant she would need to move back to Australia.
Similarly to her first match in WWE, Ripley explained that her battle against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 40 caused her extreme anxiety beforehand due to "The Man" being ill heading into the show. In addition, Ripley hadn't wrestled on television often during WrestleMania season and had doubts about her performance in the ring.
"Against Becky Lynch, like I worked myself up so drastically that whole day and I put so much extra stress on my own shoulders with things that weren't my responsibilities ... Becky was sick and I was like 'Okay well, I need to be at 110%,' so that I can help her wherever I need to help her. And then I hadn't had many matches so I was like I need this to be a good match. I need people to remember that I can actually go and I can actually wrestle ... I don't want to go out there and have a stinker and then have people say like 'Oh this is why she shouldn't be champion. She sucks, she can't wrestle, she's over pushed. She's Rhea Hogan.'"
Ripley also admitted that she usually waits until the last minute to get dressed and apply makeup before matches, which added extra stress before facing Lynch, as she still wasn't ready with just 30 minutes until showtime.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
