Rhea Ripley Explains Why Bianca Belair Still Had Sasha Banks’ Side Plates During NXT Celebration
It was a championship reunion on the April 13 episode of NXT as Bianca Belair, Raquel Gonzalez, and Rhea Ripley all celebrated their WrestleMania week victories.
Gonzalez defeated Io Shirai to win the NXT Women’s Title at night one of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Belair defeated Sasha Banks in the main event of night one of WrestleMania 37 to win the SmackDown Women’s Title, and Ripley dethroned Asuka to win the Raw Women’s Title at WrestleMania 37 night two.
When discussing the reunion with Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Ripley explained how it all came together.
“We found out the morning of. I got a message saying, ‘Do you mind coming to NXT tonight? Bring your championship, we want to do something on TV based on the photo you posted,’ which was super cool because I just posted the photo not thinking it would blow up, but I’m glad it did. We got our moment to show everyone exactly who we are. My championship was actually in Tampa in the championship case. I didn’t bring it home because I got told to leave it there. Someone had to go pick it up and bring it to NXT. I felt so bad,” she said.
When the segment happened, fans were curious as to why Belair still had Sasha’s side plates on the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Ripley explained, “Everyone went nuts and what everyone doesn’t understand is, the day before was Monday. I was at work so my plates got changed. It hadn’t been Friday yet, so they couldn’t change her plates yet. People don’t understand that. We don’t go to work every single day. I don’t understand why everyone was losing their mind. Bianca wasn’t mad, she was like, ‘I have something that says I got it from Sasha.’ She was really happy with it. Everyone else was just mad.”
Belair now has her own side plates and is set to defend the title against Bayley at WrestleMania Backlash.
As for Ripley, she is currently engaged in a feud with Asuka and Charlotte Flair.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
