Rhea Ripley Explains Why She Helped Shayna Baszler On SmackDown: ‘We Were There To Get Retribution’

Rhea Ripley clears the air.

This year at WWE Survivor Series, NXT gets involved in the battle for brand supremacy for the first time ever. However, that same weekend NXT will also be presenting the TakeOver: WarGames event.

This tight schedule has mandated all members of the NXT roster split their focus between their personal issues with one another and the larger overarching issue of trying to prove NXT is WWE’s best brand.

This divided focus perhaps best illustrated by the ongoing saga between Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley.

Rhea and Shayna will be captaining teams for the first-ever women’s WarGames Match on Saturday, November 23, 2019. Leading up to this match, tensions have been at an all-time high between the two, and the entire situation in the NXT women’s locker room has proven to be very volatile on TV.

Therefore, many were surprised when Rhea Ripley led a team comprised of all women from NXT that have crossed paths with Shayna in the past to assist her in attacking Bayley on the November 15 episode of Friday Night SmackDown.

On Twitter, Rhea Ripley would explain that the team was not there to help Shayna Baszler, rather they were just there to get retribution on Bayley, who had spent the night during the November 13 NXT episode sneakily laying waste to a majority of the NXT women’s roster.

….told yah I still had one good arm to punch someone in the gums! https://t.co/Sq2DvqrK6P

— Tegan Nox ————– (@TeganNoxWWE_) November 16, 2019

To clarify, we weren’t on #SmackDownOnFox to help Shayna. We were there to get retribution for Wednesday night on #NXTonUSA when SmackDowns coward women’s champion Bayley decided to attack us from behind. —

— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) November 16, 2019

Fightful will have live coverage of both Survivor Series on Sunday, November 24, and NXT TakeOver: WarGames the night prior.