Rhea Ripley Talks Bonding With Toni Storm, Learning How To Deal With Social Media Trolls, More
“The Moshpit Kid” reflects on that memorable January 12th day.
The first-ever NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defended her title at the first TakeOver event for NXT’s UK brand on January 12th. Rhea fell short in the match and dropped the title to fellow Aussie Toni Storm. On-screen and at the recent NXT UK TV tapings, both women made it clear that they want to one-up each other and make NXT UK’s women’s division their own. But following TakeOver: Blackpool, Rhea broke character during an interview with her home-country news publication ‘news.com.au’ and shared that being able to share the ring with Toni Storm at TakeOver was incredible and added a few notes about meeting Toni when they were teenagers on the independent wrestling scene in Australia.
“To share this moment with Toni is just incredible,” she said. “We’ve worked so, so hard to get here so to be able to share this with a fellow Aussie and show everyone what Australia has in store is just mind-blowing. I’ve always bonded with her, so to have this feud now is just insane,” she said. “It’s funny because the date of Evolution was the six-year anniversary of when I had my wrestling tryout back home, and then to be able to share that moment with someone like Toni was just insane to me. We’ve all been brought up in the same place pretty much.”
By the way that Rhea Ripley shows no remorse for her rivals on social media, one would not guess that she once struggled dealing with backlash from those on Twitter and Instagram. Rhea stated that she saw posts online that made her think she was not good enough but over time she adjusted and now handles those situations much better.
“I’m ok with the physical stuff, but when it comes to the mental side of things, I lack a little bit,” she said. “But I’m definitely a lot stronger now then I used to be. You see posts online and feel like you’re not ever good enough. But now I make sure I see every little thing online because I love seeing people telling me that I can’t do stuff. I have to prove to the doubters that I’m better than them. If someone says I can’t do something, even if it’s the hardest thing to accomplish, I’ll make sure I do it just to rub it in their face.”
Another WWE superstar who makes her presence felt on social media is Becky Lynch and to hear about Lynch’s eventful night this past Sunday at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, head over to the Fightful Pro Wrestling YouTube channel for our post-Royal Rumble review podcast.
