Rhea Ripley recently appeared as a guest on the wildly popular INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
During the discussion, “Mami” spoke about the origins of the Rhea Ripley name, her husband AEW star Buddy Matthews, Chyna comparisons, working with Dominik Mysterio, controversy over her ‘Stink-Face’ spot and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where she touches on these topics with her thoughts, as well as a complete video archive of the discussion.
On the inspiration behind the name Rhea Ripley: “So when I first started, they asked me for five combinations of names, and I went through trying to make combinations of names that I liked from either band members or just strong women in general.”
On what name she was using before that: “Demi Bennett, which is my name. I don’t know why. They just didn’t want to change my name. They’re like, ‘Yeah, Demi Bennett is good. It’s a good wrestler name.’ It’s really not. I’m glad because some people have three, four wrestling names, and I’m glad that I just have two.”
On how the names paired together: “Oh man, this is a long time ago. I really like the name Isla. I love the name Isla. And that was one that I didn’t actually pull from anything, but it was Isla Radke, because at that time, I really loved Falling in Reverse and Ronnie Radke. He’s the main singer, so I loved his last name, just because it was so different. You don’t really hear Radke, especially not in Australia. I don’t know about America, but I like that one. And then there was something Ashby. I can’t remember what the start of that one was. It was something Ashby. And [Alan] Ashby was the guitarist for Of Mice and Men. And then Rhea Ripley came from, Rhea is a Goddess’s name. And I was like, she’s cool. I like that. And then Ripley came from Alien [Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver]. She was a badass, and I was like, I want to be like that. I want to be a badass. They just mesh so well together with the RR, it just always works out. I mean, you see Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Ruby Riott, Raquel Rodriguez, I don’t know what it is, it just works. But yeah, Rhea Ripley just stuck, and we were getting ready for the first Mae Young Classic, and I think it was Bloom, I believe, just walked past and he goes, ‘Rhea Ripley.’ I go ‘I guess so?’ I got no choice. I sent you my five names. You guys pick one.”
On her husband Buddy Matthews saying she’s his favourite wrestler: “It’s safe to say he’s mine too. He really is. He moves so incredibly well for the size that he is. He’s so smooth with everything, and he’s so crisp. And just everything that he does is perfect. I don’t think I’ve seen this man have a bad match. And I’ve watched him since Australia. I used to go to Riot City, he used to be in the ring, wrestling, doing his thing. I don’t think I’ve seen him have a bad match. I used to hate him. I think he said this when he was [on Insight]. I hated him. I hated him with a passion because I loved Sway, which was a female wrestler, and he was from Melbourne. He came from the back, and he just punched Sway straight in the face. I was like, sir, how dare you? I don’t think I saw him before that too. I think that was my introduction to Matt Silva at the time. And he punched Sway straight in the face. And then Jimmy Scarlet jumped the barricade and chased him away. And then they had a whole feud and all that. But, yeah, I didn’t like him.”
On working with Dominik Mysterio: “Honestly, I think that was like another turning point in my career, being partnered with Dom and also being a part of the Judgment Day. It made me open up as a performer. It made me have to work a lot more because I was doing nine segments in a 16-segment show. Sometimes more. We were doing everything as a part of Judgment Day. I was running around helping Finn and Damian, and then helping Dom and doing promos, making business deals, wrestling myself, doing women’s storylines. And I was just like, I had no time to think about absolutely anything. I just had to go. I was like, What do I need to do? Cool. Going live in 3, 2, 1, do what you got to do. Then being partnered with Dom, it just helped my character transform into something different. Because I feel like in NXT, I was doing the same thing, but on different brands. I was on NXT UK, and I was that force that came from the second Mae Young Classic, and then that kind of transferred onto NXT, but in a babyface sort of manner, which was a little bit different, but kind of the same. And then as soon as I came to the main roster, it was in COVID. So Vince didn’t know what to do with me. He didn’t know if I was face or heel. And he’s like, Well, she looks like a heel. And everyone was like, You don’t understand, she’s a babyface. People actually like it. He’s like, Nah, she’s a heel. So then going out there and being so confused on what I’m doing, but not having that crowd reaction to actually feed off of and prove my point that I was a babyface at the time. It made it really hard. And then after that, like, obviously the trial and error with the tag team stuff, but also, holding on to who I was in NXT. I feel like when I got partnered with Dom, I could actually blossom a little bit into something different. Instead of being the hard ass all the time, I was Mami.”
On if she knew ‘Mami’ would become so popular: “No, I was trying to push the Papi agenda. And they were like yeah, we can’t do that. And then Priest was like, ‘What about Mami?’ I was like, Okay, guess I’ll be Mami. I was really set on the Papi thing. I was like, I can be a little sh*t stirrer, just be Papi this, Papi that. But they’re like, we just can’t go there. And I was like, Okay, I respect that. Mami’s gonna grow on me, though.”
On the Chyna comparisons: “I love them. I really do love them. I think she was such a unique being in this industry, and she really did open up so much for women, especially intergender wise, and just like being part of DX and all of that. She’s done so much incredible stuff, and she’s really someone that I look up to, especially being different, being bigger and bulkier and and just having a different build to a lot of the women, she’s someone that I really do look up to. So I’m glad that I get the comparisons, but at the same time, like, I want to be the first Rhea Ripley. I love that the whole storyline with Dom, him being Eddie, me being Chyna, it kind of just flowed. And a lot of the stuff that we did, we didn’t actually mean to match up with stuff that they did. It just kind of worked out that way. Even mannerisms, it just came so naturally that that would be what we would do. And we did it, we’d come back and then on Twitter, people would have like, comparisons of us doing it next to Chyna and Eddie doing the exact same thing. And we’re like, wow, we didn’t even mean to do that. So, I love that there’s that comparison, but at the same time, I want to be like the first Rhea Ripley.”
On the stinkface spot and the reaction: “I knew it was gonna be big, but that sh*t exploded. It wasn’t even my idea. It was Nia’s idea. She’s like, ‘Yeah. And then you stink face me.’ I’m like, ok, if you want. But then, before all of that, I was like, I think I should do like the Rikishi pull them up, just do the little dance beforehand. I was like, I’m not gonna get it spot on, so I’m just gonna do my own thing. But I’ll do the whole gimmick and yeah, it still pops up on my Twitter, it’s wild. I got so much publicity off that, but I also got so much like, negativity. I was like guys, you need to calm down. People were saying that I’m taking the women’s division back 20 years. And I’m like, That’s not what’s happening. It’s a fun moment, and it’s a house show. Am I not allowed to have fun? If it was anyone else, you’d be supporting it. I feel like people love to hate Rhea Ripley. And you know, the more you talk about me, the more you act like a fan, so continue talking. It wasn’t even my idea, Nia wanted to take my ass to her face, just trying to make the wishes come true.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
