Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka on Night 2 of WrestleMania 37 on Sunday to win the Raw Women’s Championship without precedent for her career.
After an amazing championship contest, The Nightmare locked in her signature Riptide to claim the title only three weeks subsequent to making her primary list debut on the red brand.
Ripley is one year eliminated from making her WrestleMania debut, as she put the NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Charlotte Flair. She pushed The Queen as far as possible however wound up dropping the title.
Since the time that rout, the Australian has been attempting to work her way back up the ladder. Doing so demonstrated troublesome, however, as she missed the mark in NXT ladies’ title openings against Io Shirai and lost a Last Woman Standing match to Raquel Gonzalez that sent her to the fundamental list.
Ripley reemerged in the 2021 ladies’ Royal Rumble match, going on until the last two with Bianca Belair. The Nightmare conveyed a phenomenal execution however again saw triumph fall through her grip as The EST of WWE wiped out her for the success.
Rhea wasn’t seen on WWE programing for a long while from that point onward, yet she at last got back to the crease on Raw on March 22 by confronting Asuka after The Empress of Tomorrow beat Peyton Royce in a match.
The Aussie Superstar noticed that Flair, who had recently expressed her goal to challenge Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship, was out after a positive test for COVID-19 and that she needed to toss her cap in the ring in her absence.
Ripley formally moved Asuka to a WrestleMania match, and The Empress acknowledged prior to saying that she wasn’t “ready for Asuka.”
In a hurry home scene of Raw before WrestleMania, Ripley turned in Asuka during their label group match against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, adding some heat to their WrestleMania clash.
Few have been prepared for Asuka as of late, as she entered WrestleMania 37 having held the title for a large portion of the previous year beside a one-month rule by Sasha Banks.
During Asuka’s time as Raw ladies’ champion, she went through any likes of Jax, Charlotte, Banks, Zelina Vega and Lana, yet Ripley addressed her greatest test at this point.
At only 24 years old, Ripley is now among the top female Superstars that WWE has to bring to the table, and putting her promptly into a championship at WrestleMania demonstrated that WWE’s higher-ups saw something uncommon in her.
That turned out to be even more clear at WrestleMania, as she scored the greatest win of her career and is currently set to be the substance of the Raw ladies’ division.
