Rhea Ripley felt like she and Charlotte ‘stole the show’ after WWE WrestleMania match

  • Ian Carey
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Rhea Ripley feels her match with Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 proved why they should have headlined the show. 

Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown title on night one of the two-night event. The match has been widely praised and was awarded 4 and 3/4 stars by our own Dave Meltzer, the highest rating a Ripley match has ever received and tied for the highest rating a Charlotte Flair match has. 

During an appearance on After the Bell with Corey Graves, Ripley said that her and Flair “stole the show” and should have been the main event. 

Ripley said:

Coming out of that match, I did feel like we stole the show. I feel like we went out there and left everything we had in that ring and that’s why we proved to everyone exactly why we should have been in the main event spot.

Yes, we didn’t have a good build like Sami and Owens and The Usos did but at the same time Charlotte and I every time we step in that ring, we bring the brutality, we bring the ferociousness, we go out there and we just beat the every loving crap out of each other. 

Ripley continued to say that wrestling Flair was always a dream match for her but that an important part of their WrestleMania 36 performance was taken away with fans unable to attend. She says finally getting to wrestle Flair in front of tens of thousands of fans and with her family in attendance at WrestleMania 39 led to feelings of “just pure happiness.”

Ripley continued: 

It was just such an overwhelming feeling of adrenaline, and excitement and just pure happiness, I want to say. Because going into, obviously, WrestleMania 36, Charlotte was one of my dream opponents since I started in the WWE and I finally got that and then it didn’t really get ripped away but the feeling of WrestleMania got ripped away. So then going into WrestleMania 39 and knowing that we have the crowd, we have the stage, I’m against Charlotte again for a different championship, my family’s there, it was just like everything came together and it was just so full of positive vibes. 

Ripley’s victory over Flair at WrestleMania 39 was the 26th time the SmackDown Women’s Championship has changed hands. The Judgment Day member became the 13th wrestler to ever win the title.