Rhea Ripley on her WWE character: ‘It’s the confident side of me’

Rhea Ripley says the character she plays on WWE programming is a more confident version of herself.   

Ripley appeared on an episode of Impaulsive released on Tuesday. During the discussion, she compared her on-screen persona with her real one.

She said:

Rhea Ripley is pretty much just me but it’s the me that would get arrested in everyday life.

Ripley continued:

Me as Demi Bennett, I’m not as confident. Rhea is the confident side of me. In everyday life I’m not as confident. I get anxiety, a bit of everything really so sometimes I love tuning into the Rhea Ripley side of me and just pretending I am that version of myself. 

Earlier in the interview, Ripley was asked about her relationship with Buddy Matthews and how he feels about her on-screen relationship with Dominik Mysterio. 

She responded:

Not many people could be in a relationship through that. If the roles were reversed I don’t think I could either. I get jealous real bad. 

Ripley continued:

(Matthews) is so chill with it and like, he loves Dom as well. They had the storyline before where he was dating his sister, Aalyah. He doesn’t mind at all, which is amazing, because it makes my life at home and work so much easier.

When asked about women she looked up to growing up, Ripley first mentioned her mother before talking about Beth Phoenix. 

Ripley said:

Mom would definitely be one and then also with WWE, Beth Phoenix. She’s just so amazing and seeing her be different in a time when it was hard to be different, it was inspiring, it really was. 

Ripley continued to say it’s “wild” to think about her inspiring young girls in the same way Phoenix inspired her. 

That’s one thing that I really do love about this job is I love hearing the stories of people that get inspired by us to then be confident in their own bodies. 

Ripley was asked about her social media presence, which had been particularly active as of late. 

She said:

To be honest, I don’t really think about it that much. I hate social media, I’m sorry. 

I’m someone that is so against social media but it’s such a great platform for what we do so we need it. So when I’m home, I try and relax.

Ripley was also asked to give her Mount Rushmore of WWE women. She responded that in addition to herself, she’d include Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair. 

Bianca, love Bianca. Probably Becky, right now we’ve got beef but I’ll go (with) Becky. And my arch-nemesis, Charlotte.