Rhea Ripley looks back on her early favorites in WWE.
Having previously held the WWE NXT, WWE RAW, and WWE SmackDown Women’s Championships, along with WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, Rhea Ripley has firmly cemented herself as a Grand Slam Champion in WWE — the same feat achieved twice over by one of her heroes. During a recent interview with The West Australian, Ripley spoke about some of her early influences in the squared circle.
Initially hooked by the 2005 Survivor Series Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Ric Flair, Ripley recalled her fascination with the storytelling element of wrestling, in addition to the in-ring physicality.
“As soon as I saw it, I loved it. I watched Triple H shove a screwdriver into Ric Flair’s head and I was like, ‘Yo, this is my jam,'” Ripley said. “You get invested in the storylines, and then there’s also that brutal side. I loved getting to know the characters and their backstories, and then cheering them on as they beat up the bad guys or the bad guys beat up the good guys.”
As Ripley continued venturing into the WWE product, she found herself particularly captivated by the likes of the aforementioned Triple H, former WWE Champion CM Punk, and her all-time favorite performer — The Miz.
“I love that man,” Ripley said. “I really idolised that man, I don’t know what it was about him. It might have been his cocky attitude.”
Much like Ripley, The Miz is also a Grand Slam Champion. In 2021, The Miz became WWE’s first-ever two-time Grand Slam Champion as he successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre to claim his second WWE Championship.
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