SmackDown star sends message to Rhea Ripley
A WWE SmackDown star has sent a message to Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley.
The Eradicator is having the best year of her young career so far. She won the Women's Royal Rumble match in January after being the first entrant and then defeated Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 to become SmackDown Women's Champion. The title has since been rebranded to the Women's World Championship on RAW. Ripley had some entertaining rivalries on SmackDown during her time as champion.
One of her most formidable foes for the SmackDown Women's Championship was Zelina Vega. The Latino World Order member battled The Eradicator for the title at WWE Backlash 2023 in Puerto Rico and got a remarkable reaction from the crowd. However, Ripley was too much for Vega and emerged victorious in the match.
Vega took to Instagram today to deliver an interesting message to the Women's World Champion. She shared a video of her countering a move from Ripley and added a flex emoji, as seen in the image below.
Rhea Ripley breaks character to praise Zelina Vega after WWE Backlash
Rhea Ripley recently broke character to acknowledge the reaction Zelina Vega received last May at Backlash.
Speaking on the Cheap Heat podcast with Peter Rosenberg earlier this year, Ripley acknowledged the hard work Vega has put in throughout her career. Ripley noted that Vega got emotional during the crowd reaction at WWE Backlash and joked that the SmackDown star is normally an "angry little Gremlin."
"Then seeing her walk out with the flag, go to her family, have them get in the ring, and then get so emotional live on camera when I know that she's not a very emotional showing person, especially that sort of emotion. She's normally a little angry Gremlin. It was hard for me to sort of play off it in the way that Rhea Ripley would," said Ripley. [H/T WrestlingNews]
Rhea Ripley is scheduled to defend her Women's World Championship against Ivy Nile on the Day 1 edition of WWE RAW. It will be fascinating to see how long The Judgment Day member will be able to hold onto the title moving forward.
Would you like to see Rhea Ripley walk into WWE WrestleMania 40 next year as the reigning Women's World Champion? Who do you think should finally dethrone her? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.