Triple H says COVID-19 disrupted the original 2020 plans for Rhea Ripley
When 2020 started, Rhea Ripley was on top of the wrestling world. She was the NXT Women's Champion. She won both WarGames and Survivor Series matches for her respective teams. She then went on to face Charlotte Flair at WWE WrestleMania 36. There was seemingly no stopping Ripley's rise to greatness.
But then the world changed. COVID-19 turned the wrestling industry upside down, and everyone had to adjust. Ripley dropped the NXT Women's Championship to Flair at WWE WrestleMania 36. She was pinned again a couple of months later in the match where Io Shirai won the title.
At the time, Triple H said everything with Ripley would make sense in a few months. But it's hard to see how her booking adds up. It has been strange to see someone as talented as Ripley fall so low. Six months later, Triple H explained Ripley's on-screen slump.
Triple H says Rhea Ripley is a much better performer now than she was at the beginning of 2020
On Triple H's NXT media call ahead of WWE NXT TakeOver WarGames, he was asked about his previous comments on Ripley. He gave a fairly detailed answer about the former NXT Women's Champion:
"No, the world has changed. None of that plan exists or was able...you know, everything changed. And I don't think anybody in that moment could have predicted....you know, I didn't get anybody , even when all this first started, you go back to March. And it seems like in some ways forever ago, but you look at it in today's eyes. But if anybody would have said, even in March, like, look, in December, you're still going to be in lockdown. In December, this is going to have ramped up again and be, you know, possibly arguably worse than it was before. And you know, everything is changing on a day-to-day basis, and it's hard to sort of plan for next week, let alone next year, next month, all of that.
And the one thing about Rhea... you know, when you're young, it doesn't take much to rack your confidence. When you're young and you're getting started, and everything is rolling, it doesn't take much to have you go from an incredible high to an incredible low and, you know, begin to question yourself and all those things, that's part of maturing in any sport, you know. I watch my kids play sports, and they're hardly doing anything, and then they get the ball thrown to them. They score one basket in the basketball game. And you just see this monumental shift in their entire body language, to where all of a sudden they're LeBron James for a moment. And, you know, playing at a different level right, and as you mature and become more confident in yourself and believe in yourself and understand, it changes so that that's all part of the process. I truly believe, long-term, that those are all valuable things. Like sometimes thinking, [in] the world today, that everybody wants everything to just like have immediate success, and then go very smoothly all the way to the end. There's no lessons in that. There's no long-term value in that. There's no struggle, there's no strife. There's no difficulties in it.
To me, these are all learning experiences. I look back at my career and moments in time that were amazing, and moments in time that were incredible setbacks in my mind. At the time, horrifying and terrible for you. And then, you know, you look at them now, and you're like, well thank God that happened then. Because if that didn't happen, this wouldn't have happened. It's all part of the journey, and that is the thing, trying to get when you're young, it's hard to say, Hey, you got to think long- term. When you're young, long-term is, you know, it's the spring, it's three months from now....Long term is 5-10 years from now, you know, and when you think about things in that manner, those setbacks are actually extremely valuable and getting you to the places you need to go. To answer the creative question, is it where it was going? No, it isn't.
The whole world changed, but I do still believe that there's a lot of valuable lessons for her to be able to go through, to find herself, to pick herself up.[The] Rhea Ripley that I'm watching right now is a way better Rhea Ripley than it was in January, February of last year, when she was on the high or, you know, or even December of this time last year. She's a way better performer, way more mature. Her understanding[of] all of it, and all of that came through that process. So, you know, it is what it is."
Are you satisfied with Triple H's answer about Rhea Ripley? Where do you hope to see Rhea within the company over the course of the next year? Sound off in the comments section below.
If you use any of Triple H's quotes about Rhea Ripley from this article, please credit the Triple H Media Call with a h/t to Sportskeeda for the transcription.