WWE NXT Champion Rhea Ripley | Nightmare Becomes Reality
If the perfect month in professional wrestling exists, November 21st until December 19th in the life of one Rhea Ripley is most definitely in contention for such acclaim.
before WWE Survivor Series, I took a retrospective look at Rhea Ripley's career in the squared circle, and how she's gone from a blue eyed, blonde-haired powerhouse to arguably WWE's most dominant Superstar in 'Rhea Ripley | From raw potential to WWE dominance, The Nightmare is living the dream' - but such is the rise of Ripley that all of that is now somewhat of a moot point, with The Nightmare eclipsing her own high standards and expectations.
Just last month, Ripley had close to the perfect week, an unbeatable five days that saw the 23-year-old establish herself as potentially the hottest star in the company - competing against current RAW Women's Champion and WWE 2K20 cover star Becky Lynch - who's arguably had the best decade of anyone in WWE - before invading SmackDown to challenge both Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks, emerging victorious after pinning the most decorated woman in WWE history. Ripley would then go on to lead her team to victory in the first ever Women's WarGames at the NXT TakeOver of the same name, pinning then-NXT Champion Shayna Baszler.
This is where I left off on my previous retrospective article, immediately before Survivor Series, so could Rhea Ripley maintain that momentum?
Of course she could!
Ripley would captain Team NXT to a victory over RAW and SmackDown just one night removed from a hellacious WarGames match, the first women's incarnation of the chaotic encounter in a twin-cage structure, and emerge victorious - pinning current NXT Women's Champion, and the woman with the most individual days as champion, Shayna Baszler!
Just two years and change after debuting in WWE in 2017 sporting long, blonde locks, Rhea Ripley had made her main roster WWE pay-per-view debut, and won in emphatic fashion, technically picking up a win over ten other WWE Superstars.
Momentum is a wonderful thing, and one which should always be capitalised upon - and that's just what both Ripley and WWE would go on to do. The former NXT UK Women's Champion would spend the next few weeks hunting down NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler - whom she'd pinned at NXT TakeOver: WarGames - to stake her claim as NXT's top female Superstar.
Stephanie McMahon would even single out Ripley to myself as someone who definitely stood out.
Rhea Ripley, for sure, stands out.
Well, after earning her shot and riling up The Queen of Spades, Ripley's time would finally come this week, and the 23-year-old took it with both hands - becoming the first WWE Superstar to hold NXT and NXT UK gold - before an immense celebration in Full Sail showed just why Rhea Ripley is a star. Everyone is drawn to her, not least her fellow WWE NXT Superstars who would flood the ring to celebrate with the new NXT Women's Champion.
2020 looks like being the Year of Ripley.
Nightmare has become reality.