Rhea Ripley

Rhea Ripley is an Australian professional wrestler signed with WWE. Born Demi Bennett, Ripley is best known for her work with WWE in NXT and NXT UK. She is a former RAW, NXT, and NXT UK Women's Champion. She is a member of 'The Terror Twins' along with his former stablemate Damian Priest, as of 2024. The Seventh Women's Triple Crown Champion is also the former holder of the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles. Ripley, the Fifth Women's Grand Slam Champion also has the Women's Royal Rumble (2023) to her name.

Also Read: Who are Rhea Ripley's parents?

Early Life

Rhea Ripley was born on the 26th of October in 1996 in Adelaide, Australia. She has been a pro wrestling fan for a long time and has cited WWE Superstar The Miz as an inspiration while growing up. She is also a huge fan of Adelaide Football Club.

Professional Wrestling Career

Independent Promotions (2013-2017)

In 2013, Bennett worked for several promotions in Australia such as Riot City Wrestling (RCW), and also performed for Melbourne City Wrestling the following year. She won the RCW Women's title (2 times) while she was performing there and defended the title till her late day in the promotion. Ripley worked for four years before coming to the United States and wrestling for WWE.

WWE (2017-Present)

Mae Young and NXT UK (2017-2019)

In 2017, they signed Bennett with the company, and she entered the Mae Young Classic. She changed her name to Rhea Ripley but could not win the tournament as she lost in the second round. In 2018, she entered the tournament sporting a new look and persona. Ripley was dominant in the tournament but lost in the semi-finals to Io Shirai. After the Mae Young Classic, they sent her to the NXT UK brand. During the television taping, she became the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion by defeating Toni Storm. After 140 days, At TakeOver Blackpool, she lost the title to Toni Storm. She spent some time in the UK brand to recapture the title but was unsuccessful.

NXT (2019-2021)

In August, she came to NXT and confronted NXT Women's Champion, Shayna Baszler. At Survivor Series, she led the NXT Women's team and won. At TakeOver WarGames, Team Baszler lost to Team Ripley. In December, she defeated Baszler to win the NXT Women's Championship. At WrestleMania 36, she lost the title to Charlotte. After a few unsuccessful attempts to win the championship, Ripley began her feud with Raquel Gonzalez. At WarGames, she joined Team Shotzi and lost to Team Candice. At New Year's Evil, she lost a Last Woman Standing match to Gonzalez and left NXT.

RAW (2021-2022)

At the Royal Rumble, she entered at number 14 but could not win the match. After two months of absence, she challenged Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship. At WrestleMania 37, she defeated Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship. She lost the title to Charlotte after 98 days of reign at Money in the Bank. Ripley began a storyline with Nikki A.S.H. and they faced Charlotte in a triple threat at SummerSlam, where she lost. Nikki and Ripley began teaming up and won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. On RAW, they dropped the titles to Carmella and Queen Zelina Vega.

The Judgment Day (2022–2024)

The stable was formed on WrestleMania 38 after Damian Priest helped Edge win his match against AJ Styles. In the rematch of Styles and Edge at WrestleMania Backlash, a masked superstar helped Edge win the match. The superstar was revealed to be Rhea Ripley. At the Hell In A Cell event, The Judgement Day defeated AJ Styles, Finn Balor, and Liv Morgan. On the RAW after Hell In A Cell, Edge introduced Balor as the newest member. Later, Rhea Ripley, Balor, and Damian attacked Edge and kicked him out of the faction.

On the June 6 edition of RAW, Ripley won a fatal-four-way match to become the No. 1 contender for the RAW Women's Championship. She was scheduled to face Bianca Belair for the title but was pulled out due to injury. She was replaced by Carmella. The Judgement Day then started feuding with The Mysterios. The faction wanted Dominik to join the Judgement Day, but he rejected the offer. Rhea and Dominik would cross paths during their feud where Rhea tried to brainwash Dominik. At SummerSlam, The Mysterios defeated Balor and Priest.

At the Clash At The Castle event, Edge and Rey Mysterio defeated Balor and Priest and after the match, Dominik finally turned heel by attacking Edge. Later Dominik joined the faction, where he was constantly influenced by Rhea Ripley. At Survivor Series 2022, she was a part of Team Bayley in a losing effort where Team Bianca defeated Team Bayley in a War Games match after Becky Lynch scored the pin on Dakota Kai.

On the 19th December 2022 edition of SmackDown, Rhea Ripley defeated Akira Tozawa in an inter-gender match. Ripley entered the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble at #1 and went on to win the match after last eliminating Liv Morgan. She lasted 1 hour 1 minute and 8 seconds in the match, setting the record for the most time spent in the women's Royal Rumble. Her victory also made her the first-ever woman to win the event after entering the number 1 position. After winning the match, she declared that she wanted to challenge the SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania. At Elimination Chamber, Ripley teamed up with Finn Balor to take on Edge and Beth Phoenix in a mixed-gender tag team match, in a losing effort.

Ripley faced Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania Hollywood for the SmackDown Women's Champion and avenged her loss to The Queen. Ripley walked out of the event as the new champion and continued her participation with The Judgment Day following the event. The Judgment Day aligned with The Bloodline where the two teams agreed to deal with their respective opponents - Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and the Latino World Order (LWO).

On the April 21st episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Ripley would defend her title against Zelina Vega at WWE Backlash. At the event, Ripley successfully defended her title. Meanwhile, Ripley was drafted to RAW in the WWE draft while still being the SmackDown Women's Champion and RAW Women's Champion Bianca Belair was drafted to SmackDown. A few days later, WWE legend Natalya made her return to the company to challenge Ripley for the gold, and the match was made official for Night of Champions.

At the event, she defeated Natalya in only seventy seconds. Later, her title was renamed to Women's World Championship. During a match against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, she injured the latter following which she went on a brief hiatus. Upon returning, Rodriguez demanded a match against Ripley for the title. The two squared off at Payback 2023 for the title where Ripley won. Following the night, the list of superstars behind Ripley's title grew longer. Further, Ripley's attitude caused some tussle between her and Adam Pearce, the general manager of Monday Night RAW. Thus, he set up a fatal five-way match at Crown Jewel 2023 for Ripley's title. The champion defended her gold against Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark, and walked out victorious. She is scheduled to defend the title against Stark at Survivor Series: WarGames.

At Royal Rumble 2024, Bayley won the Women's Royal Rumble and was expected to challenge Rhea Ripley. In a shocking turn of events, she chose her partner Iyo Sky as her WrestleMania opponent. Thus, an Elimination Chamber match was set up to determine The Eradicator's WrestleMania opponent which was won by Becky Lynch. At WrestleMania XL, Ripley defeated Lynch but was forced to vacate her title two weeks later after an attack by Liv Morgan. She relinquished the title and then went on an indefinite hiatus.

The Terror Twins (2024–present)

Rhea Ripley vacated her Women's World Title because of an arm injury. That finished her 380-day reign which tied Bayley's record. During her absence, Liv Morgan came out on top for the Women's Title from Becky Lynch at King & Queen of the Ring. Ripley returned and faced Morgan and Dominik. At SummerSlam, Ripley lost to Morgan after interference from Dominik, who turned on her. Finn Bálor then removed Ripley and Damian Priest from the Judgment Day. Ripley and Priest remained partners, defeating Dominik and Morgan at Bash in Berlin. At Bad Blood, Ripley faced Morgan again but lost by disqualification after interference from Raquel Rodriguez.

Rhea Ripley's Championships and Accomplishments

Rhea Ripley's Family

Rhea Ripley's family has been away from the limelight. Her father is Peter Bennett and her mother's name is Anna Bennett. Not much is known of their personal life. Ripley also has a younger sister named Calista Bennett.

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Rhea Ripley's Husband

Rhea Ripley has been married to fellow wrestler and former WWE Superstar Matthew Adams since June 2024. Adams was famous for his work with WWE under the ring name Buddy Murphy or simply Murphy. He currently works with WWE's rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Buddy Matthews where he is a member of the faction House of Black.

Click here to read more about Buddy Murphy and Rhea Ripley