Rhea Ripley Recalls Almost Slipping Out Of 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble Before Her Win

Rhea Ripley discusses almost slipping out of the WWE Royal Rumble before she won.
On January 28, 2023, WWE had their first Royal Rumble event under Paul Levesque’s creative reign. This meant many came into the event wondering which two stars would be afforded the opportunity to head to WrestleMania to contend for the top championship, and, on the women’s side, Rhea Ripley secured a career win by adding the Royal Rumble to her accolades. However, ‘The Eradicator’ has now opened up on almost slipping out too early.
Speaking to ESPN, Ripley recalled almost slipping out of the 2023 Royal Rumble.
“I managed to get to the last three and by then, I was so sweaty. My hands were wet and I slipped. As soon as I grabbed [the top rope], I was like, ‘Do not let go. For the love of God, through all the weights that you’ve picked up while being sweaty, this is the one you can’t drop.’ Very close. Very close. I was scared.”
-Rhea Ripley
Ripley would go on to defeat Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, a title which has since become the Women’s World Championship. It was the Australian’s second reign with a top title on the main roster, and her 380-day reign with the gold helped to cement her as one of the company’s top stars.
Nowadays, Ripley is the current WWE Women’s Champion having defeated Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42. In just a few hours, at Clash In Italy, Rhea will look to retain the title over the woman she came out on top against just 42 days ago.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ripley revealed how she started using the Riptide as her finisher. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Rhea Ripley as soon as we hear more.
If you use the quote above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to WrestlePurists.com for the transcription.