Rhea Ripley Says She Wasn’t Originally Set to Be the First NXT UK Women’s Champion, Talks Fan Reaction to Finals Match

Speaking with Flash Morgan Webster on his Wrestling Friends podcast, Rhea Ripley discussed her NXT UK Women’s Title win and how it wasn’t originally supposed to be her. Ripley won the title in the NXT UK Women’s Title Tournament in August of 2018, defeating Xia Brookside, Dakota Kai, and Toni Storm to win the title. However, she said she wasn’t originally set to make it to the semifinals, much less win it and isn’t sure how it happened.

Ripley also talked about the online reaction when Storm was injured after the match, which led to a lot of fans interpreting the sudden finish of the match as being a change in the result mid-match. Highlights and the audio are below:

On winning the NXT UK Women’s Title Tournament: “I have no idea [how it came about], to be honest. [laugh] It was like a wild, wild couple of days. I don’t even think I was supposed to make it past the second round, I think it was? I don’t really know what happened, like everything just kept changing. They kept changing the matches, they kept changing everything. And then going into the final with Toni, I wasn’t supposed to be in the finals. So I don’t know what happened in the meetings, I don’t know what was said or done, but somehow I won the whole tournament. I don’t know where it came from, like, I really don’t. I don’t know if they wanted a heel to be champ, I’m not entirely sure. But it was definitely, I mean it seemed like it was made for Toni to be NXT UK Women’s Champion.”

On Storm being injured in the match: “And man, the most depressing thing was, she got injured as well in that match as well, like she hurt her back. That didn’t make me feel fantastic about myself. I was like, ‘Man, I keep injuring people.’ But because that happened, everyone was like, ‘Oh, Toni was supposed to win. Rhea wasn’t supposed to win, they had to change it in the match and that’s why they had a weird ending that just came out of nowhere.’ I was like, ‘No guys, it was planned that way. It was just a stressful day.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Friends with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.