Rhea Ripley On Why She Wanted AJ Lee In WarGames Match: ‘I Want That Scrappy’

Rhea Ripley is excited to have AJ Lee on her team for Survivor Series: WarGames, and she recently explained why she sought the former Divas Champion out for the match. Lee joined the babyface team for the match on last week’s Smackdown. Lee will team with Ripley, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, and IYO SKY against Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Becky Lynch and the Kabuki Warriors.

Ripley initially approached Lee about joining the team on Smackdown. She appeared on Raw Recap and discussed bringing Lee on board. You can see the highlights below:

On the Preparation For the Match:

“Oh, just mental preparation for it all. Obviously like you just said, it is one of the most brutal matches that you could have here in the WWE. So I just need to mentally prepare and mentally get my team prepared as well. Because look, we have myself, we have IYO, we have Alexa, we have Charlotte. And we’ve all been inside of a WarGames before. But then we have AJ Lee. She’s just come back, and I just need to make sure that she’s fully prepared for what is going to happen and what she’s stepping into. It’s a dangerous match, and we just need to make sure that not only our body is prepared, but our mind is prepared as well.”

On Seeking Out Lee For the Team:

“Growing up, I watched AJ Lee. I loved watching AJ Lee. She was one of my favorites for sure. I thought she was amazing at what she did, especially for the size that she is. She’s scrappy, she doesn’t give up, and I like that fire inside of her that I know she has. And seeing her come back and tag with her husband CM Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, I could see that fire was still there.

So I knew that we needed a fifth member, I know that I needed someone that can hang in this kind of match. And everything that I’ve seen her accomplish throughout her run in the WWE before when I was growing up, she accomplished so much. And she really wasn’t set up to accomplish that much, but she fought and she scratched and she clawed and she was determined. She got to the point that she got to, and that’s what I wanna see.

“And I know that it’s there and that’s why I want her on my team. I want that scrappy, I want that fight. I want people to second-guess her because of her size and then realize that she is a lot tougher than what they think she is. She’s unpredictable, and I love that.”

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