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Ric Flair Was Impressed By Rhea Ripley At Wrestlemania

April 8, 2020 | Posted by Joseph Lee
Rhea Ripley Raw WWE

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Ric Flair spoke about being impressed by Rhea Ripley’s performance at Wrestlemania in her match with his daughter Charlotte. Here are highlights:

On Charlotte performing during the current pandemic: “I had the utmost confidence that WWE would do this as safely as they possibly could and they did. Nobody will ever understand the scrutiny that everybody went through while they were there. I wanted her to participate as I thought it was an opportunity that you don’t want to miss. The company cares, genuinely, for the wellness of their athletes because when they have players go down or get hurt, it affects their overall health. Even if I hadn’t wanted her to go or asked her not to go, she would have dial-toned me and said ‘I’m going.’ I ultimately supported it and I’m glad. Anybody using the world arguably [in regards to it being the best match], they had the best match.”

On Ripley vs. Charlotte: “What impressed me the most was the fact that she could hang with Charlotte. They were in the ring, I’m guessing 25 minutes, and they pushed. There were huge moves and they had a real championship match. They beat each other up and it looked like that. There was no ‘ha-ha’ or anything meant to make anyone laugh. It had great intensity and my hat’s off to Rhea Ripley.”

On how the match reminds him of his matches with Sting: “You forget about all of the charisma that he brought and Rhea has tons of that. The fact that she could go toe-to-toe with my daughter – who’s in the best shape of any athlete, male or female, within the company – it speaks volumes. That’s the kinda stuff that makes you a champion – being able to adjust and compete at any level. They’re not that familiar with each other and they had a world-class match.”

On those who think Charlotte going to NXT is a demotion: “It doesn’t matter. What was good about that match was that it could have gone either way. It automatically put Rhea in the discussion as one of the better wrestlers. Rhea performed at a high level. But Ashley is there to lend maturity, to feed and to take all the things that Rhea could give her. They pulled it off and you can only imagine the reaction if there would have been a live crowd. Who’s the best wrestler? Who’s the best performer? Who looks the best, talks the best and has the best presentation? But ultimately, it’s who can perform the best? A lot of the time the match is over when she walks down the ramp and does that cartwheel before getting in the ring. You can’t compare her to anybody.”

On if he gave her any advice for wrestling in an empty arena: “Absolutely not. I didn’t even know what day she was wrestling. I stayed as far away from her as possible and didn’t even ask her anything. Because No. 1, I didn’t want her to say, ‘I can’t tell you’ which would have pissed me off [laughs]. I’m really gonna give everybody their due as nobody knew what was going on, and I loved that. I predicted that someone would open their mouth and no one did. Dave Meltzer must have been pulling his hair out trying to get someone to talk [laughs].”

article topics :

Ric Flair, Joseph Lee