Rhea Ripley Is Raw's Lead Character

[theironyuppie]

Rhea's already been featured a lot of the time over the last year due to her role with Judgment Day, but with her also getting more actively involved in the women's division at the same time, she's all over the show now. It's great, and not even something we saw when Becky was The Man. Plus her being built up the way she has makes the interactions she has with other women mean more, whether it's Raquel or Chelsea (who was pretty hilarious in their segment tonight):

[The Gallus Mark]

Her interaction with Finn was outstanding and you can just tell that she’s totally confident and comfortable at all times and is just an absolute superstar

I’m sure they won’t do it, but I’d buy her in a main event program for the big titles. She’s a total badass.

[Renslayer]

I love that they're building raw around rhea. She rules

[Lizuka #BLM]

Rhea might be my favorite thing in wrestling right now and has been for quite awhile now.

[Jindrak Mark]

Judgment Day have sneakily been carrying Raw for the past 6-12 months. It's not the Bloodline but this recent JD drama is hitting and doing big numbers in its own right.

If you told me 18 months ago that the top group on Raw would be Rey's boring son, Finn who had just fallen off the top rope against Roman, Priest in his late babyface Priest/DAMIEN multiple personality phase and Rhea who wasn't really hitting as a face I wouldn't have pictured any of them having any chemistry at all.

Raw's biggest strength lately for me is that there are so many people who are really over and on any given week can be the focus of the show. Sometimes the show is built around Cody. Sometimes it's Seth. Sometimes it's Sami/KO. Tonight and in recent weeks it's been Judgment Day.

[theironyuppie]

Jul 10, 2023 23:17:35 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Judgment Day have sneakily been carrying Raw for the past 6-12 months. It's not the Bloodline but this recent JD drama is hitting and doing big numbers in its own right.

If you told me 18 months ago that the top group on Raw would be Rey's boring son, Finn who had just fallen off the top rope against Roman, Priest in his late babyface Priest/DAMIEN multiple personality phase and Rhea who wasn't really hitting as a face I wouldn't have pictured any of them having any chemistry at all.

Raw's biggest strength lately for me is that there are so many people who are really over and on any given week can be the focus of the show. Sometimes the show is built around Cody. Sometimes it's Seth. Sometimes it's Sami/KO. Tonight and in recent weeks it's been Judgment Day.

Right, Raw's got a very strong roster right now and that flexibility helps. I'll also add that of course she's grown as a performer since, but it's wild seeing Rhea now and remembering that in late 2021 she was getting about two minutes of TV time a week.

[asuka007]

Rhea is just amazing overall.

When fans are left thinking “well what more can they do here?” It shows how a talent has truly caught on.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Legit want to see her and Dominick win the tag titles

I think there's a realistic way to do it without her taking any bumps and then in losing them, Dominick would be pinned

It would be pretty damn cool to see Rhea be treated as that much of a threat, but idk if they'd get it completely ok'd by the Networks...

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Mami
Night
Raw

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

New King of Swag

Jul 10, 2023 22:49:54 GMT -5 The Gallus Mark said:

Her interaction with Finn was outstanding and you can just tell that she’s totally confident and comfortable at all times and is just an absolute superstar

I’m sure they won’t do it, but I’d buy her in a main event program for the big titles. She’s a total badass.

If think if Finn doesn't re-sign with the company, you have his last match be with Rhea, with Balor putting over Ripley on the way out, would be amazing.

[Totorob101]

I love that all the men are scared to fight her, they literally dont know what to do when she squares up to them! It makes her and the other women badasses because they at least the women fight Rhea back while the guys just stand away from her. Shes toughther then 99 percent of the men no doubt and i could see her going against Roman if they ever had the balls to do that.Roman has beat every top guy there so would he be able to beat the top woman? it would be quite something if she did then she potentially could go against Brock Lesnar eventually? would Brock even want to do that? Its a fun idea that is not unrealistic in my opinion,she really is that good.

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2023 3:26:34 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Legit want to see her and Dominick win the tag titles

I think there's a realistic way to do it without her taking any bumps and then in losing them, Dominick would be pinned

It would be pretty damn cool to see Rhea be treated as that much of a threat, but idk if they'd get it completely ok'd by the Networks...

I hope not just because it would be immensely stupid and really denegrate the tag titles simply for the fact...how does one make it work?

We know they will never allow any male to hit her but she can freely do whatever to them.

So would it just be a case of them comedy prat selling for her the whole time? and in kayfabe of course she should never tag Dom in because logic dictates her in the ring automatically means a win for team dirty since she again will never get a hand laid on her.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

I hope, for everyone’s sake, they don’t run Rhea’s dominance into the ground, lest she becomes another misery booking example.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Yes, Rhea's the best, but can we talk about "three strikes you're out, Basketball!"

One of the silliest lines ever uttered. So good.

[theironyuppie]

Jul 11, 2023 8:00:41 GMT -5 Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story said:

Yes, Rhea's the best, but can we talk about "three strikes you're out, Basketball!"

One of the silliest lines ever uttered. So good.

It was great. Chelsea trying to buddy up to Rhea in general was fun.

[clc]

Last night was the night Rhea jumped the shark for me. She been dangerously close to overpushed for quite a while now; but last night was the first time I was thinking, "Ok, enough please get off my TV now."
-The "Mami" gimmick has sort of run it's course. Dom doesn't need her anymore.
-She's not doing anything of note in the ring. (they planted some seeds so they can fix this)
-The intimidating the men will never have a payoff. Nor should it. I hate they they do it. I don't want to see men vs women; and, the only logical pay-off for her "dare men to hit me" spot is her getting hit...I don't like it at all.

I'm ready for someone to beat her for the belt at Summerslam. They have planted the seeds so that is good. Either Becky, or preferably Raquel needs to stomp her and make her humble.
You can say she's being a good heel...but there's a good heel you want to continue watching, and the one that makes you change the channel. My finger is on the remote I'm ready to push the button! I want them to make me eat my words and do something cool with her. She was one of my favorites, and I don't want her to be become another Charlotte.

[Hurbster]

The 'men are not afraid to hit her' thing they need to be careful of. It's already getting tiresome, same old thing over and over again. She knows blokes won't hit her.

She needs to try it with some evil bastard of a wrestler who belts her one, which will of course quite rightly never happen.

Maybe Piper or Shayna?

[mistery]

Jul 11, 2023 9:12:19 GMT -5 clc said:

Last night was the night Rhea jumped the shark for me. She been dangerously close to overpushed for quite a while now; but last night was the first time I was thinking, "Ok, enough please get off my TV now."
-The "Mami" gimmick has sort of run it's course. Dom doesn't need her anymore.
-She's not doing anything of note in the ring. (they planted some seeds so they can fix this)
-The intimidating the men will never have a payoff. Nor should it. I hate they they do it. I don't want to see men vs women; and, the only logical pay-off for her "dare men to hit me" spot is her getting hit...I don't like it at all.

I'm ready for someone to beat her for the belt at Summerslam. They have planted the seeds so that is good. Either Becky, or preferably Raquel needs to stomp her and make her humble.
You can say she's being a good heel...but there's a good heel you want to continue watching, and the one that makes you change the channel. My finger is on the remote I'm ready to push the button! I want them to make me eat my words and do something cool with her. She was one of my favorites, and I don't want her to be become another Charlotte.

I seriously doubt it's going to be Raquel beating her. I truly honestly do not see it happening. Raquel has the problem of having literally zero personality other than "look at my back", and despite being on the main roster for over a year now (she debuted back in April 2022), she's only elicited a reaction from the crowd like once or twice. It doesn't help that she's a pretty terrible person outside of the ring. I said it last night in the RAW thread and I'll say it here. This feels like its Raquel's last chance to get over. If she doesn't get over in this feud with Rhea, then her WWE ceiling will likely be midcard at best. And she's had this problem in NXT as well, where WWE kept trying to force her down everyone's throats, despite there being stars way more popular than her. I don't think its a coincidence that NXT Black and Gold only really started hemorrhaging viewers once Triple H made the call to put the top titles on Kross and Raquel.

But I do think that the whole Rhea "never gets comeuppance" thing is getting old, and it's why I can't really see her title reign dragging on past Mania of next year, regardless of who she faces. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if it ends sooner than that, since the Judgement Day is seemingly on its way to splitsville, and Rhea losing the title would be part of that, I imagine.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Rhea seems like the single WWE wrestler that I most often see "breaking containment" as it were. I'm curious how much of a gateway wrestler she is right now for attracting some new fans.

[theironyuppie]

Jul 11, 2023 10:39:52 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Rhea seems like the single WWE wrestler that I most often see "breaking containment" as it were. I'm curious how much of a gateway wrestler she is right now for attracting some new fans.

She's WWE's most-followed wrestler on TikTok, and judging from anecdotal evidence seems to be getting crossover fans via that route.