Rhea Ripley was close to missing out on competing at WrestleMania 41 due to injury concerns.
Competing in the opening match of night 2, Ripley and Bianca Belair both challenged IYO SKY for the Women’s World Championship. Widely regarded as the best match of Mania weekend, SKY emerged as the victor over Belair and Ripley despite the fact that she was overlooked by the challengers heading into the show.
Although the match originally looked set to be SKY vs. Belair following the events that took place at Elimination Chamber, Ripley’s constant interference left General Manager Adam Pearce with no choice but to make the match a triple threat. However, according to Ripley, the match was close to being a one-on-one contest as she was unsure if she would be able to be a part of the show.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Ripley was first asked if she had any pains from wrestling, to which the former Women’s Champion first spoke about back problems that may have stemmed from a match in NXT against Raquel Rodriguez:
“Normally my lower back, especially lately, I don’t know what’s been going on. I think it actually started from the match I had with Raquel in NXT, where she gave me the back body drop onto the announce table, but we undershot it and I hit the very edge of the table, like right on my lower back. After that, my lower back was never the same. But I mean, I do whatever I can to try and make it better. I have a masseuse Matthew come over and he works on it. He helps stretch me out, and puts my hips back in line pretty much, and just fixes all that. And thank God for him that he comes over to help. Because sometimes it gets really bad. I didn’t think that I would be able to wrestle at WrestleMania 41.”
Rhea Ripley Admits Missing WrestleMania 41 Was Very Possible
Continuing, Ripley added that she was dealing with more back pain heading into WrestleMania 41, but was able to get treatment so that she could compete:
“WrestleMania 41, I didn’t think I was going to be able to compete because my back was so bad leading up to it. The two nights beforehand, I got [my masseuse] Matthew to come to my room, and he worked on me the night before Hall of Fame and the night of Hall of Fame. I was like, I need you to make sure I can walk tomorrow. And he worked on me those two nights, and it loosened completely just in time for the match. Then after the match, it was okay, and then, slowly, because I’ve been wrestling more, it’s just slowly tightens up, but that’s because I just don’t stretch on my own, so that’s my fault as well. It gets really bad. I don’t know if it’s a sciatic thing or whatnot, or just my body in itself, the shape of my body and how I’m put together. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s something. But it does go down, and it definitely revs up sometimes, and sometimes it’s just bearable.”
Rhea Ripley is set to face Raquel Rodriguez in a street fight at WWE Night of Champions on June 28.
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