At school, she was the shy outsider who just couldn’t fit in. Now, Rhea Ripley is a WWE champ, an inspiration to millions… and the most metal wrestler on the planet

WORDS: MERLIN ALDERSLADE

PRESS

"I’ve always been a brutal kid. I loved soccer, I loved netball, I loved rugby, I loved karate. I loved everything, especially the contact sports. Watching wrestling and how brutal it was sometimes, it really brought me in. I love weapons, all that sort of stuff…”

You love violence, basically.

“Violence, yeah,” comes the response, followed by a guilty chuckle. “I’m a very violent individual!”

Metal Hammer is rarely the hardest person in the room, but it’s safe to say that Rhea Ripley could give us an absolute kicking. Luckily, she seems to have no such intentions; she’s actually one of the friendliest people you could ever share an interview with. Plus, she’s thousands of miles away, beaming in via video link from sunny Florida while we sit in the comfort of a miserable, rainy spring evening here in the UK. Dressed in a Blackcraft hoodie, her blonde, spiky hair shaven round the sides and rocking black nail polish, piercings and dark make-up, Rhea looks like many of the faces you’ll see in this magazine each month. The big difference? Rhea isn’t in a metal band. She’s a wrestler - in fact, she’s the biggest thing in women’s wrestling in 2021. At the time of going to press, she’s the reigning, defending WWE Raw Women’s Champion. So make no mistake about it: Rhea Ripley may not be a musician, but she is a total rockstar.