Rhea Ripley has undergone some of the dramatic transformations in modern WWE history, from each her looks and her attitude, to even her place on the cardboard. Her nicknames have also modified throughout the differing stages of her profession to raised match her aesthetic. The true-life Demi Bennett has passed by her real name within the ring, before changing her name in WWE and being nicknamed “The Nightmare” early in her “WWE NXT” days. She is now, after all, famously often called WWE’s “Mami” following a storyline with Dominik Mysterio. Despite the pair’s on-screen breakup, Ripley stays “Mami” to the masses.
She began on the independent scene in her native Australia before signing with WWE in 2017. Ripley made her technique to the predominant roster following the peak of the pandemic in 2021 after spending time in “NXT” each in the US and United Kingdom. Since arriving on the predominant roster, Ripley has torn her way through among the other top talent, including Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, and more, all while cementing herself into the hearts of fans whether she’s working as a heel or a babyface. She’s worked her way up from her humble beginnings in Riot City Wrestling back in 2013, to becoming the inaugural “NXT UK” Women’s Champion, to having multiple WrestleMania matches revolving around the corporate’s top titles.
Ripley has set her place within the wrestling world’s history books on the young age of just 28. Her stunning evolution in WWE is really something to behold, and looking out back on all she’s been through in lower than a decade, the adoring fans of “Mami” can witness the story of Demi Bennett coming into her own as a performer on a large stage.
Start on the Australian Independent Scene
Ripley began her profession using her real name Demi Bennett as her ring name in Riot City Wrestling, headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia in 2013. She won her first wrestling championship in RCW in May 2014 after defeating Savannah Summers. Ripley held the RCW Women’s Championship through November 15 that 12 months. After difficult for the title a couple of times unsuccessfully, she won it back in October 2016 in a triple-threat match. Ripley held the title for the remainder of her time with RCW and retained it during her final match in April 2017. A few of her matches, interviews, and other segments live online on the promotion’s YouTube channel.
Ripley also worked in other independent promotions throughout her home country, including Recent Horizon Pro Wrestling situated in Perth, Australia. She debuted in NHPW in May 2014 and had a couple of matches throughout the years for the corporate, including a fatal four-way including the elder Saraya Knight. Ripley also made appearances in Pro Wrestling Alliance, Newcastle Pro Wrestling, and Melbourne City Wrestling, where she defended the RCW Women’s title quite a few times.
Like many wrestlers do, Ripley took to Japan for a tour of its wrestling scene before signing with WWE. She made her Japanese debut for Pro Wrestling ZERO1, at Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling, in a tag team match in April 2015. That very same month, she also debuted at REINA Mexico Fiesta in one other tag team bout. Ripley also worked with World Women Pro-Wrestling Diana at its fourth-anniversary show.
Armed along with her knowledge from the independents of each Australia and Japan, Ripley would go on to work with WWE in its developmental brand, where women were flourishing inside the company.
Start in WWE NXT & NXT UK
Bennett officially became Rhea Ripley on July 13, 2017, when she debuted for WWE in the primary WWE Mae Young Classic tournament. She made it to the second round after defeating Miranda Salinas within the firs, but was eliminated by Dakota Kai. Ripley was officially signed to WWE and joined the “NXT” roster on house shows. Her first singles match in “NXT” outside of the tournament was a September 2017 house show in a loss to Bianca Belair. Ripley would go on a string of losses on house shows to the likes of Kai, Ruby Riot, and Shayna Baszler. Her first house show victory didn’t come until February of 2018 when she defeated Aliyah.
Ripley competed within the 2018 Mae Young Classic with a wholly different look and attitude, moving more toward the goth “Mami” fans adore today. Together with her latest aggressive attitude, Ripley defeated MJ Jenkins, Kacy Catanzaro, and Tegan Nox, but lost to Io Shirai, now IYO SKY, within the semi-finals.
Shortly after the tournament, Ripley and her latest, fiercer look moved over to the “NXT UK” brand. She competed in one other tournament to find out the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion. Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the ultimate to win the championship and the consideration of becoming WWE’s first female Australian champion. She held on to the gold for 139 days before dropping the belt to Storm in January 2019 at a TakeOver event.
While still with “NXT UK,” Ripley entered the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble at number 24 and scored three eliminations before going excessive rope herself. Before departing “NXT UK,” Ripley feuded with Piper Niven over who was essentially the most dominant woman on the roster. Ripley’s final match on the brand was October 5, 2019, when she defeated Nina Samuels.
NXT Women’s Championship Reign
As she was ending up with “NXT UK,” Ripley made her return to the stateside brand in August 2019. She turned as much as the show and immediately challenged then-NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler and Ripley became the babyface within the feud. She was also a part of the “NXT” takeover of “SmackDown” throughout the infamous incident of WWE stars unable to get off the bottom on a plane in Saudi Arabia, causing talent to miss the Friday show. Ripley would not just be a part of the “NXT” team throughout the 2019 Survivor Series brand warfare match, she was the developmental brand’s captain within the match. Ripley’s team defeated the ladies of the predominant roster on the premium live event with Ripley and Candice LeRae remaining for Team “NXT.”
Ripley then went on to defeat Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship that December. She became the primary person to have won each “NXT” titles in the US and the UK. Ripley confronted Charlotte Flair on “Raw” following “The Queen’s” first Royal Rumble victory that 12 months and suggested the pair face off at WrestleMania 36, an event that was held throughout the pandemic within the WWE Performance Center with no fans present. Flair accepted at TakeOver: Portland after Ripley successfully defended her gold against Bianca Belair.
Flair defeated Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship on night two of WrestleMania that April. Ripley attempted to win the gold back multiple times but was unsuccessful. Her final match in “NXT” was a Last Woman Standing match loss to Raquel Gonzalez (now often called Raquel Rodriguez) at Recent Yr’s Evil in January 2021. That month, Ripley entered the Women’s Royal Rumble once more and scored a complete of seven eliminations within the match.
Official Most important Roster Debut
Ripley made her predominant roster debut after a video package aired on “Raw” in February 2021, hyping up her arrival to the red brand. Before she arrived, and even before she had a set landing spot between “Raw” and “SmackDown,” she teased a rather latest search for her predominant roster transition. Ripley shared a photograph to her Instagram page where she rocked a leather jacket and leather mini skirt alongside her blond pixie cut. She captioned the post “I’m an odd combination of ‘Really Sweet’ and ‘Don’t Mess With Me!'” and tagged a WWE photographer.
She made an impact immediately by difficult Asuka to a match for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 37. Ripley took the title from “The Empress of Tomorrow” on night two of WrestleMania 37. This time, Ripley competed in front of at the very least a half-capacity WrestleMania crowd in Tampa, Florida, in comparison with her first experience on the quiet Performance Center within the “pandemic era.”
She retained the title over Asuka, who asked for a rematch in the next days, in addition to Charlotte Flair was who was added to their match at WrestleMania Backlash by Sonya Deville, who was an on-screen official on the time. Ripley’s first predominant roster championship reign ended at just below 100 days when she dropped the title to Flair at Money within the Bank in July.
Ripley officially held the “Raw” Women’s Championship for 98 days. The previous “NXT” and “NXT UK” Women’s Champion could have arrived with a bang on the predominant roster, but after losing her “Raw” championship gold, Ripley began to flounder a bit in her newfound position. She was still somewhat over a 12 months from coming into her full gothic look and “Mami” persona.
Time in Tag Teams
Ripley could have been out of the highest title picture following her “Raw” Women’s Championship loss to Flair, but she would soon capture gold of a distinct kind inside WWE. Ripley did not regain the championship at SummerSlam in a triple threat match against then-champion Nikki A.S.H. and Flair. Despite the loss, Ripley began teaming with A.S.H the subsequent month and the pair defeated Natalya and Tamina to capture the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, though they might only hang on to them for a month before losing to Carmella and Queen Zelina on a November episode of “Raw.”
Back in 2021, Ripley said she was at first “a bit standoffish” when paired with A.S.H., but said she was growing on her. Ripley said she needed to calm down a bit personally, and she or he was glad to have the previous Nikki Cross on her side along with her positive persona. Ripley said she was having “the time of her life” within the tag team, but did miss singles competition. The pair teamed together through January 2022, when it was A.S.H. to show heel on Ripley.
In March, Ripley began teaming with future nemesis Liv Morgan. The pair challenged for the titles on night two of WrestleMania 38 in a fatal four-way tag team match in a losing effort. The pair tried to win the titles again on “Raw,” but Ripley attacked Morgan and turned heel for the primary time on the predominant roster after they lost to champions Sasha Banks and Naomi. Ripley hit Morgan with a Riptide and beat her down in the course of the ring. On the time of her heel turn, Ripley had already been rumored on joining a brand new stable on “Raw” led by WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who was working alongside Damian Priest.
Rise to Stardom in Judgment Day
Ripley’s profession really took off into the “Mami” we have now today when she aligned herself with Judgment Day, then led by Edge. The stable would grow to incorporate Finn Balor along with Ripley and Priest, and Edge was kicked out because the leader of the group almost as quickly because it was built. Judgment Day began feuding with the Mysterios and successfully recruited Dominik into their stable. As Mysterio turned heel, he adapted an Eddie Guerrero-esque Latino Heat gimmick, and Ripley began calling herself Mysterio’s “Mami.” During this time, Ripley began fully leaning into her darker, more seductive, gothic look as a heel.
Ripley would once more enter the predominant event title scene along with her victory within the Women’s Royal Rumble match in 2023. She and Liv Morgan were the primary two women to enter the match and were the ultimate two standing within the ring to finish it. Together with her win, Ripley became the fourth wrestler, and the primary woman, to win a Rumble match as the primary entrant. She declared she would challenge Flair for her “SmackDown” Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39 and was successful in her challenge in April. With the win, Ripley became the fifth Women’s Grand Slam Champion in WWE history and the youngest grand slam champion of either gender at just 26.
The championship was renamed to the Women’s World Championship while Ripley was still holding the gold. She defended her title successfully quite a few times, including in her home country of Australia at Elimination Chamber in Perth in February 2024. Her reign was ended at a powerful 380 days, tying Bayley’s record as longest-reigning Women’s World Champion, in April. Ripley was attacked in a backstage segment by former tag team partner Morgan and was legitimately injured and compelled to vacate the gold.
Judgment Day Split & Liv Morgan Feud
Ripley injured her right arm throughout the segment and appeared on the subsequent episode of “Raw” to vacate the gold, but not before calling out Morgan before leaving for a three-month hiatus. While she was gone from television, Morgan attempted to seduce Mysterio and take him away from Ripley on what she called a part of her “revenge tour.” Ripley returned at first of July, just ahead of SummerSlam to confront each Morgan and Mysterio. She was in a position to get her “Latino Heat” back on her side, but not for long.
By the point Ripley was back from injury, it was Morgan who was holding the Women’s World Championship. Ripley challenged her at SummerSlam but was defeated, and Mysterio turned on his “Mami” and kissed Morgan on the doorway ramp. Ripley was now a babyface for the primary time in over two years and the group was ready to completely accept her following her departure from Judgment Day. Balor kicked each Ripley and Priest from the stable and the pair teamed together for a short while to get their revenge.
Ripley and Morgan entered a seemingly countless feud, which was at one point placed on hold when Ripley suffered a legitimate orbital bone injury and WWE wrote her off television with one other backstage attack by Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. She wasn’t on the shelf for long this time, nonetheless, and made a surprise return to enter the Survivor Series: WarGames match for the babyface team alongside Bianca Belair, IYO SKY, Naomi, and Bayley. Ripley pinned Morgan within the match, scoring the victory for her team.
Rhea Ripley Now
Ripley kicked off 2025 with a bang when she finally won the Women’s World Championship back on the “Raw” premiere on Netflix in January. She defeated Morgan, despite interference from Rodriguez and Mysterio, and eventually ended their feud. Ripley celebrated her victory alongside The Undertaker, who appeared on the show as his “American Badass” persona and rode across the ring on his motorcycle to pose with the brand new champion on the stage.
She was only in a position to defend her title successfully once, nonetheless, and lost it once more to IYO SKY on a March episode of “Raw.” She was distracted by the winner of the Elimination Chamber match and her potential WrestleMania 41 opponent, Bianca Belair, at ringside, allowing SKY to pin her for the win and end her reign at just 56 days. As of this writing, Ripley is fighting her way into WrestleMania this 12 months, even attempting to sign her name on the contract for SKY and Belair’s match. While “Raw” General Manager Adam Pearce was adamant that her signature wasn’t legally binding, Ripley will challenge SKY on “Raw” once more, and there are rumors of a triple threat match between the ladies on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”
Though she’s currently toeing the road of heel and babyface ahead of WrestleMania, Ripley remains to be certainly one of the most well liked stars in WWE right away. Ripley has risen from a champion on the Australian independent scene to the WWE Universe’s “Mami.” From the quilt of “WWE 2K24’s” deluxe edition to being named certainly one of the 30 best skilled wrestlers under 30 by ESPN, along with its Female Wrestler of the Yr in 2023, Ripley is greater than more likely to reach latest heights, each in WWE and beyond, in the approaching years.
