Watching night one among WWE WrestleMania 39 in real time was a magical experience, with Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair being a giant contributing factor. Watching it again in 2025 was no different.
Before “The Eradicator” and “The Queen” even locked up on the grand stage, many fans and pundits, including us Wrestling Inc. staff, called for this WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship match to be fitted within the night one fundamental event slot. The rationale? Storytelling and star power.
Ripley and Flair previously squared off at “The Shows of Shows” in 2020, albeit within the smaller and far quieter space of the WWE Performance Center. Still, the WWE Universe heavily pushed for the younger, “WWE NXT” version of Ripley to make a mark by defeating Flair, who got here into their NXT Women’s Championship match with more experience and more titles to her respective name in WWE. WWE as a substitute went the other route as Flair bested the rookie in a 20-minute affair so as to add yet one more championship to her collection.
Fast forward to 2023, Ripley returned to Flair, looking for not only retribution, but additionally the SmackDown Women’s Championship — a title she guaranteed herself a shot at by winning the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble (with a then-record-setting outing of 1 hour, 1 minute and eight seconds, by the way in which). This go around, Ripley approached Flair with much more strength, experience, and determination. She could have even come along along with her Judgment Day stablemates as well, but she shined vivid on her own, and in doing so, catapulted her profession to the following level.
The SmackDown Women’s Champion match itself, situated within the semi-main event of WrestleMania 39, can best be described as a back-and-forth slugfest laced with near falls, timely counters, and an open invitation to beat the s*** out of one another. Flair prolonged the emotional invitation after Ripley kicked out of a spear, exclaiming that if Ripley wanted her spot within the WWE hierarchy, she’d should bring forth her best strikes. Ripley did as such, with Flair also firing off a series of elbow strikes and a giant boot that put the Australian in position to then be locked right into a Figure 4.
Showing her growth and ring awareness, Ripley pulled herself to the nearby bottom rope to interrupt Flair’s submission hold — something that proved pivotal in finally setting Ripley up for the match-winning pinfall. Though exhausted, Flair followed Ripley to the corner for what she hoped to potentially be an avalanche fallaway slam. Ripley, again displaying her ring awareness, as a substitute bounced Flair’s head off the ring post and shouted “It’s my time!” What followed was an avalanche Riptide that left the gang buzzing with joy, Rhea Ripley as the brand new champion, and Charlotte Flair’s face plastered with a proud smile. And I even have to say: same, Charlotte, same.
In that moment, Ripley solidified herself as a premier star in WWE. Meanwhile, Flair, a frequenter of aerial moves and submissions, showed fans a more physical side of herself, which truthfully got here as a breath of fresh air. The cherry on top? Flair reportedly pushed for the match to go way longer than planned, resulting in a very must-see, 24-minute performance.
Written by Ella Jay