In my mind, there’s very little doubt that Rhea Ripley is the biggest women’s star in WWE today. But pro wrestling is a very strange business where the consensus about how talented or popular someone is might not matter if the booker doesn’t agree.
Would Ripley be the biggest women’s star in WWE today if Vince McMahon was still running the show? AEW star Adam Copeland (fka WWE Hall of Famer Edge) may have answered that question in an interview this week with SHAK Wrestling, where he gave his first-hand
account of how he knew Vince didn’t understand Rhea’s greatness. This happened when Edge was choosing members for the brand new The Judgment Day faction circa 2022.
“Vince said I want you to start a group, and I want it to be like The Brood. And I went, okay. So I’m thinking three people, and he said who would that be? And I said Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley. No hesitation. Those are the two people that could make this a pretty cool group, I think.
He was kind of surprised by that. And that made me realize he didn’t understand what he had in those two. And I thought that was a shame.
So, I truly thought, this can be a vehicle. So hopefully, they just start getting more reps, and some more experience, and I think that’s essentially what it did. And then I got to feud [with] them for a year. So I got to be their babyface along with Rey [Mysterio], and when you got two babyfaces like us, chances are your heel group is gonna do okay. It’s still going, I think. So, you know, it worked.
But I’m proud of them. I’m super proud of them. I’m proud of Rhea. I’m proud of where she’s taken it and gone with it, and it’s exactly where I thought it could go.”
I guess you can add this story to the list of well over 1,004 reasons why it’s a great thing that Vince McMahon is now gone from WWE and pro wrestling.
Do you think Rhea Ripley would be in the same spot today if out-of-touch 80-year-old Vince McMahon was still head of WWE creative? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
