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00:00I'm here in Orlando, Florida in my tricked-out golf cart to visit WWE's
00:09Performance Center, where athletes develop the skills they need both in and
00:14out of the ring to become a WWE superstar.
00:19Well, hello, Rhea.
00:25Aren't you looking different today?
00:29And on this day, I'm going to meet with one of WWE's most popular main eventers, who
00:36looks much different today than when she began her career over a decade ago.
00:41Oh, hello.
00:42Oh, hello.
00:43How you doing?
00:45Good, how are you?
00:47Good.
00:48You're looking quite different.
00:50I don't know who that is.
00:51Yeah.
00:52Right?
00:53From Adelaide, South Australia.
00:56It was cute, though.
01:04Yeah.
01:05Yeah.
01:06We still stand the same.
01:07Yeah.
01:08You still have the same face, too.
01:09Crazy.
01:10Different hair.
01:11I'm anxious to learn how this once shy girl embraced her differences to become her most
01:17authentic self and the remarkable WWE superstar we see today.
01:23It'll be exciting to take a tour of how Rhea Ripley became Rhea Ripley.
01:28Yes.
01:29Yes.
01:30And that to this.
01:31And that to this.
01:32That's right.
01:33I'm Stephanie McMahon, and I love WWE.
01:37Stephanie McMahon!
01:39I'm on a quest to hear the stories behind the biggest superstars and legends in WWE history.
01:47Here we go.
01:48So come join me on the trip of a lifetime.
02:00Since 2013, Orlando has been home to WWE's Performance Center, a state-of-the-art training
02:07facility that includes multiple rings, a world-class weight room, and a fully functioning broadcast
02:14facility.
02:15Many of WWE's most popular superstars came from here, including five-time world champion
02:23Seth Rollins.
02:24Rollins wins the title!
02:26Rollins wins the title!
02:27Multiple-time women's world champion Charlotte Flair.
02:31Oh my God!
02:33And Roman Reigns, who held the WWE championship for a staggering 1,316 days.
02:42Spear!
02:43My rate!
02:46But perhaps the most successful transformation of a superstar is none other than multiple-time
02:52champion Rhea Ripley.
02:55This is my brutality!
03:00Rhea Ripley is a genuine badass!
03:04I am the best bloody woman here in the WWE.
03:08A smart, beautiful, hard-hitting brutalizer, Rhea has skyrocketed to the top of the business
03:15in record time, winning several championships and gaining the admiration of fans around the
03:22world.
03:23A full-on ass-kicking machine!
03:26But before I sit down with Rhea, I wanted to chat with the man in charge here at the
03:31PC, someone who's witnessed her growth firsthand.
03:35I think I'm cute!
03:36I know I'm sexy!
03:37I've got the looks!
03:38I think I'm cute!
03:39I know I'm sexy!
03:40I've got the looks!
03:41I know I'm sexy!
03:42I know I'm sexy!
03:44I've got the looks!
03:45I know I know I'm sexy!
03:48I know I know I have.
03:50groomsmen at my wedding the heartbreak kid sean michaels he's also the senior vice president of
03:59talent development at wwe and the mastermind behind wwe's third brand nxt the words that are
04:08around the gym the values that are embodied here at the pc how important are those values to
04:16developing a future superstar this is you know sounds like i'm blowing smoke but like you know
04:22you're his wife and you know i'm his best friend but it did it started with hunter and it started
04:27with what he built here from the very beginning all of us together here have built something very
04:33special take an opportunity to realize how big this is it all comes from an affectionate heart
04:40for this business it's something that again hunter instilled in this place and we want people that
04:46are like-minded to be a part of this place passion makes normal people do extraordinary things when
04:53i first walked in the pc today which has been a hot minute since i've been here i was greeted with a
04:59standee of an old rhea ripley and you say an old rhea ripley that was a very young i mean she was 20
05:06i think when she came in here you could see it then that she was special from a developmental
05:12standpoint it makes us in this performance center look like a million bucks because she yeah i mean
05:18i'm talking about women i'm talking about all over the biggest superstars that you know we have here
05:23in the wwe and that's it's incredibly impressive sean's perspective and the importance of passion
05:30had me excited to learn more about rhea wow so this is where the magic happens yep yep work out every single day
05:43but you love to train though i do i do but i would train here and then i would go to my gym and train
05:49oh really yeah it was a very chaotic time in my life because i just wanted to like stay busy
05:56you grew up in adelaide yeah australia yeah adelaide south australia how were you first exposed to
06:02wrestling itself like how did you go that's that is what i want to do more than anything oh this is
06:08this is good because she's giving us a good look here so um we had these really close family friends
06:16and um the kids started watching wrestling wwe and they recorded the episode and they gave it to me
06:25and it was well your husband yeah triple h uh he shoved the screwdriver in rick flair's head
06:33oh my god i remember watching it as a kid and i was like yo that's cool
06:37i was like i like that ria and i sat down in a ring in the heart of the performance center
06:46so i could hear more i want to show you a couple of clips one is of stone cold steve austin i had the
06:54opportunity to interview him and unsolicited he started telling me this story about you all right
07:01let's let's hear from steve it's interesting to see the way the different talent connect with the
07:08people and form that relationship which will be built upon in time and i'll even speak out of turn
07:14here and just i don't mean to put the pressure on her but ria ripley i met her in florida i was so
07:20impressed with that young girl she was beautiful and she was she has a solid frame and she's progressed
07:27because everybody knew she was a blue chipper because she has all looks size charisma she thrives
07:33in the biggest of moments and i don't even think she's peaked yet so i i'm really excited for her
07:39future because her present because people really are enamored with her in all past positive aspects
07:48because of what she brings and she brings everything she checks every box that you could want checked
07:54i mean that's about the highest praises i've ever heard from steve and i've heard him say a lot of
08:03things about a lot of people and that it came out of nowhere and talking about the biggest stars in
08:10the business the first person that came to his mind was you that's insane it's really cool it should be
08:18really cool i i don't want to like mark out completely but like but it's really cool like
08:23you don't understand and even just hearing him talk about like my frame and how it's like perfect like
08:28that's right something that younger me would have loved to have heard so stone cold wasn't the only
08:35superstar who had a couple comments to say about you and in terms of whether or not you're actually at
08:40the top i think you should hear from cody rhodes well the industry now it's it's there's not a women's
08:49division a men's division they're stars yeah they're stars i get i can tell you who's on the you
08:56probably know this as well when i look at my little merch readout who was top five tonight in columbus
09:04rhea ripley rhea ripley topping the charts there's been nights when uh i wasn't on top you know like
09:11and to me it's just wow like she's a star she is stars you know
09:18so a key indicator often in terms of how over you are is how well your merch is selling and
09:25you're topping the charts beating cody he gets so mad sometimes i'll get a message every now and then
09:31he'll be like you got me this week i love it so what was the process um from you starting off so
09:41it started off with you watching um a tape you've identified with it immediately yeah with with triple
09:48h and the screwdriver to rick's head so after watching that clip i watched wwe for like i want
09:54to say like two years and then we went on a family trip to queensland there was a wrestling poster there
10:01and we were like we didn't know that there was wrestling in australia so um we went to the show
10:06as a kid like it was just so captivating i loved every second of it like i would do school projects
10:13on wwe really yeah i did it on how like the women get treated differently to the men i had this whole
10:20elaborate thing and my teacher legit was just she started laughing and she's like that was your
10:25assignment like i i put so much passion into it and like they just i don't know they doubted me
10:30and made fun of me and laughed and was like you know you're gonna fail right having some family
10:35members being like we know you want to do wrestling but you're never gonna make it you're never gonna be
10:40a name you're never gonna be in america friends laugh at me i don't know picking on me and making fun
10:46on me doubting that i would ever accomplish anything the ridicule started when she was just a girl
10:54because ria always stood out from her peers physically i had always been picked on for my build
11:02i've got a very always had an athletic build always had an athletic build i remember in grade seven
11:09it was heading into graduation so we're all trying to find like nice dresses and all that
11:15the guy that i really liked he was like you wouldn't look good in a dress your shoulders are too
11:19good it legit it stayed with me my entire life sometimes i would let that win and i'd sit there
11:26in a bowl on my bed crying and i don't
11:31like that part of myself i really don't and it was it was hard for a few years it really was
11:37how did you pull yourself out of it just knowing that my mom and dad loved me pretty much
11:44like i think that i was always in my head about people not caring about me that i would forget
11:53the people that did care about me having my family around me is a massive anchor for me
12:00even though at that time i hate that people are treating me that way i'm also so fired up by it
12:08i do really well when i'm angry and it's something that has led me to this place ria found the perfect
12:15outlet where her size and strength would be an advantage riot city wrestling a local australian
12:22wrestling promotion ria was a huge fan and wanted more than anything to be a wrestler in the ring herself
12:29ladies and gentlemen are you ready to live it it was so incredible i'd go every single month i
12:38wouldn't i wouldn't miss a show like i i loved it so much and then at 16 i tried out for them and it's
12:46funny because like when i tried out they all knew me as the crazy wrestling fan right at the very end of
12:53the triad coach matt basso he was like look a lot of you have said that you want to make it to wwe and
12:58i don't want to break your heart and ruin your dream but like they don't really come here looking
13:04for australian talents it definitely broke a lot of people's dreams sure but at the time like but it
13:09fuels others exactly and like i it's another like there's a doubter right i want to like accomplish it
13:17so how did you get seen i had my first match six months in so i was still 16. and then when i was
13:2617 wwe did come to australia they also held tryouts i think they might have asked some people that they
13:34knew in australia who in australia they should look at and my name somehow got thrown in there by one of
13:40them so i got a tryout at 17 and then they were like oh we didn't realize that you were 17 years old
13:46um we might have to come back and give you a tryout when you're 21. i was like i'm gonna try and better
13:52myself in every aspect so i went to japan when i was 17 years old for three months wow
14:00yeah how did you have the courage to do that i don't know i don't know it was another thing where
14:06like i was extremely homesick while i was there i was just like nervous but i went to japan for three
14:11months lived in the dojo at diana dojo cleaned it every morning trained every single day but so
14:17then you would wrestle at night or yeah so i was on shows in japan as well so like apart from the
14:24training we would wrestle on the weekends normally but i feel like just like getting thrown in the
14:30deep end as well is also another thing that prepared me for wwe then i went back to australia and then when i
14:38was 20 wwe actually came back to australia and they they hit me up and they were like we want
14:44to give you a try out we know that we said 21 but we're coming back now so we would love for you to be
14:49a part of it and they messaged you yeah not you trying to hunt anybody down nope they reached out
14:57they reached out to me and i remember calling my mom and she was so excited she's like everything that
15:02you've worked so hard for is finally like coming together and again she's like all this time that
15:08i spent waiting for you in the car park it's finally coming to something like yes mom thank you
15:15the moment ria stepped foot in wwe everybody knew she had a bright future in the business personality
15:23um i'm a bit of a tough one like i like to do the strong sort of style like hitting hard let's actually
15:31throw to a piece of footage from the beginning of your career now just to set this up it was promo
15:38class i'm sure you never thought this video would ever see the light of day i'd love to throw to the
15:44clip joy let's do it in three two there is one thing that ria ripley hates the most and that thing
15:55is doubt ever since i was a little child i would tell everybody that i wanted to become a professional
16:03wrestler every time i told them all i could see was doubt in their eyes doubt in their voice and doubt
16:14in their actions well guess what everybody i'm here i've made it i'm here at the performance center
16:23doubt that
16:29my face at the end says it all but your face at the end does say it all like i have to say
16:34you have this like long blonde hair and these blue eyes but i wouldn't mess with her
16:39that ria looked confident but as she competed in wwe's inaugural may young classic a tournament
16:47showcasing up-and-coming female pro wrestlers ria was overcome with uncertainty the first may
16:55young classic i cried before my match i was terrified i just felt like i wasn't doing things
17:02to the best of my abilities and it made people start to doubt me again continuously getting the
17:10criticism and and little comments here and there i felt like i started doubting myself i wanted to
17:18move back to australia i wanted to throw my dream away it broke me to a point where like i sat down with
17:25myself one day and i was like you need to be better you need to be yourself and you need to prove people
17:31wrong and you need to prove yourself wrong at the end of the day as well and it's going to start
17:38with what is the most uncomfortable thing that you find about yourself and for me it was the way that i
17:43looked i felt like i was hiding behind my hair to like shield myself when i did get embarrassed and
17:50i the long blonde hair the long blonde hair like i would always like have it in front of my face and
17:55then if i got embarrassed or anything i would hide behind it it was like a little cloak i had to
18:02remember who i was and become myself the real me growing up i've always loved my music and my bands
18:11that i listened to it was like papa roach of mice and men motionless and white who is now my all-time
18:18favorite band and they all have a specific style and they're all like heavily tattooed but they're
18:23like the sweetest people at the same time so they look really scary but they're very very sweet and
18:29i i don't know it's something about watching them growing up i've always like wanted to mold myself
18:35around that because that's my sort of style as well by the time the second mae young classic rolled
18:41around in 2018 ria ripley had fully transformed both inside and out and then here's you yeah here i am
18:54i cut my hair i changed my gear i had a new attitude i don't care what people think about me anymore i'm
19:02gonna go out there and i'm gonna do what feels right for me like i felt like i was finally becoming
19:07the person that i was supposed to become it was the start of the journey of where we are today
19:13and becoming of becoming this becoming ria ripley ria bloody rippley ria bloody rippley
19:30that knows no bounds over the next few years ria kept evolving and proving her doubters wrong
19:37ria ripley on top of the world from forming the hugely popular judgment day faction to winning the
19:44smackdown women's championship at wrestlemania 39 a star making moment ria vaulted herself to
19:54unimaginable heights ria's been unstoppable there is no denying she's a superstar
20:01there's no denying who you are and you can feel it it's this charisma it's the it factor that nobody
20:10can ever explain but everybody can feel yeah right and you just have it in spades it's funny i don't
20:16see myself as the superstar that everyone else says i am i just see myself as that little girl from
20:24at late south australia still and i'm just trying to do my best let's take a look at how this journey
20:33that you just talked about your whole life's journey has led you to this incredible moment
20:40at wrestlemania 39 when you have fully embraced ria ripley and all of us had the privilege of being led in
20:55i love your music it's so good and it snaps me into it for sure yeah so i'm normally a brick beforehand
21:03i have motionless in white who sings my song and i i absolutely love it a band that i listened to
21:11since i was a child
21:15i love your music my famous last words little did i know ria had a bit of a surprise for me
21:25so i got something for you um and i would love to see you wear it oh no and hopefully
21:34if you want to if you could do my entrance with me that would be awesome god ria wow no way no way
21:46this show is worth doing just for this look at this oh my god i got it in the ria ripley colors
21:53and everything that is so cool look at that even has my name on it and ria bloody ripley oh my god
22:01this is so cool it's got your initials and the the letters oh my god it's so cool this is really
22:10really cool thank you so much oh my goodness thank you so much i would i would love to wear this and
22:17attempt to do your entrance yeah no i will give it i will give it a shot that is for sure
22:25not many people get the opportunity to accompany ria ripley on stage
22:29how could i say no and if i'm doing it i'm going all in
22:38look at that i love it
22:42for more than two decades i've been a part of many entrances but nothing could be cooler than
22:50actually becoming ria ripley
23:05i eat sleep
23:11the demons in your dreams
23:13i eat sleep
23:15bleed
23:16I could feel Rhea's energy
23:45even with no fans in the stands.
23:48She has tremendous stature, poise, intelligence,
23:52strength, and vulnerability.
23:56Like Stone Cold said, Rhea Ripley is the total package.
24:01I got to do Rhea's entrance as Rhea.
24:05It's pretty cool. Pretty cool.
24:07I'm honored.
24:09I'm the one who's honored. Look at me.
24:12I love it. I love it.
24:14It does, right?
24:16I have to say.
24:18The overwhelming theme I learned today is passion.
24:22As Shawn Michaels said,
24:24being passionate can take something and make it extraordinary.
24:28Look no further than Rhea Ripley.
24:31This is awesome.
24:32Yeah, I enjoyed it.
24:34So fun.
24:36If the WWE Performance Center keeps creating stars in her mold,
24:42the future of WWE is in excellent hands.
24:46I was horrible.
24:52I went the wrong way. I slammed. I turned this way.
24:56It's all...
24:57I cleaned it.
24:58It's the coolest entrance I've ever been part of.
25:00I'll take it.
25:02So God, you're waiting.
25:04So God, you're waiting.
25:05This radio, what?
25:06What?
25:07What?
25:08What?
25:09What?
25:10What?
25:11What?
25:12What?
25:13This radio, what?
25:14What?
25:18Okay.
25:19That's the radio, what?
25:20What?
25:22What?
25:23What?
25:24Omaha!