WWE Women’s World Champion has argued that the women’s division suffered to a degree when she was wrestling male stars.
With Ripley defeating the likes of Akira Tozawa and body-slamming Luke Gallows on behalf of the Judgment Day in late 2022, fans quickly compared Ripley’s intergender wrestling experiences to those of WWE Hall of Famer Chyna.
Speaking with The West Australian, Ripley noted that while she doesn’t think the comparisons to Chyna were bad, she believes that the women’s division suffered a bit when she was having these segments with male stars.
Ripley explained:
“I don’t think getting compared to Chyna is a bad thing at all. I think it’s amazing. I’m actually very proud of that fact. The only problem that I’m having at the moment is that, I’ve done all these amazing things with men that have been so good to me, and let me do these things.
“While I was doing that, the women’s division was suffering a little bit, and not getting built the right way. It was at a weird time where things weren’t certain and things were changing constantly, so the women’s division suffered a little bit, and now we’re trying to build it back up.
“Obviously we have like our Becky Lynch’s, we have Nia Jax, we have our Charlotte Flair’s, our Asuka’s, all of that, but it’s time to make some new stars as well, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make new names and get the women’s division rocking and rolling.
“So there’s lots of great challenges, but for me, I love doing everything. I love beating the men up. I love beating the women up. It makes me different, it makes me stand out, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Ripley has been champion for most of 2023, winning the SmackDown Women’s Title from Charlotte Flair in April 2023, which was ultimately replaced by the WWE Women’s World Championship in June.
She most recently defended her gold against Zoey Stark at Survivor Series WarGames in November.
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