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00:00Women's Champion, Rhea Ripley.
00:04Hey.
00:05How cool is it to achieve your dream of becoming a WWE superstar at the age of 25?
00:11It's completely epic and I'm 24.
00:15But, you know, we knew we got it, we knew we got it.
00:26I'm WWE superstar Samoa Joe.
00:29Nowadays, earning success and longevity as a WWE superstar is harder than ever.
00:35To truly become one of the greats takes years of hard work and
00:38the ability to turn heads of audiences all over the world.
00:41I'll be spending a few minutes with WWE superstars and
00:44legends across multiple generations to talk about the personal journey of grit and
00:48determination that make each one of them stand out in the world of sports entertainment today.
00:53Welcome to WWE Grit and Glory presented by Chevy Silverado.
01:01There is a lot to be said about hard work and determination.
01:05And if you count yourself among the fortunate few who are able to work hard
01:09enough to achieve their dream, well, congratulations.
01:12But imagine that you possess so much determination, so much grit,
01:17that you achieve those dreams and then some well before the age of 25.
01:22Well, that right there describes our next guest, Rhea Ripley.
01:25Much like the Silverado, Rhea Ripley is an absolute beast both in and out of the ring.
01:30In fact, if you ask me, they make a great pair because they're both about as tough as they come.
01:41Rhea Ripley, thank you for joining us.
01:43No problem, thank you.
01:43Appreciate it, appreciate it, give me a second.
01:45This interview station set up here.
01:48It is, it is, please, please, please, please.
01:52So I am often asked what the future of WWE looks like.
01:55And if I had to point to one person that the future of WWE looks like,
01:59I think it is the woman sitting right next to me.
02:01Thanks for being here.
02:02And I have to ask you one, one big question, how cool is it to achieve your dream of
02:06becoming a WWE superstar at the age of 25?
02:09It's completely epic and I'm 24.
02:13But, you know, we nearly got it, we nearly got it.
02:18But no, it's amazing to think that I came here 20 years old is just insane to me.
02:24Little girl from Adelaide, South Australia, it's just a crazy role.
02:28I don't even know how to put it into words, how I feel about it, it's just a dream come
02:32true pretty much.
02:33Now allow me to touch a little bit on where you came from, being in Australia.
02:37That's obviously a long, long way away from the United States and
02:40where WWE is headquartered.
02:42So my question to you is, what kind of mental toughness does it take to convince
02:46yourself that not only are you gonna make this journey during your career to become a WWE
02:51superstar, but a journey that will take you across the world?
02:53It was a hard thing to think about because I knew that there was the fact that if I did
02:58make it here, I would have to leave my family.
03:01And that's always a struggle, like I'm a huge family girl.
03:04And knowing that I haven't seen them in over two years now is really, really tough.
03:10I went through a lot of struggles, I didn't have much guidance from my family, you could
03:16say, because I couldn't really contact them.
03:18Because the time zones, like, they're asleep when I'm awake, I'm asleep when they're,
03:21like, it's just, it's super hard to talk to them, I need my mom's advice sometimes.
03:25So like, that really does drag on you mentally.
03:28Overcoming them, I guess I just went to the gym, you know, that was my safe place.
03:32That's where you found your outlet, you would say?
03:34Yeah, yeah.
03:35It feels like home, because like, I guess we have it in Australia too, and I always went
03:39to the gym, so it just felt normal to me.
03:40It's where all my stress got released, I could just listen to my heavy metal music and be at peace
03:44and lift heavy things, you know?
03:47There's nothing wrong with that, sounds like a dream afternoon.
03:49Definitely.
03:53Ripley about to deliver, an avalanche riptide!
03:58The new NXT Women's Champion, Rhea Ripley, believe it!
04:04Now it's no secret that your grit got you to WWE, but also propelled you to championship status.
04:09Give me an idea of the pressures of being a top superstar in NXT.
04:14I'm that sort of human where, when I want something, I'll knuckle down and I'll work as hard as I
04:21can until I get to where I want.
04:23And I always say that I don't have many goals in this business, just because I wanna see how far
04:29I can get.
04:30And I'm always determined, like, I remember when I was younger, I played soccer for nine years, right?
04:35And there was one year where I was actually team captain, and I didn't miss a training at all the
04:41whole year.
04:41And I played every single game, never got subbed.
04:44I ended up playing, like, sometimes two games on the weekend, sometimes three.
04:48I would play for, like, all the teams in every age, pretty much.
04:50You're kind of a club ringer, apparently.
04:52Legit!
04:52Yeah!
04:54That, like, dedication that I showed to training and getting better and succeeding, my coach noticed that.
04:59And at the end of the year awards, he actually made an award just for me called the Dedication Award.
05:03So I've always been, like, really dedicated to whatever I wanted to do.
05:07So when it came to wrestling and making it far at the Performance Center in NXT, and even just, like,
05:13WWE in general,
05:15it definitely took a lot of dedication.
05:18I just have to keep reminding myself, like, where I've come from and how far I've already gone.
05:22And I gotta keep going, I gotta keep pushing, because this is my dream at the end of the day.
05:26So that sort of just, like, kept reminding me.
05:28And, like, I always go back and look at photos and, like, remember things from my childhood and my past.
05:33And it just helps me keep going.
05:37So, a bit of delving into your past.
05:40When you think about people who have displayed the quality of true grit growing up,
05:44somebody that you looked up to, somebody who inspired you.
05:47I mean, give me an example of somebody who, in Rhea Ripley's mind, personifies having grit.
05:54I mean, my parents have always been a big one for me.
05:57They've gone through so many struggles that I've witnessed.
05:59And they just kept going and going and going and going.
06:03And they've supported me and my sister through everything, no matter what.
06:07So they're definitely one.
06:09If I had to say a wrestler, let's say.
06:12If you had to.
06:13If I had to, I would probably say Rey Mysterio.
06:17Legit, I loved Rey Mysterio growing up.
06:19I had a poster of him on the wall.
06:21I dressed up as him and won a dress-up competition.
06:25I made the pants and everything.
06:26I'm sure you were the spitting image also.
06:28Oh, yeah.
06:29Definitely.
06:31But he just, like, I remember sitting down and watching him when I was younger.
06:34And because of, like, his stature and his height, like, he had to overcome so much.
06:40And it really just, like, inspired me in a way.
06:44And he was one of the main reasons why I kept watching this.
06:47And why I'm sitting here talking to you today, you know?
06:51Like, he's incredible.
06:54He's done so much in the past.
06:56And he just keeps going.
06:57And he's still here today.
06:58And he's still hustling.
06:59He's still grinding it out.
07:00So awesome.
07:01I mean, it's a testament to, you know, he's a formidable guy.
07:04He's been able to stay in the mix for as long as he can because of that.
07:07Exactly.
07:08Yeah.
07:08I think he's incredible.
07:10Now let's flashback to last year.
07:12You're set to make your WrestleMania debut in front of 70,000 people.
07:16And unfortunately, as we all know, the world shuts down.
07:19Introducing the NXT Women's Champion, Rhea Ripley!
07:29Explain to me some of the frustrations that must have bubbled up when you first kind of became aware that
07:35maybe WrestleMania wasn't going to be quite the moment you thought it originally was going to be.
07:40Man, I had a lot of frustration.
07:42Like, I'm not going to lie.
07:44I was pretty upset.
07:46But it wasn't just the fact that there was going to be zero people in attendance.
07:50But it was the fact that my family couldn't be there to be a part of this moment with me.
07:57And that really sucked.
08:00It really hurt and it made me real sad and depressed.
08:04But at the same time, it's WrestleMania.
08:07And even though I say that I didn't have any goals in wrestling, WrestleMania is always something that I wanted
08:12to be a part of.
08:13And this was my WrestleMania moment.
08:14And even though there was no fans in attendance to celebrate, cheer, boo, whatever they wanted to do with me.
08:21And I didn't have my family there.
08:23I know that they were all at home watching and supporting me no matter what.
08:27And I just had to keep, like, imaging that in my mind.
08:32And that's what sort of got me through it.
08:34Like, it was still WrestleMania.
08:35It's still a huge moment.
08:36It's still the biggest thing that I've done in my career, you know?
08:40I mean, it's just a dream come true.
08:41It really, really is.
08:45Rhea, thank you for joining me today.
08:47You know, I appreciate you being here.
08:48I appreciate you sharing your story.
08:49And I can say with the utmost confidence, I've been in very similar positions to where you are right now.
08:55And you are handling it marvelously.
08:57Please keep doing what you're doing.
08:59Please keep being you.
09:00It keeps displaying the grit that makes you the WWE superstar you are.
09:04Now, with that being said, I'm Samoa Joe.
09:08My friends and I at Chevy would like you to join us next time on WWE Grit and Glory.
09:15Have a great day.
09:15I'm out for these live events.
09:16Absolutely.
09:16Now, we have a couple more forums here in those last few episodes.
09:16One site is David Grit.
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