"I Didn't Feel Like I Belonged" Rhea Ripley Comments On Evolution of Her Character

Rhea Ripley has had one of the best evolutions in WWE. The SmackDown Women's Champion went from being a quiet and shy girl with the WWE dream to ruling the women's division as The Mami.

The former NXT UK star was the most recent guest on Corey Graves' After The Bell podcast. Ripley talked about the evolution of her character. The WWE star mentioned how she was really scared when she first started in the company:

"So I was really scared and shy and timid when I first started here in the WWE. I remember growing up watching WWE, there was never really women that were heavily tattooed except Lita." recalled Rhea Ripley, "She was the only one really. But when I was growing up, there was pretty much no one when I was watching it. So I thought I couldn't get hired unless I didn't have tattoos pretty much. So that's why I didn't have the tattoos. I didn't look the way that [I wanted]."

The Judgement Day star mentioned how in the start she was trying to keep everyone happy and not cause trouble. This took a toll on her, however. Rhea Ripley explained how she went through a really bad phase between the first Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017 and the second one in 2018. This is when she decided to stop pretending and be herself completely:

"I just wanted to get hired so bad I was like, holding off on everything and just hoping for the best. I always did what I was told. I just wanted to make people happy. I wanted to do my job the right way and just not push anyone's buttons pretty much. That's the Rhea Ripley you saw in the first Mae Young.

I was just a young 20-year-old trying to make it in life pretty much. Between like the first Mae Young and the second Mae Young. I went through a lot of crap. At work and at home. My relationship was really rocky, I missed home. I was incredibly homesick.

I didn't feel like I belonged. I didn't like that and I was starting to hate myself for it. I just felt uncomfortable in my own skin to the point that I just had to throw everything that I thought was right, away. I was like, 'You know what? I'm sick of this.' I'm just gonna be myself. if it doesn't work, at least, I went out being myself. I don't care anymore. Like I don't care what people's opinions are of me. I'm just going to do my own thing."

You can check out Rhea Ripley's full interview below: