Rhea Ripley has taken over the top of the WWE women’s division over the few years, from her NXT/NXT UK run as NXT Women’s Champion to her main roster work, she transitioned pretty seamlessly from “The Nightmare” to her “Mami” persona. In June 2022 while competing in a fatal four-way for a shot at Bianca Belair’s RAW Women’s Championship, Ripley kneed herself in the face, knocking her two front teeth loose. She appeared on WWE Raw the next week beside the Judgment Day with top braces that she only had one for a short time but she made the most of the situation. She soon after adopted the “Mami” moniker which stuck with the WWE Universe and has been a staple part of her character ever since.
“[Mami] was a Priest thing. I went out there, came back after kneeing myself in the face and busting my front two teeth, I had braces for a week, it was great,” Ripley said on NotSamWrestling. “I came back from that, and we came back on Rey’s anniversary. That’s where I decided to be a little menace, be myself, and I ordered an Eddie Guerrero shirt and I came out with ‘I’m Your Papi’ shirt, just to see what the hell was going to happen from that. That was a me call and just me doing something that I thought was right and I wanted to stir the pot a little bit. I started the whole Papi thing, I got told I couldn’t be Papi, so Priest was like, ‘Well, you’re Mami.’ I was like, ‘Damn straight I’m Mami. We’re going to roll with that.’ The Mami thing makes me feel comfortable. I just got out there and I’m a child version of myself. I go out there, have fun, do little menace things, make fun of people. Just going out there and having fun.”
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Ripley is the current WWE Women’s Champion, a title that she has held for nearly an entire calendar year after defeating Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39. Whether in title defenses or not, Ripley has defeated many strong members of the WWE women’s division. On her road to WrestleMania, it’s looking as though she will have to get through Nia Jax at the Elimination Chamber in her home country of Australia at the end of February. If Ripley can do so, it appears that she could come face-to-face with “The Man” Becky Lynch in their second singles match, something the champion has teased wanting for quite a while. Their first match, which took place in NXT, ended in a no contest.
H/T: Fightful
