Zoey Stark’s accomplishments since joining Monday Night Raw several months ago are insanely impressive, and the WWE superstar shows no signs of slowing down. After taking down some of Raw’s best, Stark will have a shot at the WWE World Championship at Survivor Series WarGames, but to make that happen she will have to go through Rhea Ripley. That’s no easy feat, but Stark is up for the challenge and is looking forward to bringing Mami down a few pegs. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Stark about her upcoming battle against Ripley as well as how her heel turn in NXT set the stage for the stellar run she’s had so far on Raw.
Speaking of Monday Night Raw, Stark and Ripley traded some shots on the mic last week, but Ripley also paid Stark several compliments. That included Ripley saying that Stark reminded the Champion of herself, and while Stark is willing to take the praise, it doesn’t change anything once that bell rings.
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“Yeah, for sure. Rhea Ripley, she’s been dominating. She’s one of the top girls that we have on WWE, so to hear that is amazing and she’s right. I made a name for myself very quickly to where I am now, becoming one of the top girls, but none of that’s lost on me,” Stark said. “She’s still holding a Title that I want. She could compliment me all day long, but I want that title.”
While Ripley is the Champ, Stark feels Ripley is letting her eyes drift from the prize. “She needs to come down a few pegs, so I’m happy to be the one to put her in her place,” Stark said. “She really thinks she runs the Raw Women’s Division. Yeah, she might hold that Title, but she doesn’t run it. She’s too worried about the boys instead of that Title.”
Stark is looking to take one more step in an already impressive ascent on the main roster. Stark was drafted from NXT by Monday Night Raw in the WWE Draft, and since then she’s quickly made an impact. Stark teamed up with WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus in a big program against Becky Lynch and then turned on Stratus at the end of that feud. Now she’s in the Title mix, and when I asked what surprised her about her path on the main roster, Stark says it kind of all did.
“I mean, really all of it. They’ve been giving me a lot of opportunities here and I feel like I’ve been knocking them out of the park with every single one that they’ve given me,” Stark said. “Getting to work alongside Trish and Becky, main eventing Raw with Becky, doing Money in the Bank, getting to do a Royal Rumble. I mean, there’s so many things within the first six months, even really through the year, to where it is just crazy that they keep giving me opportunity after opportunity, so I’m doing something right,” Stark said.
For those who watched Stark in NXT, it seemed like something really clicked when she turned heel after returning from injury, and Stark agrees. “No, I definitely do feel that way and I feel like part of it’s because when you’re a babyface, it’s like sitting there, the white meat babyface sitting there smiling, high-fiving the fans and everything,” Stark said. “You can’t say anything that you really want to say and you’ve got to be the nice girl. When you turn heel, you’re more free to do whatever you want, to where I could be really more myself of like, I’m not going to play this game. I’m not going to be part of this bulls***. I’m going to do whatever I want to do. So I definitely think it was a big switch with me being a heel.”
While Stark reveals she did mention being a heel at one point, the whole turn happened organically, and would ultimately benefit both her and Nikkita Lyons.
“It happened organically. I did mention about me being a heel when I was on my way back from my injury. It’s like it might be fun to be able to do a little bit of this, but we were so far away from it where it didn’t really matter,” Stark said. “Just started to put ideas together and sending them off to creative. Obviously, they had me come back as a face, but when we started working with Nikkita a little bit, that’s when it started to show that I was going to turn more of the heel route, so I was super excited for that.”
A feud would then take place between Stark and Lyons, and when I said it felt like the move benefited both stars, Stark said, “Yeah, I feel like it helped us both grow as far as characters.” Stark will have the chance to add some Title gold around her waist at Survivor Series, and you can find the full card below.
Survivor Series WarGames:
- Women’s World Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (C) vs Zoey Stark
- Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther (C) vs The Miz
- Men’s WarGames Match: Judgement Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh) and Drew McIntyre vs Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jet Uso, Sami Zayn, and Randy Orton.
- Women’s WarGames Match: Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Bayley, Kairi Sane, and Asuka) vs Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, and Becky Lynch
- Carlito vs Santos Escobar
WWE Survivor Series WarGames kicks off at 8 PM EST and will stream live on Peacock.
Are you excited for Survivor Series WarGames? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
