Demi Bennett (October 11, 1996) is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the Raw brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley. She is the first WWE United Kingdom Women's Champion. Bennett began her career between 2013 and 2017 wrestling in Australian promotions such as Professional Wrestling Alliance and Riot City Wrestling. While in Riot City Wrestling, she became a two-time RCW Women's Champion. Between 2015 and 2016, she also wrestled in Japan in promotions including Pro Wrestling ZERO1, REINA and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana.
Professional wrestling career
Australian Promotions (2013-2017)
Riot City Wrestling (2013-2017)
Bennett made her debut in June 2013 in Riot City Wrestling at RCW Mean Street Mayhem 6. The following year on May 10 at RCW City Chicks Unleashed, Bennett won her first championship when defeated Savannah Summers to win the RCW Women's Championship. She held the title until November 15 at RCW City Chicks Unleashed 3, where she was defeated by Harley Wonderland in a title match. On December 6 at RCW Battle For Supremacy, Bennett had a rematch for the title, but did not win the title due to Wonderland being counted out of the ring. Bennett returned the following year in 2015 on October 10 at RCW Key To The City in a three-way match to determine the Number One Contender for the RCW Women's Championship. She won by defeating Blair Alexis and Harley Wonderland. At the 2015 RCW Powertrip, she faced the RCW Women's Champion Savannah Summers in a title match that ended in No Contest. Bennett returned on January 30, 2016 at RCW Reanimated where she met Savannah Summers in a rematch for the RCW Women's Title, but did not succeed in winning the championship. On October 22 at RCW Key To The City, Bennett met Summers again, at that time in a three-way match in challenging the defending RCW Women's Champion Quinn Beauregard, resulting in Bennett winning the title and becoming a two-time Women's Champion.
On January 28, 2017 at RCW Reanimated, Bennett successfully defended her Women's Championship against Casey Johns. On April 22, Bennett wrestled her last RCW match at RCW Strength where she successfully defended the Women's title against Kellyanne.
Pro Wrestling Alliance (2013)
Two months later, she debuted in Professional Wrestling Alliance at PWWA Champions United where she teamed with Izzy in defeating Blair Alexis & Savannah Summers in a tag match.
Newcastle Pro Wrestling (2014-2015)
Bennett made her Newcastle Pro Wrestling debut in 2014, during the July 12 edition of New Pro where she teamed with Rachel Rose in defeating Harley Wonderland & Madison Eagles in tag match.
New Horizon Pro Wrestling (2014-2015)
Bennett's New Horizon Pro Wrestling debut was made on May 24, 2014, during the opening night of the NHPW Global Conflict where she joined the Global Conflict Tournament. She was eliminated during the first round of the tournament by Mercedes Martinez. She returned for the second night of the NHPW Global Conflict event, competing in a four-way mixed tag team match paired with Garry Schmidt. Six months later, Bennett returned and was part of the opening night of the NHPW Final Chapter event, wrestling a four-way Match against Madison Eagles, Evie and Saraya Knight with the vacant IndyGurlz Australia Championship at stake. However, Bennett did not win the title.
Melbourne City Wrestling (2014, 2016)
Bennett made her Melbourne City Wrestling debut in on June 14, 2014 at MCW New Horizons where she defended the RCW Women's title in a three-way match against Savannah Summers and Toni Storm. On 9 August at MCW Clash Of The Titans, Bennett defeated Miami to retain her Women's Championship. Bennett continued her winning streak with a third consecutive victory, defeating Savannah Summers at MCW Fight For A Cause. On April 30, 2016, Bennett returned to MCW at MCW Ballroom Brawl in a match won by Kellyanne. On June 11 at MCW Hostile Takeover, Bennett teamed with Erika Reid to defeat Charli Evans & Shazza McKenzie in a tag match.
Outback Championship Wrestling (2015)
Bennett debuted on the January 30, 2015 edition of OCW where she defeated Kellyanne in a singles match. On March 20 at OCW Supershow, Bennett lost to Kellyanne in a rematch. On July 25 at OCW Extinction, Bennett lost to Vixsin in a singles match.
Wrestle Rampage (2015-2016)
On February 7 2015, Bennett debut at WR Meltdown where defeated Savannah Summers. She returned in 2016 on May 6 at WR Revolution, where she defeated Amity Row.
Japanese Tour (2015-2016)
Pro Wrestling ZERO1 (2015)
Bennett debuted on April 18, 2015 at Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling, where she teamed with Sendai Sachiko to defeat DASH Chisako & Meiko Tanaka.
REINA (2015)
On April 26, 2015, Bennett debuted at REINA Mexico Fiesta where she teamed Meiko Tanaka in a tag match won by Alex Lee & Makoto. On May 5, she returned to REINA during the 2015 REINA Golden Week Wrestling Festival where she wrestled a three-way match against Carmen Rose and Alex Lee. During the June 23 edition of REINA, Bennett defeated Konami.
World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana (2016)
On April 5, 2015 at Diana 4th Anniversary Show In Korakuen, Bennett debuted in a match against Kyoko Kimura. During the April 12 edition of Diana, Bennett teamed with Kaoru Ito to defeat Kyoko Inoue & Meiko Tanaka. Bennett teamed with Kaoru Ito again on 10 May in a tag match against Kyoko Inoue & La Comandante. Between singles matches, Bennett teamed with Kaoru Ito to defeat Carmen Rose & Kyoko Inoue. On the June 14 edition of Diana, Bennett teamed with Jaguar Yokota & Kaoru Ito in a tag match won by Kyoko Inoue, La Comandante & Yumiko Hotta.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Mae Young Classic (2017)
Bennett made her debut on July 13, 2017 to join the first annual WWE Mae Young Classic tournament. Under the ring name Rhea Ripley, she eliminated Miranda Salinas in the first round. She advanced to the second rounds of the tournament held on July 14 where she was eliminated by Dakota Kai.
NXT (2017-2021)
Signed to the WWE, Rhea Ripley joined the NXT roster making her debut on August 25 at a house show, teaming with Ruby Riot & Zeda in a three-on-three tag team match against Mandy Rose, Taynara Conti & Vanessa Borne. Ripley wrestled her first NXT singles match during the September 23 house show, where she lost to Bianca Belair. On 4 October, Ripley joined a Battle Royal Qualifier match held for the NXT Women's Championship. By the end of the battle royal Nikki Cross emerged the winner. Her second singles match was won by Ruby Riot during the October 21 house show. During the October 27 house show, Ripley participated in an NXT Halloween Costume Battle Royal won by Shayna Baszler. At the November 10 house show, Ripley wrestled her third singles match won by Dakota Kai. During December, Ripley wrestled in tag matches, including a match teaming with Abbey Laith in a losing effort to the Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) during the 9 December house show. She finished her debut year with a tag team victory, teaming Dakota Kai to defeat Reina Gonzalez & Sage Beckett.
Ripley returned to NXT in 2018 at the February 3 house show where she won her first victory, defeating Aliyah. She spent the remainder of February in singles matches against Shayna Baszler, Jessie Elaban and Kairi Sane. During the March 24 house show, Ripley teamed with Dakota Kai and Jessie Elaban to defeat Aliyah, Taynara Conti & Vanessa Borne in a six-woman tag match. She returned during the April 21 house show, in a match won by Reina Gonzalez.
At the August 26 NXT UK tapings in Birmingham, Ripley participated in an eight-woman tournament to determine the inaugural WWE NXT UK Women's Championship, in which she won by defeating Toni Storm at the final round becoming the inaugural champion. Returning to the United States, Ripley's first title defense was held at the August 31 house show in Fort Pierce, Florida where she defeated Kacy Catanzaro to retain the UK Women's title. Returning the following month during the September 21 house show, Ripley retained the UK Women's title, defeating Nikki Cross. She finished the month with a successful title defense during the September 28 house show, defeating rookie Jessie Elaban. The following month, Ripley returned for the October 13 NXT UK tapings in Plymouth, England, defeating local UK wrestler Candy Floss. During the following night's NXT UK tapings, Ripley successfully defended the UK Women's title, defeating Isla Dawn. During the October 20 house show in Venice, Florida, Ripley retained the UK Women's title defeating Deonna Purrazzo. She finished the month with a title defense held in a dark match held on October 28, at the first annual Evolution pay-per-view event, defeating Dakota Kai. The following month, Ripley began with a title match during the November 2 house show, defeating Nikki Cross to retain the UK Women's Championship. The following week during the November 9 house show, Ripley retained the Women's title, defeating Candice LeRae. She won a title defense during the November 29 house show, during which she defeated Reina Gonzalez to retain the UK Women's Championship. During the December 26 episode of NXT UK), Ripley successfully retained the UK Women's title, defeating Deonna Purrazzo.
During January 2019, Ripley's title reign was ended at TakeOver: Blackpool, where she lost the UK Women's title, to New Zealand rival Toni Storm. She would later meet Storm on January 26 during the second night of the 2019 Royal Rumble Axxess Weekend event, where she failed to win in her title rematch against Storm. The following night, Ripley competed in the second annual women's Royal Rumble match at the 2019 Royal Rumble. During the match Ripley eliminated Kacy Catanzaro, Dana Brooke and Zelina Vega, before she was later eliminated by Bayley.
Ripley made a surprise appearance on 3 February 2020 episode of Raw, confronting Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair and suggesting that Flair should use her Royal Rumble title opportunity to challenge Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. Flair appeared in the following episode of NXT to give her answer, but was interrupted by both Bianca Belair, Ripley's future title contender at NXT TakeOver: Portland, and Ripley herself, with the two eventually teaming up and attacking Flair. At the aforementioned event, Ripley successfully defended the championship against Belair, and was attacked by Flair, who accepted Ripley's challenge. Ripley then lost the title to Flair at the second night WrestleMania 36. The next day after WrestleMania, WWE announced that Ripley took hiatus from WWE and returned to Australia due to her visa issues. After a one-month hiatus, Ripley returned on 6 May episode of NXT after Flair got herself disqualified in an NXT Women's Championship match against Io Shirai by attacking Flair. A backstage interview with Ripley and Shirai was shown afterward where they began arguing and eventually brawling to be separated by officials. On 7 June at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Ripley and Flair both lost to Io Shirai in a triple threat match for the NXT Women's Championship. On 1 July episode of NXT The Great American Bash, Ripley defeated Aliyah and Robert Stone in a 1-on-2 handicap match by submission. On 18 November episode of NXT, Ripley challenged Shirai for the NXT Women's Championship, but was unsuccessful. On 2 December episode of NXT, Ripley was announced as a member of Shotzi Blackheart's team for the second ever women's WarGames match.
On the first edition of NXT for 2021, New Year's Evil, Ripley competed against Raquel Gonzalez in a Last Woman Standing match in a losing effort. At the Royal Rumble, Ripley competed in her second Women's Royal Rumble match entering at #14 where she ended up with 7 eliminations and one of the final two in the match before she was eliminated by eventual winner Bianca Belair.
Raw (2021-present)
On the episode of Raw on 22 February 2021, a video package aired hyping up Ripley's arrival to the brand.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Solefood
- Full Nelson Slam
- Riptide (Pumphandle Powerbomb) or a (Pumphandle Slam)
- Prism Trap (Standing Inverted Texas Cloverleaf)
- Signature moves
- Missile Dropkick
- Bennett Bomb
- Big Boot
- Hesitation Dropkick
- Missile Dropkick
- Delayed Vertical Suplex
- Northern Lights Suplex
- Pop Up Toss
- Headbutt
- Shinbreaker
- Tag teams and stables
- Entrance Themes
- "Second & Sebring" by Of Mice & Men
- "Brutality" by CFO$ featuring Ash Costello (NXT)
- The Other Side" by Alter Bridge
- Nickname
- Nightmare
Championships and accomplishments
- CBS Sports
- Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year (2019)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked her #63 in the 2018 PWI Top 100 Females
- PWI ranked her #35 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
External links
| WWE Mae Young Classic 2017 contestants |
|---|
|
Abbey Laith • Ayesha Ray • Bianca Belair • Candice LeRae • Dakota Kai • Jazzy Gabert • Kairi Sane • Kavita Devi • Kay Lee Ray • Lacey Evans • Marti Belle • Mercedes Martinez • Mia Yim • Miranda Salinas • Nicole Savoy • Piper Niven • Princesa Sugehit • Rachel Evers • Reina Gonzalez • Renee Michelle • Rhea Ripley • Sage Beckett • Santana Garrett • Sarah Logan • Serena Deeb • Shayna Baszler • Taynara Conti • Tessa Blanchard • Toni Storm • Vanessa Borne • Xia Li • Zeda |
| Mae Young Classic 2018 contestants |
|---|
| Aerial Monroe • Allysin Kay • Ashley Rayne • Deonna Purrazzo • Hiroyo Matsumoto • Io Shirai • Isla Dawn • Jinny • Kacy Catanzaro • Jessica Elaban • Kaitlyn • Karen Q • Kavita Devi • Killer Kelly • Lacey Lane • Meiko Satomura • Mercedes Martinez • Mia Yim • MJ Jenkins • Nicole Matthews • Priscilla Kelly • Rachel Evers • Reina Gonzalez • Rhea Ripley • Taynara Conti • Tegan Nox • Toni Storm • Vanessa Kraven • Xia Brookside • Xia Li • Zatara • Zeuxis |
