Rhea Ripley Becomes the New SD Women’s Champion at WWE WrestleMania 39
Rhea Ripley is the new WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion as she defeated Charlotte Flair on Night 1 of WWE WrestleMania 39.
Storyline
Rhea Ripley won the 2023 women’s Royal Rumble and earned herself a chance to face the champion of her choice at WrestleMania 39. She used this opportunity to redeem her loss against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36 and challenged the Queen for the SmackDown women’s title.
Three years back, Flair won the Royal Rumble and challenged Ripley. This year, the roles have reversed. Rhea Ripley has never beaten Charlotte Flair in a singles match so far, but swore to end Charlotte’s reign. Will she be successful in her mission?
Live Update
The “Mami” Rhea Ripley is the first one to make her entrance. Then comes out the SmackDown women’s champion, the Queen, Charlotte Flair. She walks down the aisle with gold around her waist.
Rhea and Charlotte stare at each other before locking hands. Charlotte hits Rhea with a shoulder tackle then Rhea replies with a shoulder tackle of her own to drop Charlotte. It infuriates Charlotte, and she sends Rhea out of the ring with a clothesline.
Charlotte chops Rhea and then Rhea takes to the corner and hits Charlotte with her shoulders. Charlotte tries to take control again with a boot to Rhea’s face. But soon Rhea picks her up and drops her on the top turnbuckle. Charlotte tries to fight back again by hitting punches and Rhea sends her to the turnbuckle again.
Rhea Ripley takes control of the match and plays with Charlotte a bit before putting her in a leg lock. Somehow Charlotte manages to get out of it, Rhea goes for a big boot, but Charlotte counters it with a roll-up. Rhea targets Charlotte’s back and hits her with three consecutive punches. Charlotte counters the fourth one only to get hit by a german suplex.
Charlotte turns the tides by hitting Rhea with an elbow followed by a face-first to the turnbuckle. Charlotte hits Rhea with multiple chops before she begins to target her leg. Charlotte climbs to the top rope and goes for the cross body, but Rhea rolls through and tries to convert it into a Riptide, but Charlotte counters it with a DDT for a nearfall.
Charlotte tries to lock the figure-four lock, but Rhea stops her with a kick. Both women stand up and hit each other with a big boot at the same time. Rhea comes up with a combination of strikes but Charlotte counters her with a fallaway slam. She stands up with a kip up and climbs to the top rope. Rhea catches her and hits her with a german suplex for a nearfall.
Charlotte Flair measure outside the ring and goes for the spear, but Rhea dodges it and Charlotte hits the steel steps. Rhea takes her inside the ring and takes her face-first to the ring for another nearfall. Rhea then goes for the Riptide but Charlotte counters it with a german suplex followed by another one. Rhea counters with one of her own and Charlotte goes face-first to the ring.
Charlotte fights back and goes for the figure-four lock, but Rhea stops her again. Rhea is on the apron, and Charlotte drops her outside the ring with a boot. She climbs to the top rope and hits Rhea with a moonsault outside the ring. She takes her inside the ring and goes for the figure-four lock but fails again. Charlotte almost takes out the official while going for a spear, Rhea then comes and hit her with a headbutt followed by a Riptide for a nearfall. Rhea can’t believe Charlotte kicks out.
Charlotte rolls Rhea, but then the latter locks a clover-leaf submission. Charlotte manages to reach the rope and then hits Rhea with a spear. However, Rhea kicks out and Charlotte is in disbelief now. They both trade some back-and-forth strikes before Charlotte hits her with the big boot. She finally locks the figure-four, but Rhea grabs the bottom rope. Charlotte sends Rhea to the turnbuckle, she climbs to the second rope and picks up Rhea Ripley. However, Rhea slips through and sends Charlotte’s face to the post. Rhea Ripley then hit Charlotte Ripley with the Riptide from the second rope to get the pinfall.
