Rhea Ripley Explains Why She Almost Missed WrestleMania 41

Rhea Ripley competed in a triple threat match against Bianca Belair and IYO SKY at WrestleMania 41. While the match got a ton of praise, it appears Ripley didn’t think she could compete at the event due to back issues.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Rhea Ripley talked about how wrestling has affected her body, especially her lower back. She said her back usually hurts, and lately it’s been worse.

The Eradicator thinks it started during a match in NXT with Raquel Rodriguez, when Raquel gave her a back body drop onto the announce table. They didn’t land it right and Rhea hit the edge of the table hard on her lower back. Since then, it’s never felt the same.

“Normally, my lower back, especially lately, I don’t know what’s been going on. I think it actually started from the match I had with Raquel in NXT, where she gave me the back body drop onto the announce table, but we undershot it and I hit the very edge of the table, like right on my lower back. After that, my lower back was never the same. But I mean, I do whatever I can to try and make it better.”

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To help with the pain, she has a masseuse named Matthew who comes over to work on her back. He stretches her, realigns her hips, and helps her feel better. She’s very thankful for him, especially when things get really bad.

Before WrestleMania 41, her back hurt so much she didn’t think she could wrestle. Matthew came to her room two nights in a row, before and after the Hall of Fame event, and worked on her so she’d be able to move the next day. His help made a big difference, and she was ready just in time for her match.

“I have a masseuse Matthew, come over and he works on it. He helps stretch me out, and puts my hips back in line pretty much, and just fixes all that. And thank God for him that he comes over to help. Because sometimes it gets really bad. I didn’t think that I would be able to wrestle at WrestleMania 41.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to compete because my back was so bad leading up to it. The two nights beforehand, I got Matthew to come to my room, and he worked on me the night before Hall of Fame and the night of Hall of Fame. I was like, I need you to make sure I can walk tomorrow. And he worked on me those two nights, and it loosened completely just in time for the match.”

After the match, her back felt okay for a while, but with more wrestling, it started to tighten up again. Ripley admitted she doesn’t stretch enough on her own, which makes things worse.

Ripley is not sure what exactly is causing the pain; it might be sciatica or just the way her body is, but the pain comes and goes. Sometimes it’s bearable, and other times it revs up.

“Then after the match, it was okay, and then, slowly, because I’ve been wrestling more, it’s just slowly tightens up, but that’s because I just don’t stretch on my own, so that’s my fault as well. It gets really bad. I don’t know if it’s a sciatic thing or whatnot, or just my body in itself, the shape of my body and how I’m put together. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s something. But it does go down, and it definitely revs up sometimes, and sometimes it’s just bearable.”

Fans are glad to know that Rhea Ripley pulled through and managed to compete at WrestleMania 41, since her absence would have been a huge loss for the event. Regardless, we hope Ripley’s lower back does get better since she remains a major focus on weekly television, especially with Night of Champions taking place this week.

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