/asp/ - All Sports

looking back now, Rhea Ripley only got the spot of top woman in 2024 because:
> Charlotte Flair was sidelined with severe knee injuries and would be out for all of 2024
> Becky Lynch left WWE to go do Happy Gilmore 2.
> Alexa Bliss missed two years because she was pregnant. Her last appearance had been the 2023 Royal Rumble.
> Asuka last appeared at Backlash in France. She was supposedly out because she underwent knee surgery, but then somebody among the higher-ups (Triple H) supposedly made a pass at Asuka, she rejected him, feared retaliation from him for rejecting him and even long after she was healed up and cleared to wrestle, she didn't return until the June 16, 2025 episode of Raw.
But the problem is, TKO realized they weren't making much money with Rhea as the top woman because she comes off as another Triple H-style selfish stat padder.

that's why WWE had to bring back Charlotte, Bliss, Becky, Asuka and then two later-days Divas Era relics in Nikki Bella and AJ Lee a year later to revitalize the women's division, because Rhea just wasn't cutting it as the top star of her own division.

co-incidentally, Rhea quickly faded fast once Charlotte, Bliss, Becky, Asuka, Nikki and AJ Lee all came back. And if Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone were to come back to the WWE, that would be it for Rhea's WWE career, because Triple H sure loves him some Sasha Banks he'll give her the world.

And if AEW lives just long enough for Mercedes to return to the WWE, then Rhea would probably rage quit the WWE and go to AEW for the money.