Former WWE star Ronda Rousey has revealed that Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley’s title fight at WrestleMania 39 went on for longer than intended.
In April last year, Ripley stunned rival Flair to become the SmackDown Women’s champion after a thrilling fight in the WWE’s headline event.
It was a back-and-forth bout, which later went down as one of the fight’s of the evening, however Rousey has lifted the lid on WWE’s initial plans for the bout.
In an interview with Cageside Seats, Rousey said: ‘They weren’t supposed to go that long.
‘The whole time the referee is telling them to go backstage and Charlotte threw her big d*** on the table & said no, we’re gonna do this awesome f***ing match.
Rhea Ripley (pictured) defeated Charlotte Flair after a thrilling title fight at WrestleMania 39
Ripley edged the bout and, in turn, became the SmackDown Women’s champion
‘And that’s what [the women are] dealing with. They’re not allowed to show how f***ing amazing they are because ‘oh, the crowd’s gonna be tired for the guys match afterward.’ That’s bull****.’
Interestingly, Rousey ended up leaving the promotion just months later – while both Ripley and Flair are still signed to the organisation.
Flair, however, is currently recovering from a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus suffered back in December – which will keep her out for nine months.
Ripley, meanwhile, made headlines at a recent WWE live event.
Ripley was in action at a show in Illinois on Saturday night, facing off against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler in a match in front of those in attendance at the Bank Of Springfield Center.
During which, she went viral after performing a famous move at the event, with the move caught on camera and shared around, including by Ripley herself.
Jax, who returned to the company last year having previously been released, is a character who relies on her size to get the better of opponents in her matches.
A performer who once did the same is WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, who became famous for using a move named ‘stinkface’ that would see him use his buttocks to inflict damage on his opponents.
Ronda Rousey (centre) claimed WWE chiefs did not intend for the fight to last as long as it did
He would regularly approach his foes backwards, bend forward and hit them in the face with his rear in what was a comedy move.
Jax has adopted the move since returning to WWE, but, in Illinois, Ripley tried it herself, performing it on Jax as she was cheered on by the crowd.
She shared a video of the move on social media, captioned: ‘Payback’s a Peach… You’re welcome Nia,’ accompanied by a devil emoji.
With the post currently receiving 1.7miliobn views and 34,000 likes, social media went into frenzy, with Ripley’s real-life partner, AEW’s Buddy Matthews, sharing the video with the quote: ‘Weekly occurrence for me!’ to which Ripley replied with a laughing emoji.
